THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM 117 



The problem to be solved is the difficult one of finding the 

 happy mean between the individual working for himself and 

 the great capitalistic organisation employing thousands of 

 operatives in lives of monotony and drudgery. The single 

 man or family is too small an economic unit to succeed, the 

 modern mill or factory entails too much social degradation 

 to be encouraged. The free play of private enterprise in the 

 West has produced an unstable civilisation, in which the 

 various elements are in antagonism with one another. Is it 

 necessary that India should follow on the same lines ? Is it 

 not rather worth our while to attempt to direct her course 

 so that advantage may be taken of the experience that has 

 been gained to avoid, as far as may be, the unhealthy and 

 undesirable features which are becoming so prominent in Europe 

 and America? 



The Government are clearly justified in intervening to 

 prevent the artisan, if they can, from being driven out of his 

 hereditary calling and to start him upon a new line of progress 

 that will not land him in the evil plight that has befallen 

 his fellows under the modern industrial system. The object 

 to be obtained is the amelioration of the condition of vast 

 numbers of people and not the creation of opportunities 

 for concentrating great wealth in a few centres and in the 

 hands of a small minority of the population. If this premiss 

 be accepted, the problem should be studied with a view to 

 working along the lines indicated and such assistance obtained 

 from outside as is likely to prove useful. Much work, has 

 already been done by such scientific services as the Geological 

 Survey of India in determining the available mineral resources, 

 by the Forest Departments of the various provinces in ascer- 

 taining and conserving the value of the vegetation, by the 

 Public Works Department in its various branches in all that 

 pertains to improving means of communication and utilising 

 sources of irrigation. The scientist, the mechanical engineer 

 and the manufacturer have all done something to demonstrate 

 the value of these resources, which should now be examined 

 in greater detail with the specific object of increasing the 

 opportunities of the indigenous industrial population. Industrial 

 experiment and investigation are required and for such specially 

 qualified men must be employed. Something in this direction 

 has already been done and may be brought to notice, not 



