HAPPY INDIA 39 



of labour of every kind are given ; statistics of 

 imports and exports, the work on the railways and 

 on canals ; in fact, a diligent search of the books 

 published by the Indian Government will give an 

 enquirer a tremendous mass of information about 

 our Indian fellow-subjects. So that if we are in 

 ignorance about their material condition, it is 

 simply because we do not take the trouble to 

 enquire. 



The foremost and most important fact about the 

 Indian people is this : out of every hundred, seventy- 

 two are engaged in agriculture, and Indian importa- 

 tions of food are negligible as a general rule. It 

 is therefore a matter of vital importance that their 

 work should be very productive, that they should 

 obtain a great amount of corn from the ground which 

 they cultivate, because it is the produce of the soil 

 which has to feed all the people, not only those who 

 work in the fields, but those engaged in mines, 

 manufactures, building professions, army, police, 

 domestic service, etc., transport by sea and land, in 

 the Government of the country. All the cities, docks, 

 canals, railways, roads, armies, police, professional 

 classes, all have to be maintained chiefly by the 

 production of the soil. 



So now the important question is, What is the 

 production of the soil ? We will take for the purpose 

 oi consideration the production of wheat and consider 

 how many pounds of wheat are produced per acre. 

 For the purpose of comparison, we will first take 

 the production per acre of wheat in England. The 



