BEGINNINGS OF CAPITALISM 187 



chief reasons wiry a knowledge of new industrial pro- 

 cesses does not spread quickly among them. In these 

 provinces only a little over 3 per cent, of the popula- 

 tion can read and write. In Europe an enormous 

 amount of technical information is diffused by means 

 of journals devoted to particular industries; new pro- 

 cesses and new products are thus constantly brought 

 to the notice of persons capable of making a practical 

 use of this knowledge. In India information cannot 

 be diffused in this way, and the adoption of new 

 methods is, in consequence, very slow. If the intro- 

 duction of new methods of production must depend 

 upon the gradual rise of the general level of education 

 among the masses, it is clear that Indian industry 

 must remain for a long while in its present condition. 

 It is because a capitalist organization of industry 

 adapts itself so much more readily to new require- 

 ments that capitalism tends to supersede that more 

 ancient organization in which the artisan is himself the 

 entrepreneur. Small capitalists, working in different 

 centres, might introduce this change in the methods 

 of production, which it is hopeless to expect the un- 

 educated artisan to initiate. It is quite within the 

 bounds of reasonable probability that a young Indian 

 who has received an English education up to the 

 B.A. standard, and who is in possession of a little 

 capital of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 10,000 should invest his 

 ability and capital in the hand-weaving industry. He 

 would find that he was able to buy twenty or thirty 

 improved hand-looms (those which are made by Mr. 

 Shafi in imitation of his Japanese model cost Rs. 100 

 each); he would engage the same number of weavers, 

 whom he would have to teach the use of the new 

 loom. When they had acquired the dexterity neces- 

 sary to work it, he would have to give them wages 

 at the rate of about 4 annas a day, which is some- 

 what in excess of their earnings with the old-fashioned 

 loom. These weavers would be his servants, and the 



