86 THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW 



population to increase rapidly. The result is an in- 

 creased competition to secure land. Therefore while the 

 land-lords in Bengal have been able to increase their rent 

 at will to the tenant, the limit being only what the land- 

 lord could squeeze out of the farmer, the amount he has 

 paid to the government has remained fixed. The land- 

 lord is the one who has received the lion's share of the 

 unearned increment of the land. It has not been fairly 

 divided. To-day all the other provinces of India are 

 taxed to provide Bengal with money enough to run its 

 government. Bengal has a large number of wealthy 

 land-owners, many of them opulent profiteers, whose 

 position has been strengthened by time. The injustice 

 wrought through such an iniquitous contract falls very 

 heavily upon the many, but the few who profit have 

 never been willing to give up anything. The British 

 government made a bad bargain for itself and has stuck 

 to it, in order to keep its word. 



In the United Provinces, which has an area of ap- 

 proximately one hundred thousand square miles, and a 

 population of about fifty million people, there is a land- 

 owner class and a tenant class. When the British en- 

 tered this part of India, more often by contract than by 

 conquest, they brought peace. In the old days the chiefs 

 maintained themselves by strength of arms. The larger 

 and better trained the fighting force of the chief the 

 easier he could gobble up the smaller chief, and defend 

 himself in case of attack. There was then great com- 

 petition for the services of fighting men who were treated 

 very generously by the chiefs, and given land on very 

 favorable terms. When the British came in, ignorant 

 of the real state of affairs, thinking the conditions were 



