THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. xv. 



CHICAGO, FEBRUARY, 1900. 



NO 



THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERIGS. 



The question is often asked 

 Needs af "Why do the boys leave the 



the farmer. fapm .i It is pointed out that 

 no worker is more independent than the 

 farmer: that no life is so healttiful: and 

 yet the boys flock from the farm to the 

 city. A report, recently made by Prof. 

 John F. Crowell of New York, before the 

 Industrial Commission of Washington, 

 will throw some light on the subject. He 

 compares the wages and living conditions 

 of the various industries and says: "We 

 want to know why it is that the returns 

 of the various industries are so unequal. 

 I have taken a few figures from the census 

 of 1890. The amount of 'capital invested 

 in agriculture was $16,000.000,000, and 

 8.466,365 workers were engaged. The 

 value of the combined properties was 

 $290. In manufactures the product per 

 capita was $893. In mining it was $740. 

 These figures, in the eyes of the farmer's 

 boy. are a decisive argument in favor of 

 abandoning the farm for the factory. The 

 farmer has to adjust himself to prevailing 

 prices. A proper distributing system is 

 his urgent need today. This can be effec- 

 tive only through the European markets. 

 The productiveness of the farm is limited. 

 But the manufacturer can govern his sup- 

 ply as market quotations may indicate. 

 These difficulties are increased by too 

 large a burden of taxation." 



Prof. Crowell cited the Dutch farmer of 

 Southern Pennsylvania as a striking ex- 

 ample of the successful farmer. The 

 Scandanavian immigrant, he said, was 

 more successful than the American agri- 



culturist because frugality and economy is 

 bred in his bones as it were, and he lives 

 on less than his American neighbor. Prof 

 Crowell praised the schools which train 

 the youth of the country into farmers ona 

 small scale. 



The 



The famine in India, which 

 White MQQ'S has resulted from the failure 

 Bur en. of the monsoon, threatens the 

 existence of nearly 15.000.000 natives, for 

 whose relief the British Government has 

 ordered $3,500,000 to be expended, To 

 cope with the emergency, however, will 

 be a serious task, fraught as it is with 

 almost insurmountable difficulties on all 

 sides. Do what it may, the Government 

 is powerless to effect much, and should 

 not. therefore, be held responsible for the 

 frightful mortality which must result. 

 The great trouble is that white men will- 

 ing and able to undertake the task of dis- 

 tributing relief are not to be found, and 

 the work must be intrusted to natives. 



The native Hindus have no regard for 

 the property rights of others. This is 

 especially true of the buniahs, or native 

 merchants, to whom the work of relief is 

 largely confided. Of course, men presumed 

 to be honest are chosen, but honesty among 

 buniahs is as rarely found as is ice upon a 

 pond on a warm morning in July. The re- 

 sult is that the buniah waxes rich and fat, 

 while his distressed fellow countrymen 

 die of starvation, for the buniah applies to 

 his own use most of the relief funds in- 

 trusted to his care. 

 Those unacquainted with the facts of the 



