Miscellaneous. 



336 



[October, 1911. 



Khus, and make a round of salams 

 to the Bara and Chhota sahibs, they 

 have done their duty and the Sirkar is 

 pleased. 1 do not ask them to give up 

 their present occupation which perhaps 

 is a pleasant and profitable pastime, 

 but please do not make that the be-all 

 and end-all of your existence. I can 

 assure you that the Sirkar will be more 

 pleased and appreciate your work if it 

 finds that the Zemindars take real 

 interest in their peasantry by helping 

 them in improving their land, the quality 

 of their grain and the condition of their 

 cattle. Some of our Zemindars with this 

 object can send their sons or other re- 

 lations to some Agricultural College, say 

 to Oawnpore, to learn the improved 

 methods of cultivation and their allied 

 subjects, and after learning all they have 

 to learn, return to their homes and give 

 their tenants the benefits of their edu- 

 cation. Another thing which is a dis- 

 grace to our country is the hopeless 

 indebtedness of the peasantry. For this 

 the peasant is to a certain extent to be 

 blamed, but poor man, he is left to him- 

 self without anyone to help him, and he 

 gets more and more into the clutches of 

 the money-lender. Why cannot the 

 system of the agricultural banks be in- 

 troduced here with profit to the Zemin- 

 dar and to the salvation of the peasan- 

 try. I am glad to notice that this has 

 been started in several places with 

 marked success. In this connection 

 allow me to read to you an extract 

 from the " Statement " exhibiting the 

 moral and practical progress and condi- 

 tion of India during the year 1908-1909 :— 

 "The movement has almost everywhere 

 passed out of the experimental stage ; a 

 large number of the Societies are firmly 

 establisned on a self-supporting basis, and 

 they are winning more and more the ap- 

 preciation and confidence of the people. 

 Loans are well and punctually repaid. 

 It is noteworthy that in spite of the 

 large increase in working capital the 

 amount lent by the State is but little 

 larger than the previous year." Our 

 association can do something in this 

 direction and show how it can be done, 

 and save the tenants from the hands of 

 the money-lenders. Then another thing 

 that you can do is to give some sort of 

 primary education to your tenants. 

 Begin in a small scale, say with at least 

 one school in every village where there 

 is none. Teach them reading and 

 writing and to keep accounts, and also 

 something about elementary sanitation 

 and other useful subjects. Perhaps 

 night schools would be more welcome 

 than day schools. But these are 

 matters of detail which you could 

 decide for yourselves. What I wish you 



to do is to realise your responsibilities, 

 improve the condition of the peasantry, 

 treat them with kindness, and you will 

 reap a rich harvest for yourselves. I 

 would like in this connection to bring to 

 your notice some of the industries which 

 could be profitably taken in hand by 

 our monied men. You must have 

 noticed that some of the butcheis of our 

 town have built palatial buildings, and 

 have within a comparatively short time 

 become wealthy by exporting raw hides. 

 I do not ask every one of you to follow 

 their example. But certainly a factory 

 can be opened here to tan these raw 

 hides instead of exporting them in their 

 raw state of the value of lOcrores of 

 rupees every year. We not only do this, 

 but to oblige the foreigner we export 

 tanning materials so that he may tan 

 the hides and send them back to us in 

 the shape of leather and manufactured 

 goods. I was surprised, Sir, when I read 

 that India of all countries where wood 

 of all sorts is plentiful should pay 38 

 lakhs every year for tea chests to ex- 

 port the tea which we grow in this 

 country. How is it that we cannot 

 make our chests in the country and save 

 this money? Cannot we in Bareilly 

 start some industry to supply sheets to 

 the exporters of tea? Then we import 

 matches to the value of 82 lakhs every 

 year, as also soap, glassware, earthen- 

 ware, not to speak of other articles. 

 We pay every year something like 40 to 

 50 crores of rupees for articles which 

 could easily be manufactured in this 

 country. Just think how our country 

 would be enriched if we could keep 

 all this money in the country. This 

 will give employment to thousands of 

 our young men who do not know 

 what to do after finishing their edu- 

 cation. The problem of our boys will 

 thus be solved. You cannot, and you 

 ought not to, expect that the Govern- 

 ment will be able to provide all your 

 sons and your nephews with suitable 

 appointments. With all the desire to 

 help you, the Government is helpless as 

 the appointments are limited but the 

 number of candidates are many. The 

 professions are already over-crowded. 

 Moreover, it is not given to every one to 

 win the prizes of the professions. So 

 instead of crowding the ranks of the 

 candidates for Government employment 

 and the professions, our young men will 

 find other lucrative careers opened for 

 them. No nation has been made self- 

 contained and self-respecting whose 

 educated young men look only to 

 Government for employment and crowd 

 the ranks of the professions, and in- 

 crease the number of grumblers and dis- 



