THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM 555 



to-day, except perhaps in the cotton trade, India lacks native 

 industrial leaders. The men with capital, business acumen, 

 technical knowledge and administrative capacity, who form the 

 backbone of industrial life in Europe and America, are lacking 

 and no preparation has been made to create them. Develop- 

 ment in the immediate future, as in the past, must mainly 

 depend on men not born and bred in the country and who 

 will only remain in it for a time, taking with them, when they 

 leave, the experience they have gathered. A change is possible 

 — it may be even said to be inevitable — but it can only be 

 brought about slowly. Indians have begun to appreciate the 

 importance of industrial activity ; they have started the Swadeshi 

 movement to encourage it and by degrees they are learning 

 the nature of the problem they have to face. A detailed history 

 of the modern development of the cotton industry in Western 

 India would furnish much useful information to those who 

 are seeking for guidance as to the methods to be pursued to 

 raise India in the scale of nations, to utilise her resources and 

 to provide her people with something more than the bare 

 necessaries of life. There can only be a vigorous and healthy 

 industrial life when it is carried on by the people themselves — 

 that is, they must supply the capital, take the risks, enjoy the 

 profits, bear the losses and, above all, undertake the management 

 and control of the many branches into which it is subdivided. 



The Extent of Native Resources 



The labour problems in India are not serious ; there is 

 plenty of labour, although the standard of efficiency is very 

 low and there is a sad lack of energy and staying power, partly 

 attributable to climatic causes and partly to the low standard 

 of living. The small wages paid for such labour compensates 

 for its disadvantages in a commercial sense and it is certain 

 that as progress is made there will be a corresponding improve- 

 ment in the condition of the working classes — their output 

 will increase and their wages rise ; if education be spread 

 among them, their wants will become more numerous and 

 gradually they will emerge from the thraldom of conservatism 

 and prejudice which dominates them and strangles all aspirations 

 for any higher state of existence than that which they now enjoy. 



Of capital there is plenty in the country and year by year 

 it is accumulating; but the people do not know how to use 



