Miscellaneous. 



125 



[May, 1910, 



secured. It must not be supposed, how- 

 ever, that the Society for purchase can- 

 not also be a Society for sale. Ifc is 

 useful to begin with the former class of 

 business and proceed to the latter as the 

 Society progresses and prospers. 



The secret of success of all co-oper- 

 ative trading, however, is solidarity of 

 union. Every member of a Society who 

 undertakes to sell his produce at the 

 Society's store or depot should be bound 

 to offer all his produce if wanted, or at 

 any rate the best he has. If he tries to 

 sell his best produce privately and only 

 sends his inferior stuff to the Store he is 

 acting against the interest of the Society 

 and may bring about its downfall, since 

 no customer will go to a store where 

 only second-rate goods are to be bought 

 when better produce is on sale elsewhere. 

 This point cannot be too strongly 

 insisted upon, and should form one of 

 the rules of every Society that is formed. 



The second point is that profits should 

 be divided in proportion to trade done, 

 and not to capital invested. There are 

 many Societies formed on joint stock 

 lines with which farmers may usefully 

 and profitably trade, but these are not 

 Co-operative Societies in the true sense 

 of the word, and small local Soeieties 

 should not be formed on these lines. If 

 profits are divided according to trade 

 done every member has an additional 

 inducement to support the Society by 

 his custom. 



Finally, it is advisable that societies 

 should not attempt too extensive a 

 business at the beginning. Leaflet No. 

 Ill (Co-operative Egg and Poultry 

 Societies) shows how small societies may 

 be formed for the purpose of dealing in 

 one class of produce. It is usually advis- 

 able to begin in this way, and to extend 

 the business as trade grows. It tends to 

 greater security, and is less likely to 

 rouse the hostility of other local traders. 



AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. 



(Prom the Indian Agriculturist, Vol, 

 XXXIV., No, 9, September 1, 1909.) 

 It is but too frequently repeated a 

 truism that more than eighty per cent, 

 of the people of India live on agri- 

 culture, that it is the staple industry of 

 the country. For years and years now 

 it has also become an equally patent fact 

 that this resource is slowly but surely 

 failing us, and that the land has ceased 

 to yield enough to maintain the millions 

 that live on its bosom. All this is per- 

 fectly true, and the ancient idea of agri- 

 culture being the best of all pursuits has 

 51 



begun to look ridiculous in the light of 

 existing conditions. Many causes have 

 brought about this sad state of things. 

 What with the heavy Government 

 assessment, the frequent failures of the 

 monsoon currents, plague and such other 

 evils, the Indian cultivator has come to 

 bo on his last legs ; and unless something 

 is done for him, and the agriculturist 

 himself is induced to do something for 

 his own salvation, his case seems to be as 

 hopeless as that of the nomadie tribes 

 that haunt the terrible sandy wastes of 

 the Sahara. When reflecting upon the 

 present sad condition of the Indian 

 cultivator one important point, however, 

 is generally completely lost sight of— 

 the comparative question of population. 

 It will be hypocritical to deny that the 

 Land-tax is heavy ; that the way in 

 which it is collected inconveniently 

 exacting ; that the erratic course of the 

 monsoons not only ruins the crops but 

 also, by withholding a plentiful supply 

 of fodder, kills millions of cattle — the 

 most valuable asset of every Indian 

 agriculturist, But why lay all the sins 

 of commission and omission only at the 

 door of the causes of deterioration we 

 have mentioned above, and lose sight of 

 the tremendous increase that has taken 

 place in the population during the last 

 hundred years, the irresponsible mul- 

 tiplication which has taken place as a 

 result of the Pax Britannica !■ A certain 

 area can, even under the best climatic 

 conditions, support only a certain 

 number of people. If the number of 

 voracious mouths increases by leaps and 

 bounds and no effort is made to add, 

 by scientific means, to the productive 

 capacity of the land — can the latter be 

 held responsible for all the sufferings of 

 those who live thereon ? This is an 

 aspect of the question that has not been 

 given as serious attention as it deserved. 

 The "Extremists" on this particular 

 question twit the Government with 

 the excessive Land-tax and their spend- 

 ing more on railway construction than 

 on irrigation, and attribute this as 

 the great cause of our frequent famines 

 and chronic scarcity. The authorities, 

 on the other hand, very pertinently 

 ask the question, were there no famines 

 in India before the British Govern- 

 ment stepped in ? Both the parties 

 are in one sense right, but each has 

 lost sight of one fundamental fact. 

 The interrogator forgets that whereas 

 his vatan, a hundred years ago, supported 

 a dozen people, it has now to support 

 twice if not four times that number. 

 And all the while the land has been 

 deteriorating. Exhaustion is a universal 

 and eternal law. Government, on the 

 other hand, forget that, though there 



