stem
of famine relief which the British Government has now worked out. It
has built railways all over India, so that no longer will it be
possible for any great area to suffer while another district having
abundance is unable to share its bounty because of absence of
transportation. In the second place, the government has wisely
arranged to give work at low wages to famine sufferers--road building,
railroad building, or something of the kind--instead of dispensing a
reckless charity which too often pauperizes those it is intended to
help. Before the British occupation India was scourged both by famine
and by frequent, if not almost constant, wars between neighboring
states. The fighting it has stopped entirely, the loss by drought it
has greatly reduced; and some authority has stated (I regret that I
have not been able to get the exact figures myself) that for a century
before the British assumed control, war and famine kept the population
practically stationary, while since then the number of inhabitants has
practically trebled.

Not unworthy of mention, even in connection with its work in relieving
famine sufferers, is the excellent work the British Government is
doing in enabling the farmers to free themselves from debt. The
visitor to India comes to a keener appreciation of Rudyard Kipling's
stories and poems of Indian life because of the accuracy with which
they picture conditions; and the second "Maxim of Hafiz" is only one
of many that have gained new meaning for me since my coming:

"Yes, though a Kafir die, to him is remitted Jehannum,
If he borrowed in life from a native at 60 per cent. per annum."'

When I first heard of "60 per cent, per annum," and even of 70 per
cent, or 80 per cent., as the ordinary rate of interest paid {222} by
the Indian ryot to the merchant or money-lender, I could not believe
it, but further investigation proved the statement true. In the United
Provinces I found that in some cases the ryot has been little better
than a serf. The merchant has "furnished him supplies," adding
interest at the rate of one anna on each rupee at the end of each
month--6-1/4 per cent., not a year but a month, and that compounded
every 30 days! In one case that came to my attention, two orphan boys
twenty years ago, in arranging the marriage of their sister, borrowed
100 rupees at 50 per cent, interest. For seventeen years thereafter
they paid 50 rupees each year as interest, until an American
miss