376 THE PULSE OF ASIA
manded, beat them. In the case of Armenians, I have even known of women being beaten to extort taxes, and of men who were tied out of doors in a bitter winter wind while water was poured over them and they were allowed to freeze, for the same purpose. In such a land it is plain that deficiency of rainfall causes intense distress. One can scarcely blame the suffering peasants for being ready to rob and kill their more prosperous neighbors, for plotting against the government, or for hating the foreigners whom they are led to regard as the cause of their woes. If such results can follow from a short period of decreasing rainfall, what is to be expected from a period during which the decrease continues from generation to generation ?
Turning now far away to America, we find that even this favored land has suffered during the same periods and for the same cause as the blighted countries of Asia. During the years when Chinese Turkestan had its migrations and rebellions, Persia its famines, and Turkey its revolts and massacres, the United States had its financial panics. Clayton has pointed out that during the nineteenth century, each of the great financial crises of the country has been associated with deficiency of rainfall. The accompanying diagram is better than words. The horizontal line denotes time ; the curved lines show the amount of excess or deficiency of rainfall in various parts of the country; and the shading shows the times of deficiency. The proportion of the country which suffered from lack of rainfall is indicated by the depth of the shading, the black meaning that the whole received less than the normal amount. Poor crops generally mean high prices to the consumer, and unless the
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