November, 1910.j 



443 



Miscetlaneousi 



men not born and bred io the country 

 and who will remain in it for a time, 

 taking with them, when they leave, the 

 experience they have gathered, A 

 change is possible— it may be even said 

 to be inevitable — but it can only be 

 brought about slowly. Indians have 

 bei*un to appreciate the importance of 

 industrial activity ; they have started 

 the Swadeshi movement to encourage it 

 and by degrees they are learning the 

 nature of the problem they have to face. 

 A detailed history of the modern devel- 

 opment of the cotton industry in 

 Western India would furnish much use- 

 ful information to those who are seeking 

 for guidance as the methods to be pur- 

 sued to raise Iudia in the scale of nations, 

 to utilise her resources aud to provide 

 her people with something more than 

 the bare necessaries of life. There can 

 only be a vigorous and healthy indus- 

 trial life when it is carried on by the 

 people themselves — that is, they must 

 supply the capital, take the risks, enjoy 

 the profits, bear the losses and, above 

 all, undertake the management and 

 control of the many branches into which 

 it is subdivided. 



The Extent op Native Resources. 



The labour problems in India are not 

 serious ; there is plenty of labour, al- 

 though the standard of efficiency is very 

 low and there is a sad lack of energy 

 and staying power, partly attributable 

 to climatic causes and partly to the low 

 standard of living. The small wages 

 paid for such labour compensates for its 

 disadvantages in a commercial sense and 

 it is certain that, as progress is made, 

 there will be a corresponding improve- 

 ment in the condition of the working 

 classes— their output will increase and 

 their wages rise, if education be spread 

 among them, their wants will become 

 more numerous and gradually they will 

 emerge from the thraldom of conser- 

 vatism and prejudice which dominates 

 them and strangles all aspirations for 

 any higher state of existence than that 

 which they now enjoy. 



Of capital there is plenty in the coun- 

 try aud year by year it is accumulating, 

 but the people do not know how to use 

 their wealth and it is uselessly hoarded 

 inthefoim of gold silver and jewellery, 

 Thei e is a general impression that in 

 India too large a proportion of the 

 population is dependent upon agri- 

 culture 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 subject 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 com- 

 parative 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 subsistence. 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 abun- 

 dant 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 manufac- 

 tured 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 indus- 

 trial India. 



The charge is often made that British 

 rule in India has brought about an im- 

 poverishment; of the people and that 

 they are worse off now than they were 

 under the Moguls and their owu princes. 

 The charge is easily made and difficult 

 to disprove, as but little is known of 

 the people before the rise of the British 

 power. The standard of living is very 

 low among the great bulk of the popul- 

 ation ; it is hardly possible that it could 

 have been much lower but the numbers 

 today are certainly double, possibly 

 treble, what they were three centuries 

 ago. Famine and plague still devastate 

 the land but their terrors are much 

 diminished and the ravages of war and 

 interstate feuds have entirely ceased. 

 Roads and railways have opened up 

 the country, irrigation works have 

 converted waste, desolate tracts into 



