7 HL IRRIGA TION A GE . 



135 



Hinsdale, president; John W. Pace of 

 Helena, proprietor of The Montana Stock- 

 man and Farmer, secretary, and E. N. 

 Brandagee assistant secretary and treasu- 

 rer, and a board of trustees consisting of 

 I. D. O'Donnoll of Billings, J. M. Robin- 

 son of Boteman, C. C. Willis of Plains, 

 C. H. Campbell of Great Falls and Mc- 

 Clellan Wininger of Kalispell, assures the 

 success of the organization in the work 

 proposed. 



The Indian 

 Famine. 



In The Quarterly Review the 

 immediate causes of the Indian 

 famine are thoughtfully considered, and to 

 the support of an argument favoring irri- 

 gation as the chief remedy calls into serv- 

 ice several eminent authorities who pre- 

 sent this pointed testimony: 



"Irrigation," says Sir Arthur Cotton, 

 "whenever it has been applied, proved a 

 remedy, and no other ameliorative measure 

 can compete with it. Sind, with the most 

 deficient rainfall in India averaging only 

 fifteen inches completely protects itself 

 from famine by irrigation, whereas it is in 

 districts with a rainfall of from fifteen to 

 thirty inches that famines are most preva- 

 lent. The moral is that it is not lack of 

 water, but lack of regulation and distribu- 

 tion, which is the cause of famine. The 

 effect of the Godavari and Kistna canals, 

 in 1876-77, was so great that in one year 

 of famine they produced crops valued at 

 nearly twenty-five million dollars, or four 

 times the whole capital outlay on the 

 works. 



"The benefits of irrigation are, first and 

 foremost, insurance against famine. Irri- 

 gation works should be credited with the 

 whole increase of production, not merely 

 with the slight addition to the revenue 

 from the water rate. The use of canal 

 water allows valuable crops, such as sugar- 

 cane, rice, wheat, indigo to be cultivated 

 instead of the less profitable millet and 

 barley. The whole production, in time of 

 famine, depends upon irrigation, since 

 without it hardly an acre would come to 

 maturity. It saves the lives of an incalcu- 

 lable number of human beings and ani- 

 mals, and prevents immense loss to the 

 government from the direct cost of famine 

 relief and from remissions of land revenue. 

 "The Indian government has, neverthe- 



less, adopted a policy of starving irrigation 

 in favor of railways. Yet even from the 

 point of view of communication, canals 

 proved more profitable. Even from the 

 point of view of famine relief railways are 

 of no great value, since they cannot carry 

 all the food that is required; and they have 

 the further bad effect of encouraging the 

 cultivation of non-food crops, such as jute, 

 for purposes of export, thus encroaching 

 upon the area devoted to foodstuffs. Of 

 course, this would be economically profita- 

 ble if there were some means of importing 

 food. But this is not so; and in a period 

 in which the population increased 17 per 

 cent, the export trade, which is the re- 

 sult of railways, has raised prices locally 

 altogether out of proportion to the amount 

 exported. Altogether, railways have had 

 a bad effect for the small cultivator, the 

 only profits going into the hands of great 

 landholders and dealers in produce." 



The reviewer points out, as another cause 

 for the severity of recent famines, that 

 "European competition has crushed out of 

 existence local industries and increased 

 the dependence on the land. The remedy 

 for this is the encouragement of native in- 

 dustries. Reforestation is alio necessary, 

 the cutting down of forests aggravating 

 the deficiency in the rainfall, while cattle 

 manure, which should go to fertilize the 

 land, is burned, owing to the lack of other 

 fuel." 



A Popular Hon. Geo. P. Bemis of Omaha, 

 Nebraskan. Neb., is an enthusiastic sup- 

 porter of the irrigation idea. On a recent 

 business trip to Omaha it was our pleasure 

 to become better acquainted with Mr. 

 Bemis and to obtain some of his practical 

 views on the importance of irrigation. Our 

 readers will enjoy the short sketch on an- 

 other page, coming as it does from one of 

 the foremost citizens of Nebraska. Resi- 

 dents of Omaha have shown their high ap- 

 preciation of the business judgment and 

 executive ability of this public-spirited 

 man by placing in his charge for four years 

 the administration of their public affairs. 

 His distinguished record at mayor and as 

 one of the chief promotors of the famous 

 trans-Mississippi exposition is a source of 

 pride to the people of Omaha, but as a 

 shrewd, successful leader in business and 



