32 HAPPY INDIA 



why they should be governed by men who are in 

 no way superior to themselves, and therefore they 

 quite rightly and quite naturally seek independence, 

 but they have yet to show that they consider the 

 conditions of the poor Indian cultivator as much, 

 or more, than the British resident Commissioner 

 in India. 



No doubt these rules of caste are being modified, 

 and will be rapidly modified as the Indian gentleman 

 perceives the necessity of associating with his fellow- 

 subjects of all ranks, and whatever may have been 

 the ground, whatever the need, whatever the advan- 

 tage of the caste regulations in the past, he must 

 see that now it is impossible to trust the govern- 

 ment of India to a class who will not associate 

 with the most useful class in the country ; that is 

 to say, the poor labourers and the poor cultivators 

 of the soil. 



When the cultivators of the soil in India have 

 a sufficient income to live as good working men 

 ought to live, then all classes, all artificers, all factory 

 workers and miners, will also have a sufficiency. It 

 is also necessary that the British Government should 

 at once investigate the problem of the economic 

 condition of the Indian peasants and proceed without 

 delay to secure the necessary amelioration. 



If the British Governor- General was asked what 

 the British had done for the good of India, he would 

 point to great high roads improving communications, 

 he would point to railways, irrigation canals, the 

 great harbours and cities of Calcutta, Bombay and 



