April 190V.] 



253 



Miscellaneous 



the caste system there can be no doubt ; nor is it disputed that the tendency 

 of that system is, as a rule, hostile to progress and reform. Its existence and its 

 power are, however, a very distinct indication of a method of extension of co- 

 operative effort along the line of least resistance. If members of caste of 

 widely varying social status are enlisted in the ranks of the same society, 

 it is clear that the whole force of the caste system is arrayed against suc- 

 cessful effort. It is impossible to believe that a Bra ham will become jointly 

 responsible for the debts of a Chamar, or that the influence of a Dhobi will suffice 

 to induce a Thakur to pay up a loan, when the latter has preferred the smiling path 

 of recusancy. It is also impossible to expect satisfactory combination between 

 two persons, one of whom enters the village meeting house in order to attend a 

 general meeting of the society's members, while the other is bidden to sit in the 

 street below. Where castes of widely varying social standing are enlisted in the 

 same society, it is obvious that equality, which is the mainspring of all co-operative 

 effort, inevitably disappears, and that success cannot result." Obstacles are, or 

 should be, only stepping-stones to success, and it is evidently in this light that they 

 are considered by the authorities in the United Provinces. Difficulties of caste are 

 now being got rid of by the provision of banks containing only members of one 

 caste. Their consequent smalluess and the illiteracy of the members are neutralised 

 by their affiliation to a central district bank. The same devise gets rid of complicated 

 accounts for every society ; it also gives the necessary confidence which attracts 

 capital, and money for investment is beginning to flow into the movement in a 

 satisfactory manner. Still there are lions in the way. The granting of money for 

 unremunerative undertakings — as, for example, for marriages— is one ; the capacity 

 of a caste punehayat to bear financial responsibility is hardly yet proved ; while a 

 third difficulty is the dread of any officially-feathered scheme. We are glad, 

 therefore, to see that Mr. Simpson is alive to the fact that the success of the move- 

 ment depends upon its assuming a popular and non-official character. Here and 

 here only lies the keystone of success, and we are in full accord with Mr. Simpson's 

 concluding paragraph, in which he says:— "Once co-operation in any form is a 

 success the people may be trusted to work out other forms for themselves. The 

 agriculturist of these Provinces has never shown himself slow to adopt any improve- 

 ment which is workable and valuable, and it is not to be expected that he will be 

 slow to adopt the principles of co-operation, once they are proved by experiment 

 to be successful in any one direction. That these principles are sound is undoubted 

 and their ultimate general adoption is simply a matter of time and of careful and 

 systematic education. The methods best suited to the conditions of the country 

 will be ascertained by the people for whose benefit the present attempt is being 

 made. And once the principles are known and the method of their application 

 ascertained, a new era will be drawn for the agriculturist and for the lower classes, 

 generally."— Indian A griculturist. 



