New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-19
THE FAMINE IN INDIA.

Il
Items of news about the famine in India now
and then appear, half hidden and quite over
Swallowed by the more novel and sensational
tidngs OF the South African war. From po-
ntlcal point Of view, no doubt, the war is the
more important and also in the bearing of its
results upon the welfare OF mankind But in
point of instant huma nitarianism the famine i'm
measurably outranks the war. Great Britain
has sent ten thousand soldiers week to the
war but for long period the famine has
been sending twenty times as many to the re
lief works To-day probably four million people
are thus dependent upon the British-lndlan
Government for life. as many as the entire pop
ulation Of South Africa below the Zambesi. If
we suppose all the inhabitants white and black.
English and Dutch, of the Cape, Natal Rhode.
STA the Boer States and the adjacent territories,
instead of being in a state of war, to be food
less and penniless and looking to the Govern
ment for salvation, shall form an idea of
the magnitude of the task the Brtish-ln
Government now has on hand
In the old days. before British rule was set up
in India the problem would have been much
more easily solved than now. The people would
have been permitted to die like many flies In
a frost That was what used to happen period
ically under native rule. Thus, in the famine OF
1863 fully three million persons persisted, and
that was by no means record breaking famine.
But the let alone policy is not approved by the
present Government. 1t is considered now a re
rroach to the rulers of India that any of its
people should die Of famine, and so whenever
unfavorabe weather makes food scarce and the
inhabitants begin to starve the treasury Is
opened for their relief at risk of deficit in the
next budget 1t is, however, not the policy of
the Government to give aims. Instead 1t I'M
dertakes vast public works and thus gives the
famine stricken people employment at fair
wages and enables them to buy food. Obvious
" that is the better way. for it does not pauper-
ize the people and it gives the Government some
return for its money-generally return which
in itself is calculated 10 diminish future dangers
of famine.
Road building and canal building are the
staple occupations in famine years. Tens of
thousands of miles of fine roads have been con-
structed as relief works SO far as possible
these are metalled and thus made permanent.
But if metal be not available the roads are still
built in temporary form, the principle that
even half useless work is better than aims.
Even better than roads are the canals, perhaps
the greatest material blessings that have been
bestowed upon India. few years ago the
whole vast region between the Raw and the
| Chenab rivers, from Lahore to Multan, was
| desert, the few wTetched inhabitants of which
maintained precarl0uS existence by feeding
upon rats, insects and offal. To-day it's large
! population is prosperous among some of the
| finest wheat fields in the world. The change
| has been effected by the construction of canals
| for irrigation. And what has been done there
has been done in hundred other districts AS
| one rides across India he sees sometimes fer
| tile land and a prosperous population, and he
| knows that there canals have been constructed.
| AT other times he sees scanty crops and a
| starving, anxious populace, and he knows that
| there no canals have been made.
| Within the last three months the Indian Gov
| eminent has spent more than $10O00O0O upon
| relief works, and it will doubtless have to spend
| millions more before the famine is past De-
| spite that, many natives are perishing but that
| is through their own fault or folly Work al
| living wages is offered TO all. But there are
| those who refuse il. and with the blind fatalism
| of their race lie down in the dust and die To
| combat and 10 overcome that spirit is by no
means the least part of the white mans bur
| den" which is borne by the rulers of India
| When famine came to our fathers they died
| How are we better than they that we should
do otherwise?" So says the ryot in his blind
| ness. But even he is learning little by little
| At worst he is now passive, not violently re-
| sistant TO progress while at best he appreciates
the value Of civilization and actually puts him
self in line with ii. We shall doubtless hear of
| much distress and Of many deaths and of q def
| cit in the Indian budget. But, after all there
will be hundreds of miles of canals and thou
| sands Of square miles Of land made proof
against drouth and millions of people made
secure against any recurrence of famine
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