care a rap for all the theories that can be stacked up by your
modern college professor, who wouldn't know a pumpkin if he met one
rolling down hill. I tell you God Almighty never made the black corn
belt land to be worn out, and he doesn't create people on this earth
to let 'em starve to death. Don't you understand that?"

"I am afraid that I do not," replied Percy. "I have received no such
direct communication; but I saw a letter written from China by a
missionary describing the famine-stricken districts in which he was
located. He wrote the letter in February and said that at that time
the only practical thing to do in that district was to let four
hundred thousand people starve and try to get seed grain for the
remainder to plant the spring crops. I have a "Handbook of Indian
Agriculture" written by a professor of agriculture and agricultural
chemistry at one of the colleges in India. I got it from one of the
Hindu students who attended the University when I was there. This
book states that famine, local or general, has been the order of the
day in India, and particularly within recent years. It also states
that in one of the worst famines in India ten million people died of
starvation within nine months. The average wage of the laboring man
in India, according to the Governmental statistics, is fifty cents a
month, and in famine years the price of wheat has risen to as high
as $3.60 a bushel. This writer states that the most recent of all
famines; namely, that prevailing in most parts of India from 1897 to
1900, was severer than the famine of 1874 to 1878. No, Sir, I am not
sure that I understand just what God's intentions are concerning the
corn belt, but it is recorded that the Lord helps him who helps
himself, and that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his
brow. If God made the common soil in America with a limited amount
of phosphorus in it, He also stored great deposits of natural rock