INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

AND PRESS ORITIOISM. 145
a period of ten or twelve months, would be
grossly absurd. This, no doubt, would afford a
thoroughly sound foundation for our undertaking.
It would be, as it were, that the whole
area to be covered with our building was concreted
over, sufficient to rest a solid mass upon.
But this we do not contemplate: we want a '
structure with spaces, with rooms in it-i.e., a
house wherein we can dwell; we do not desire
a structure of solid masonry, which, besides
being utterly useless, would inevitably land us
in bankruptcy. Our architect must therefore
design and estimate according to the data available.
These data are: 1. a certain amount of
the population will not require to be fed by
Government importations j 2. there will be a
certain amount of food in hoard throughout
the country; 3. there will be a portion, it
may be a small one, of the produce of harvest
available; 4. a large proportion of the necessalY
food required will be imported by private
speculation; 5. there is the uncertainty of the
period during which the famine will last; 6.
there is the uncertainty of the amount of food
that should be taken as a basis for the daily