The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-01

1 India as in England in proportion to | the income of the people. Compared
 with the people of other countries. the | Indians income is, on an average | one-twentieth of the average Englisf
 income. one-seventh of the average Spaniard's income. one-sixth of tn, average Italians income, one fifth oi the (Eurepeanl Russians income. and one-half of the income of the Turk Sir Henry Cotton shows that the aver
 age per capita deposit in banks in Eng
 land is $lo0. while the average per capita deposit in India is 50 cents; but | how can the Indian be expected to have
 a large bank account when the aver
 age yearly income Is only ten dollars
 have, in another article, referred to
 the jewelry worn by Indian women.
 The bracelets and anklets are silver l except among the poorest, and this was formerly a form of hoarding. but the l suspension of the coinage of silver de- prived the people of the privilege of converting this hoarded silver into rupees
 It will be remembered that the late Senator Walcott. member of the monetary commission appointed by President Mckinley in 1897, on his re- turn from Europe declared that the suspension of the coinage of silver II, India had reduced the value of the sav- ings of the people to the amount of S500,0e0,000 The suspension was car ried out for the beaefit of European interests regardless of the welfare of the masses.
 So great has been the drain, the in justice to the people and the tax upon the resources of the country, that fam ines hays increased in frequency and severity. Mr Gokhale. one of the ablest of Ipdia's public men, presided over the meeting of the last Indiar National Congress (held in December) and declared in his opening speech that the death rate had steadily risen from 24 to the 1000 Tn 1SS2-4 to 30 in 1s92-4, ana to S4 at the present time, I have more than once within the last month heard the plague referred to as prov ide1tial remedy Cor over population. Think of 1t. British rule justified be- cause "it keeps the people from kill ing each other" and the plague praised because 1t removss those whom the government has saved from slaughter!
 The railroads with all their advan- tages have been charged with adding to the weight of famine by carrying away the surplus grain in good years, leaving no residue for tte years of drought. While grain can now be carS ried back more easily in times of scarcity, the people are too poor to buy it with two freiGhts added. The stor- age of grain by the government at central points until the new crop Is safe would bring SO ne relief, but it has not been attempted
 If it is argued that the railroads have raised the price of grain in the inte- rior by furnishing a cheaper outlet to the sea. 1t must be remembered that the benefit has accrued not to the peo- pie, nearly all of whom are tenants, but to the landlords, the government being the largest hol1er
 Not only are the people being i'm poverished. but the land Is being worn out. Manure which ought to be used to renew the fields Is consumed as fuel, and no sight is more common in India than that of women and chill dren gathering manure from the roads with their hands. This, when mixed with straw and sun-dried, Is used In the place of wood. and from the amount of 1t carried in baskets, 1t must be one of the chief articles of merchan- disc. There are now large tracts Of useless land that might be brought un- der cultivation if the irrigation system were extended. Proof of this is to be found in the fact that the government