begin relief operations at once in the areas affected by the flood, and appealed to the public for funds. A sum of Rs. 748-0-6 was

received in response. Rs. 665 was spent n relief work, of which Rs. 458-8-0 was nade over to the Central organisation and Rs. 107-8-0 to the Nursing Brotherhood. in view of the fact that most of the workers of the Samaj, like Mr. Krishna Kumar Mitra, Prof. P. C. Ray (of Presidency Colege), Mr. Lalit Mohan Das, Prof. S. C. Chatterjee (of City College), Mr. Himangsu Mohan Bose and Dr. Prankrishna Acharya, raised considerable amounts of money and worked in other ways in connection with the Central Organisation, with the earnest help of a large number of young men ncluding Brahmos, it was not thought ecessary to open separate relief centres lirectly under the supervision of the Samaj.

During the current year Babu Abinas Chandra Mazumdar has done some work on behalf of the Samaj in the Banda listrict, U. P., of which a report is published below.

It will thus be seen that the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj has taken a very humble but useful part in relieving distress in connection with the frequent famines all over India from 1885 till the present time or a period of 30 years.

REPORT OF THE Famine RELIEF WORK AT BANDA IN 1914.

This was organised and maintained principally by he Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Calcutta. Immeiately after the famine was officially declared by he Government and measures were taken by the nited Provinces Government to give relief to the istressed people in the affected area, the Sadharan rahmo Samaj thought it its sacred duty to extend ts help as best it could to suffering humanity. Appeals were issued for raising funds and I was leputed to organise relief operations in Banda and in ther places. In response to the appeal a decent sum vas received amounting to about nine thousand upees. Besides the sum of rupees three thousand five undred received by me from the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Calcutta, I am specially thankful to my umerous friends all over the country for their kind contribution which they sent directly to me. I am Dersonally bound to them for their confidence in me and their very encouraging letters backed by subtantial assistance in the shape of money.

I visited Indore and am specially grateful to Sir Narayan Chandavarkar, Rai Bahadur Dr. P. R. Bhandarkar and many Brahmo friends who took up he matter in right earnest and materially helped me with contributions of over sixteen hundred rupees. Need I mention that the soul of this movement in Indore was my brother co-worker Dr. V. A. Sukhtankar who worked at great personal sacrifice for the collection..........Mr. P. L. Vaswani,

Secretary of the Bharat Famine Relief Fund in Hyderabad, Sindh, collected and distributed large

sums of money to different centres. He deserves thanks from the public for his spirit of philanthropy. He also volunteered to come and spend his holiday with me at Banda but I had to thankfully decline his offer, taking his constitution and the extreme heat of Banda at that time into consideration. Amongst other names I must be permitted to express my heartfelt gratitude to Lala Prabhu Dayal, Pleader and Banker at Mooltan, whose donation of Rs. 700 by monthly instalments and especially his letters of encouragement inspired me with enthusiasm in the hours of sorest trial in heat and painful sight of the distressed people. I providentially met Rai Bahadur Ganga Ram, C. 1. E., M. V. O. and Rai Bahadur Hari Chand of Mooltan at Simla and with their money I have been able to successfully close the relief work in August. I sincerely thank one and all. Words cannot adequately express my sentiments. I generally looked up to God to bless those whose timely aid brought tears of thankfulness fror: me and for whose welfare I could not but offer prayer to the throne of the Almighty. The whole country, especially the Punjab, had suffered financially from bank failures. Again the call on their purse for the trouble in South Africa was magnificently responded to. They were not prepared for the new distress of famine in Bundelkhand. The Famine Relief Fund did not therefore receive that generous help which it otherwise would have done. The non-official fund organised at Allahabad and worked by the Servant's of India Society in several places fared better than the fund at my disposal. I had therefore to content myself by opening one centre and that at Banda, the worst affected district. On my way to Lahore from Calcutta I visited Banda in the middle of February 1914 and made the necessary preliminary arrangements. The Collector of the district was not at the station, so I could not see him but I visited several official and non-official Indian gentlemen and was encouraged by them with promises of help which I subsequently received. I visited the Collector on my next visit in March and obtained his kind permission to carry on the relief work in my own way. I am thankful to him for his sound advice and for having been able to conduct the operations without the least interference, difficulty or trouble. I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Ganesh Prassad, Pleader, who is the Chairman of the Municipality and whose advice from time to time was invaluable to me. I commenced the relief work in the beginning of March and confined the operations to the relief of the distressed people in Banda town alone. I generally helped the widows, respectable families, and women of labouring classes who happened to be working very hard for the maintenance of their children. During the famine time when the distress becomes very great this last class of people suffer most for paucity of work and are deserted by their husbands who go to distant countries to save their lives and to secure some money for the sake of their wives and children, but unfortunately they seldom give any intimation or send any money to their starving people. These women of labouring classes seldom get gratuitous relief from Government funds, but with a number of children at their hands their condition becomes pitiable. I visited Indore in March and interested friends there to open a list for collection, the result of which is apparent and has already been acknowledged by me.

From April as prospects of funds became brighter we took up the viliage relief. Relief has been given to

seventy-five villages. I visited several of these, made enquiries and distributed tickets which promised relief for four months. At Banda the number was three hundred and in villages in one month the number rose to seven hundred. The townspeople were regularly given relief for four months, March to June, and the villagers for three months. In July besides the registered people hundreds came for relief and we gave them small sums to enable them to keep their bodies and souls together. At the end of June I found the condition of the cattle.very bad. The sight of cows, buffaloes and bullocks dying in numbers was appalling and with the limited fund at my disposal I could only give one thousand rupees worth of grass and bhoosa to the cattle in Banda town alone. Thousands of cattle have died in this famine. I was told in Banda that four different sorts of contractors were roaming about in the prospect of enriching themselves at the sacrifice of the poor dumb creatures. If any one has become rich in these hard times he is the butcher and chamar that deals in hides. The second contractor was for hoofs and horns. The third one dealt with bones at two The fourth annas per maund. was for meat. Many Hindus did not willingly part with their animals but death had the largest contract and carried off thousands that escaped the knives of butchers. After the rains had set in when we were all hoping that fresh green grass would be ample and would revive the dying ones, cattle disease set in and did what the butcher could not accomplish. The whole of Bundelkhand has been denuded of its horned cattle. I have not seen or heard of human deaths by starvation similar to what I saw at Bahraich in 1908, but the mortality amongst the cattle was terribly large. It will leave dire distress to the agriculturists and it can safely be said that the country will not recover its original prosperity in twenty years to come. Bundelkhand has been very unfortunate in relation to famine. This is the fourth famine that it has experienced within the last twenty years or so. In most parts of the country there is no irrigation by well water or by canal. Failure of rain has become frequent and the people are plunged in distress again before they are able recover from one past trouble. The people of Bundelkhand are a fine set, good in physique, size and strength, but constant trouble probably has demoralised them to a large extent. They will form a good soldiery but non-engagement as such has made them a lot of quarrelsome people, litigants at times of prosperity and beggars at famine times. A large number belongs to Brahman and Thakur classes not used to menial service and consequently the Government relief work in making roads and digging tanks is not availed of by them. The women are pardanashins who do not go to camps for manual work. The atta grinding and sewing work were not available during the famine and so they had to depend on charities or starve. The little they had in the form of ornaments or metallic vessels were disposed of at the commencement of the famine. So at last in the fag end of the famine, they came to us in large numbers and had to be supported from the Famine Relief Fund.

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Government helped the people in diverse ways. First, money was given as Bandhis. Second, relief camps were opened where men, women and children found employment in large numbers. Third, gratuitous relief was given to deserving people in every village. Fourth, Takkavi was granted for purchase of bullocks. Hay was brought from a distance and sold at cheaper

rates.

After such elaborate relief of the Governmez. people might well question the necessity of priva relief works such as the one started by the Sadhara Brahmo Samaj and the Servants of India Society. W can in reply say that supplementary help is necessary. It would even be better if Government gratution Relief Fund be placed at the diposal of such philan throphic societies as the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj, the Servants of India Society and such other movements organised by the people themselves. There is so much demoralisation in the country that there are many who enrich themselves from the relie. fund money of the Government. Only a small portion of the money reaches those for whom it is intended and the culprits are seldom detected and punished Even while going about from village to village distri buting relief I had to take the help of the Patwaris, the Lambardars and the Mukhias. The money wa doled out by me personally and the recipients warned not to give anything to anybody. Yet to my sorrow I had discovered that a small portie was voluntarily given without my knowledge to the middlemen who introduced the deserving poor ta me. The people believed that a percentage was due to these men and they dreaded that the displeasure * these would deprive them of a relief which they bad needed. It can be well imagined how the Government money in places is shared by a long list of middle-men Government is unwilling to trust the independent philanthropic societies because workers of thes societies easily discover the vagaries of certain Gover ment men and these in turn carry tales against oth workers to their officials. Mutual distrust is the conse quence which does no good to the Governing and to the independent organisations and pul bodies.

As regards the money spent in relief operations! have to inform the generous donors that somet thousand persons of different grades in society hav been helped. Two thousand cattle were given fodder Many families who could neither beg, nor borrow, no go to camp works, were secretly approached and he ed. Every famine requires a distribution of cloths, as the poor are unable to purchase cloths to cover the body. I confined the distribution to women only ard then to secure some sanitation the rags worn by the recipients of cloths from us were burnt and reduced to ashes.

The famine relief works have always many interesting pathetic stories to narrate. Let me conclude this report by repeating a few for the information of the donors

1. One day as I was proceeding to Tindwar village I saw on the road a herd of buffales fifty in number driven by two men. The condition of the animals beggars all description. They appeared as if black cloth over a frame was moving along. The first thought that came to my mind was that the persons taking these animals were butchers. I enquired and was told that they were Brahmins. They had purchased these from Hamirpur Tahsil at or 5 rupees each and were taking them to Rewa territory expecting to reach the destination in a fortnight by easy march. They had no fodder with them but depended entirely for the feed of these ani mals on the grass that grew on the road-side fields Fields there were none and we doubted very much these would reach the jungle where these were be taken. In three days they had already lost two bat it was no loss to them. The hides must have fetched them a double price in each case.

2. It was my every day practice to visit the poor

han's quarters near Banda early in the morning. his served two purposes. One of taking morning xercise, the other of finding out deserving cases of elp. One morning I met a poor blind old woman 1 a quarter known as Colvinganj. I enquired rom her if she did not receive help from anybody. reply she told me that only a week back she ad received a rupee from some person, but two ays ago a chowkidar of the municipality had me and taken eight annas with a threat that she did not give the amount demanded her ame would be scored out from the list of recipients. he protested and raised a cry but the neighbours ere helpless to protect her-so she gave the money nd now was starving. The story was corroborated y some neighbours. It excited my wrathful feeling gainst the chowkidar, but I was curious to know the ame of the donor. To my utter surprise my icket was shown to me. Another person in the same treet repeated a similar story against the same chowidar. I went in anger to the Municipal Commissioer and reported to him the whole case. The chowkiar accidentally came there and he denied having aken anything. We all went to the woman and the howkidar confessed his guilt but he mentioned some ther names under whose direction he had collected the ums. I left the matter to the Muncipal Commissioner o decide and reported the case to the Chairman of he Muncipality unofficially.

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3. At the end of June when the heat was unbearble and I was unable to go from village to village undreds of villagers used to crowd near our house. One day a few hundreds had come and we were busy 1 doling out relief money. Some women came runing to say that two women had got labour pains nd some shelter should be provided for them. They ad come from five or six miles' distance. My position ould easily be understood. I was in a fix and did not now what to do. I appealed to my kind-hearted unt at this juncture. The kind-hearted lady readily elped and one of these chamar women gave birth to son in our house under her benign care. The woman ad to be kept for a couple of days and other chamar omen of her village maintained to nurse her. This a typical case of want and distress.

4. One morning I went out and wishing to go to awab Talao, a beautiful pacca tank, ten miles from he Banda town, wanted to engage an ekka to take e to that place. The fare was settled and the kawala brought out the ekka but he could not aise the poor pony. The sight of the jaded horse ightened me that I might not be required in the way o lift and carry the horse. I therefore preferred to

walk the distance. On my return after two hours I found the pony lying in the same condition as before. I rebuked the ekkawala and offered him some help. He confessed not to have got any wages since two or three days and had not himself taken any food nor had anything for the horse on the previous day. I helped the man, taking a promise from him that the relief given to the horse would not be utilized by him for himself or family. Matters went on two days like this. Suspicion entered into my mind that in those days of distress the selfish man would appropriate all and leave the creature unfed. I therefore sent for the horse to be left in the field just in front of my house. It was my royal pony and I took very great care of it. But it was a broken down animal and would lie down there during day and night. On the third night this animal was stolen and I did not know what to answer to the owner. For the horse it was not imaginable to run away. It must have been carried away for its hide by some miscreant. Thank God it was found after two days on the river side and brought back by the owner. Notwithstanding all my anxiety and care the poor creature died after a week.

5. On the 6th August I went to Khurband station, the third station from Banda towards Manickpore, and distributed relief to the agriculturists. The good station master and his staff all helped me in the work. As I had some money left we decided that another visit might be made to this station when the poor destitute villagers of the adjoining villages might be informed to come. Saturday the 8th August was fixed for the purpose. I went and though my previous experience in 1908 at Jasra had prepared me for this I was yet unprepared for this large crowd. Over two thousand people, men, women and children, had assembled to take relief. With the assistance of the station staff two-anna bits were distributed to each and the Famine Relief Work was closed amidst the shouting of Brahmo Samaj-ki-jay.

In the distribution of relief I was helped by my cousins Babu Aditya Kumar Majumdar, M. A., who had come from Etawa to enjoy his vacation, and Babu Sudhansu Kumar Majumdar, B. Sc., whose guest I had become and without whose help and co-operation it would not have been possible for me to carry on the work so successfully. They have suffered, pecuniarily and otherwise, for my sake and I am grateful to them for their love and affection.

In conclusion I pray for blessings for all-the donors, the helpers, the workers and the Samaj under whose care the work of God had been achieved and my poor labours utilised.

A. C. MAZUMDAR.

HE United States has a popular form of government. Uncle Sam has scant respect for the frills and trappings of aristocracy. Here there is no triumphal urch,..no medieval pageantry to mark the progress of its chief magistrate. There are

no bureaucrats to set official prestige over against public opinion. There are no dukes or lords, no rajas or maharajas. In this land of the stars and stripes, we are all commoners, for "we are all created equal" at least in theory. In these days when the

publicists and politicians of India are looking "abroad" for solutions of various questions of Indian administration a glimpse of American government may not only be stimulating, but highly profitable.

In the United States there are two main divisions of government-the federal and the state. In this paper attention may well be confined to the national or federal government centred at Washington, leaving aside for the present the consideration of the governments of the states and their creations, the county, township, and city.

The form of government in the United States is republican, that is, it is a government in which the ultimate sovereign power rests with the people themselves, and is exercised by their representatives. While it is no easy matter to determine which is the best government for a given race of people, yet even from a casual survey of the triumphant democratic forces which are now sweeping over the world, it appears that a republic is the latest word in the evolution of human efforts to realize political progress.

There can be no good government without a strong judiciary. That the United States has one of the ablest judiciaries of the world admits of no doubt. The organs of federal adjudication are the Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeal, and District Courts.

The Supreme Court, which stands at the head of the national judiciary, has one Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. The Supreme Court holds its sessions in a chamber of the Capitol at Washington. No trial can be held without the presence of six judges, and no decision can be arrived at without the concurrence of a majority.

Below the Supreme Court come the Circuit Courts of Appeal. The whole of the United States is laid out into nine circuits; and in each of these circuits there are two or three, or four judges, according to the amount of business to be transacted. Each of the Justices of the Supreme Court is assigned to one of these circuits.

The lowest federal court is the District Court. The whole country is divided into some eighty or ninety districts, and in each district there are to be found from one to four judges, their number depending upon the amount of work to be done.

The name of the legislative organ of the government of the United States is Congress. Located in the city of Washing

ton, the capital of the nation, Congress is made up of two bodies of men: the upper house and the lower house. The upper house is known as the Senate and the lower house, the House of Representatives.

The principal advantages of bicameral legislature is that one house acting as a check upon the other, prevents the enactment of hasty or unwise legislation. It is interesting to note interesting to note that the bicameral principle, which is to be found today in nearly every civilized government of the world, was at one time seriously objected to by the early Fathers of the American Republic. And no one was opposed to it more strongly than Thomas Jefferson, the immortal author of the Declaration of Independence. The story is told that General Washington, who was in favor of bicameral legislature, was once discussing the subject at a table with Thomas Jeffer He had advanced the best arguments in favor of the unicameral system, when Washington answered: "You yourself have proved the excellence of two houses this very moment.” "I?" asked the muchastonished Jefferson. Jefferson. "How is "How is that, General?" "You have," explained Washing. ton, "turned your hot tea from the cup into the saucer to get cool. It is the same thing we desire of the two houses."

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The

The legislative period is two years. Congress meets annually in its sessions on the first Monday in December. President of the United States has power, however, to call extra sessions of Congress when legislation of an urgent character demands enactment.

The legislative competence of Congress is quite large: the constitution provides for regulation by the national government of such matters as are of common interest to the whole nation. The most important of these national matters are:

ents, and are beyond the interference f the federal authorities.

Each house of Congress organizes to it itself. Each house chooses its own fficers, except in the case of the Viceresident of the United States, who is y constitution the presiding officer of the enate. Both houses have a number of erks to call rolls, to read bills and to eep the journals: a sergeant-at-arms to reserve peace and order; a chaplain to ffer invocation; a door-keeper; a postaster; and several other petty officials. The name of the presiding officer of he Senate is President, and that of the [ouse of Representatives is Speaker. The ection of the Speaker by the Representaves makes the house independent. In ngland, the House of Commons also hooses its Speaker; but he has no ower to act until his appointment is onfirmed by the king. In this respect the House of Commons, unlike the House of Representatives, does not seem to be quite ndependent, but is rather dependent upon he pleasure of the king.

The process by which a bill becomes a aw is interesting. When a bill is passed y one of the houses, it goes to the other. f the bill passes this chamber, then it goes o the President of the United States for is signature. Should the President aprove of the bill he signs it, and it becomes aw; but should he disapprove of it then e vetoes it, that is to say, he sends it back o the house from which it originated with is objections. Now, Congress can override he President's veto. If both branches of he legislature pass the bill a second time y a two-thirds vote, it goes into the tatute book in spite of the executive reto.

Everything in this free country is done n the open. Time and again, I have atended sessions of Congress without being opposed or questioned by the guards of the Capitol. The fact is that, except on very are occasions, when as in time of war it s thought necessary to have secrecy, any person can go into either house without even so much "as by your leave." How very different it is with the English Parliament! No visitor can enter the House of Parliament without an order, or pass from some member. A pass seems very simple; but how is a person to get a pass when he does not know any member of parliament? Then, too, in parliament "the

galleries may be cleared by the Speaker if so requested by a member.

The House of Representatives has now 435.members. They are elected directly by the qualified voters for a term of two years. The Representatives are apportioned among the several states on the basis of population, generally about one for every 200,000 inhabitants. To be eligible for membership in the House of Representatives, a man must have been an American citizen for seven years. He must also attain the age of twenty-five yearsa very wise provision to secure mature judgment for so important a trust. In the House of Commons, the minimum age limit is twenty-one years. The result is that they are likely to have members who are relatively young men. Another important qualification of a member of the American lower house is that he must be a resident of the state and of the district from which he is elected. This system has often been compared unfavorably with the electoral practice in Great Britain, where a man living at Dublin in Ireland may be chosen to represent Oxford in England. The Americans act on the rational theory that a citizen of the state of New York will represent his state better than a man from across the continent in California, who is bound to be more or less of a stranger to the conditions of New York. Occasionally it is claimed by the advocates of the English system that by choosing a man from the country at large, a better man can be obtained; but the Americans reply, and with considerable logic on their side, that "there never was nor is it likely there ever will be, a state or a district, that will not have more than enough men able in every way to represent it."

The compensation of Senators and Representatives has been fixed by law. Their present salary is 22,500 rupees a year. Besides, each member gets 3,600 rupees a year for a secretary, 375 rupees a year for stationery, and ten annas a mile for coming and going between his home and Washington. Furthermore, all congressmen are allowed the privilege of sending their official mail through the United States post office without the payment of postage. Until recently, members of the British House of Commons did not receive any pay, though the Labour Representation committee, various Trades Unions and other societies