Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-26
midas WORST FAMINE
PRESENT CALAMITY UNPARALLELED
IN THE WORLDS HISTORY.
Some Idea of the Dreadful Mortality
Among Men and beasts In That
Far on Eastern Country.


which has now overtaken the land, Lord
C'urzon described the present emergency as
unprecedented in the history of the coun-
Try With the recollection of those terrible
wears 1S.H-gI fresh IN memory. there was
a tendency to cavil at the viceroys phrase
as a rhetorical exaEgeration: but INDIA mas
already learned that Lord Curzon's ornate
periods and glowing sentences, "hich APP
pealed 50 strongly 20 the oriental imagina-
ton never transgress the bounds OF strict
accuracy for the sake of oratorical effect
A comparison with the figures of 1S'-'o
and 1s.h-91 the years when India previous
ly touched the hgh-water mark OF distress,
shows only too clearly that in the extent OF
IN. scarcity the number of person afflicted.
the intensity of distress ana the MAGNITUDE
OF the efforts put forward TO grape WIN
It, the present famine Is uiilaraiie!eu III 'iie
history of the world.
A few figures will make the terrible effects
of the present visitation clear. me drought
of lS71-7S was considered TO nave peeh the
most serious and widespread of the CEN
fury 1t induced the first organized attempt
by the government of India to COMBAT
crop failure by relief measures on sIea.
scale and TO it and the investigation Wtich
followed we owe the admirable ldHiiiie
code th.. basis of all relief measures. to TINS
,lay The famine in those years was Pilh-
cipally confined TO southern indla anu .ne
Punjab In August. 1871. gust peioIe .ne
was 2.n,au square miles. with population
of - Wluwp The affected area in 1891 had
grown to :its.0n square miles. win d pop
ulation of 6.spOpOpp. Al the present mo-
ment the tract of country under the piisn.,
ing influence of the drought Is 4i''up
square miles. with population OF "o.'"'uoo
peop,e But this is only one way ana ,iie
least satisfactory, of gauging the severity
of the distress.
The great feature which distinguishes the
present famine from all which preceded 1t
is not the unprecedented area ana iuihpe!
of people brought under Its influence put
the circumstance that II follows not upoi!
the footsteps of period o. unequaied
scarcity. This has shaken The self-reiahce
of TIN. peasantry and broken down the feel
ing Of repusnance I" accept soVeriliheht
aid to an alarming extent. Formerly the
sturdy Iyot, or petty landowner resaiieu
the relief works with much the same kinu
of disika that the British poor entertain
for the workhnuse. hut this prejudice has
given way under the severity OF the
strain. Familiarity with famine mas
brought in its tram familiarity with the
idea Of state aid: the relief works in some
c.nters are crowded with a class of land
owners who have never previously sought
aid. IIborerS have turned tn the govern
ment for help as soon as the plnch was
felt and before either credit or resources
Exhausted
In the worst periods of 1897 the num-
bers on relief We're considerably less than
two millions of people. a total greatly in
excess OF the highest recorded twenty
wears previously In the last week OF
March of this year million and a half of
people were dependent upon government
for their very means of subsistence in the
central provinces alone, and in the Bonn
bay presidency million and quarter
were similarly cirCumstanced. while the
total number in receipt of government re-
lief IN one form another was little short
Of five millions. The famine commissioners
an 1851 estimated that the highest de-
man9S the government was ever likely TO
he called Ia cent
OF the population. In the Raipur district
Of the central provinces 80 per cent of
the population are on relief. In four dis
trict< of bombay the percentage is be-
tween ~ and ~, in three districts of Berar
~ and In the Ajrnere Merwara division 20
per cent. The position today is worse than
the worst period of 1897, and the famine
has not yet reached its apogee. We find
the affected area l42,GD square miles
greater the suffering population 21,TD'V0
larger and the number on relief two and a
half times large. Is 1t the language of
hyperb,le to term this an unprecedented
calamity?
And now a word as to the cost of the
famine. but it is necessary to preface this
statement with the remark that II Is I'M
possible to convey by means of mere figures
any adequate idea of the paralyzing effect
OF d drought such as India Is now expert
enciug We can lump together statistics
"a To the actual loss to government In d.
rect expenditure and diminished revenue.
the value Of the crops destroyed. and Of the
cattle persisted. This. however. takes no
account of the further loss 10 the great
mass of agriculturistS, who have not only
produced nothing. but have exhausted every
resource in the struggle for existence, and
are left penniless and deeper in the tolls
Of the Insurer; of the lands which will lie
falIow for need of pillow cattle to prepare
them for seed time; of the Stagnauon OF
every branch Of trade in consequence of the
blight which lies over the land. The net
cost To the government will be eight and
quarter millions sterling. The value of the
wheat crop destroyed is from ts.WD.T1 to
tluWpuSD. If the cotton crop. ti.Up.bp,
while the great olseed crop is non-existent
outside Bengal. the northwest provinces
and Oudh. on moderate computation the
cultivators Of the Bombay presidency have
lost tlJ'Hs''sD on their food crops and
t-;rp.OnD on their cotton. In the rice-grow-
ing districts of the central provinces the
yield i less than l per cent. There is not
sufficient grain even for the coming season.
and rice is being imported from Bengal and
BurInah for this purpose. These instances
might be multiplied dozen times.
More serious and more far-reaching in
it, effects even than the destruction of the
crops il the awful mortality among the cat
tie. The bullock is as necessary to the
Indian ryot his land and the rain. His
beloved oxen part and parcel of his
being without their aid the land cannot lie
prepared for seed-time. and must lie falow
for another year. Yet in the Ahmedabdd
district the splendid GuZerat oxen have
p"ri-hed by millions. and men ana women
are playing the part CT beasts of burden
il dragging the numbering carts along the
rough country roads. In some parts of
kaiputaua ~ per cent Of the cattle have
bee swept out of existence. Given far
season the Indian peasantry recover frOl2
TN, fleets of famine with a rapidity little
shurt Of marvellous: hat TWO conditions will
this year test their rccupcrative power to
an unusual degree. The first of these. a
fact which cannot be TOO often insisted
upon il the occurrence of a second
drought. before The traces of the previous
one had been eliminated the second the
Unprecedented mortality among the cattle
Millions nf acres in Guzerat and Rajputana
Will lie fillOw next season from the lack
% means TO plow the soil. On 4 san
guin- estimate six years must elapse before
thc central provinces return 20 normal
conditions: the Deccan Is in the same case
in Guzerat and Rajputana the interval will
be even longer.
Next To fair monsoon. everything now
depends upon the measure of help received
from England From every officer en-
gagged on famine work comes testimony to
the incalculable blessings effected by Eng
lands bounteous charity in 1897 and the
need il now twice great. India has
played her part well. the government is
eIrdlng up its lons and meeting the emer-
Scncy right manfully. But beyond any
thing the government can do. there is an
fold for ar;,