MISSION INDUSTRIES 37 



making up in enthusiasm what he lacks in technical skill, 

 the boys under such a missionary may be passably 

 trained in their particular trade, so that, if the mission- 

 ary does the business managing and the marketing, they 

 are able to earn anywhere from three to ten dollars per 

 month. 



Perhaps this successful missionary goes on furlough 

 or dies. The mission has to make provision for his 

 work. Often the most awkward, three-cornered person, 

 who cannot fit in anywhere else, and who ought to be 

 sent home, is put in charge of the industrial work be- 

 cause it is argued that he will do less harm to "real 

 mission work" there than anywhere else. Some of the 

 mission industries are big enough and involve sums of 

 money large enough to demand real business manage- 

 ment. The mission usually makes no provision for the 

 continuity of the industrial work; when one man drops 

 out there is no specially trained man to step in. If 

 missions are going to engage in industry at all, it would 

 be well to see that properly trained men and sufficient 

 capital are obtained in order to carry it on with some 

 measure of success. I take it that in a country like 

 India, with famine ever threatening and poverty ever 

 present, missions will be compelled to continue in in- 

 dustrial work for some time to come. 



Second: The reason for failure often is: the in- 

 dustry chosen is not suitable, or located in the wrong 

 place with respect to markets. The caste system, in its 

 economic aspect gives to each separate trade or occupa- 

 tion a far greater power and control over its members 

 than a trades union claims over its members in America. 

 If the missionary trains a boy for one of these caste 

 trades he has to employ the boy whom he has trained. 



