80 THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW 



mediate less than one cent and third class three miles 

 for one cent. Had the railways of India been com- 

 pelled to depend upon Indian capital for their building 

 there would have been very great difficulty and fewer 

 miles of road, for the Indian investor or money-lender, 

 the Bania, is seldom satisfied with less than sixteen per 

 cent, per annum but prefers from seventy-two to one 

 hundred per cent, per annum. The history of famines 

 in India is divided into two clearly marked portions, one 

 before the coming of the railroads when famine in any 

 district meant death to great numbers of the people and 

 to cattle without any hope of relief. It is on record 

 that Agra was having famine during which more than 

 half of the people died. At Mainpuri, less than one hun- 

 dred miles distant from Agra, grain was being sold at 

 two pounds for a cent. Owing to the absence of roads 

 or railroads everything had to be transported on pack 

 oxen which made it a physical impossibility to transport 

 enough grain, even over such a short distance, to save 

 the people. (See Sir Theodore Morison "The Industrial 

 Equipment of an Indian Province.") A hundred miles 

 in those days under those conditions was at least a 

 week's journey. To-day when famine occurs special 

 rates are given on the railroads for the transporting of 

 grain and fodder into the affected area and very few 

 people die compared with the pre-railway period. 

 "Famine" in India is not always understood in America. 

 Seldom is there a time in India when there is not food 

 enough to go around. In the same year one part of 

 India may be breaking the record by a bumper crop and 

 a short distance away there may be a total crop failure. 

 The beginning of the agricultural year in India is the 



