48 PEOGEESS IN WESTEEN INDIA 



It is often argued that a rise in the price of food 

 grains is of little or no value to the small cultivator 

 who consumes all the grain that he grows. This, no 

 doubt, is true ; but there are large numbers of culti- 

 vators who have a surplus of grain to sell, and clearly 

 those cultivators must, to that extent, gain the 

 advantage of the rise of price. It is, however, in 

 connection with the export crops that the rise of price 

 brings most benefit to the cultivator. Taking 100 as 

 the original index, the rise in the price of Broach 

 cotton for the eighteen years between the famines of 

 1899-1900 and 1918-19 is shown below :— 



Statement Shoiving Index Prices of Broach Cotton 

 in July from 1901 to 1918. 



