556 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



their wealth and it is uselessly hoarded in the form of gold, 

 silver and jewellery. There is a general impression that in 

 India too large a proportion of the population is dependent 

 upon agriculture and that the establishment of new forms of 

 industrial enterprise on modern lines has not compensated for 

 the decay or extinction of indigenous industries. It is suggested 

 that there has been a one-sided development of the natural 

 resources of the country and that in consequence the people 

 are unduly exposed to the perils of famine and scarcity. During 

 the last half-century the indigenous industries have been 

 subjected to ruinous competition with imports from abroad, 

 as a result of which the condition of the artisans has steadily 

 deteriorated. Probably, however, their numbers are actually 

 larger and the amount of their output greater than at any 

 previous time. It is the margin of profit which has almost 

 vanished, with the natural consequence that widespread poverty 

 and destitution have taken the place of a state of comparative 

 affluence. Caste restrictions, combined with ignorance and 

 intense dislike to change of any kind, have kept the artisans 

 to their hereditary methods and in the absence of any external 

 assistance they have only been able to face their difficulties by 

 selling their labour at lower and lower rates, till all they can 

 now obtain is scarcely sufficient to provide for a bare sub- 

 sistence. On the other hand, during the last seventy years, 

 agriculture has greatly expanded and by the extension of 

 irrigation it has to a large extent become independent of the 

 vicissitudes of the seasons over very considerable areas. The 

 soil of India is rich and when supplied with sufficient moisture 

 and manure yields an abundant harvest. In good years it 

 supports the vast population with ease and yields for export 

 agricultural produce to the value of more than one hundred 

 millions sterling. Some of this is in a manufactured state but 

 the bulk goes out as raw material and it is this enormous 

 quantity of raw material which offers a field of development to 

 those who are interested in the creation of an industrial India. 



The charge is often made that British rule in India has 

 brought about an impoverishment of the people and that 

 they are worse off now than they were under the Moguls and 

 their own princes. The charge is easily made and difficult to 

 disprove, as but little is known of the condition of the people 

 before the rise of British power. The standard of living is very 



