i6 THE POPULAR SCIEyCE MONTHLY. 



difference between the prices of Indian wheat in London in 1881 and 

 186G, respectively, leaving \s. per quarter to be contributed by other 

 agencies. Between 1879 and 1886 the charge for the railway trans- 

 port of grain between Cawnpore and Calcutta (G84 miles) was reduced 

 to the extent of about 2,9. per quarter, which represented to the pur- 

 chaser in Calcutta an equivalent reduction in the cost of Indian produc- 

 tion, and in the absence of which the Calcutta and European prices 

 would obviously have been correspondingly increased. A further re- 

 duction of Gc/. per quarter " is probably owing to a decline, during the 

 same period, in the price of the gunny-bags " in which the wheat is 

 transported ; leaving 35. ^d. per quarter, which may not unreasonably 

 be referred to, and fully accounted for, by the extraordinary decline 

 of more than 125. per quarter, between the years 1880 and 1885, in the 

 expoi-t price of American wheat ; which, as the largest factor in deter- 

 mining the world's sur]Dlus of this commodity, is also necessarily the 

 largest factor in determining what shall be the price of this surplus 

 in the world's market. 



Evidence was also submitted to the British Trade Depression Com- 

 mission in 18GG, to the effect that the increase of the acreage under 

 wheat in India " exactly agrees with the development of the Indian 

 railways,*' and that " when more railways are made in India, a very 

 much larger wheat production will immediately follow." * 



* On this subject, the following testimony was submitted to the British Commission 

 on the Depression of Trade, 1886, by Mr. W. J. Harris, who is recognized as an authority 

 in England on agricultural subjects : 



"Our Indian Empire seems able to extend its corn-growing industry to almost any 

 extent, and to produce more cheaply than any other country in the world. I am aware 

 that Sir James Caird gave a somewhat different evidence on this question, but I think 

 that neither Mr. Giffen nor Sir James Caird have taken sufficiently into account one or 

 two things in their statistical computation. They both maintain that the population of 

 India is too large, or is getting too large, for the means of production. They do not seem 

 to remember that every unit of population in India consumes -about a fifth part of what 

 the unit of population in the United States does. It is a comparison between India and 

 the United States. Both Sir James Caird and Mr. Giffen admit that the capabilities of 

 the United States are very enormous, but they think that the capabilities of India are 

 comparatively very small. I differ from them, and I will give my reasons. If we follow 

 (on the maps of India) the course of the railways which have been made for some 

 time, you will find that the acreage under wheat exactly agrees with the development of 

 those railways ; and it appears to me that when more railways are made in India, a very 

 much larger wheat production will immediately follow. I have made several inquiries 

 from the princijial merchants who do business with India, and who have agents at many 

 central points, and they all agree that the wheat production in India is not nearly devel- 

 oped yet. Tlie population is not encroaching on the means of subsistence so much as the 

 mere statistician would argue, because be does not take into account the habits of the 

 people ; and I believe that the United States population, in consequence of the habits of 

 its people, i.-< encroaching just as fast on their moans of subsistence as are the people of 

 India. There is a large acreage in India that is not fully cultivated with anything at the 

 present time, and, where it is, it is very imperfectly cultivated, and the prices of produce 

 arc exceeding low in places remote from railway communication. Agriculture is very 



