Darkest India Part 13

Or again let the village hand-loom weaver be pitted against the Bombay Mill-owner, and we see at a glance that under certain circ.u.mstances it _pays_ infinitely better to do things on a large than on a small scale, and that in so doing the amount of labour and risk are also economised.

Now this applies to the proposal contained in this chapter. Given a people who are well acquainted with Indian agriculture and who are willing to be moved;--given a leader and an organisation in which they have confidence;--given those religious and moral influences which will so help them in overcoming the initial difficulties of the enterprise; and given a suitable tract of country which (without displacing existing population) they can occupy, and I would say with confidence that it will be found easier to accomplish the transfer on a large than on a small scale, by wholesale rather than by retail.

In the present case all the above conditions are satisfied. The entire congested labor of the rural districts is thoroughly versed from childhood in the arts of Indian agriculture. They are willing in many parts of the country to emigrate by thousands even across the "kala pani," to which they have such an intense and religious aversion, or to enlist by thousands in our merchant marine and military forces. Much more then will they be willing to emigrate in far larger numbers to districts close at hand. A leader to inspire, an organisation to enfold, and a plan of campaign to guide, have in the most marvellous manner almost dropped from the skies since the publication of General Booth's book. The religious and moral restraints and incentives, so important for guarding against the abuses of selfishness and for inspiring with a spirit of cheerful self-sacrifice, are provided, and that in a purely _Native garb_, and yet with all the advantages of European leadership and enthusiasm. And finally there is land in abundance which Government desires to see colonised, and which is being slowly retailed out bit by bit in a manner altogether unworthy of the urgent necessities of the occasion.

What then is there to hinder a big bold experiment? General Booth will have in England largely to _make_ his agriculturists before he can put them upon the land. Here in India we have _millions_ of skilled dest.i.tutes ready to hand, and it will be possible within a very short period with a few bold strokes to relieve the congested labor market from one end of India to the other in a manner that can hardly now be conceived.

Is not this plan infinitely superior to the spasmodic Egyptian expedient of occasional public works, which cost the State enormous sums and only increase the local difficulty as soon as they are completed?

Should we not here be erecting a satisfactory and permanent bulwark against the future inroads of famine? Shall we not rather be increasing the public revenue for future years by millions of pounds and that without adding a single new tax, or relying upon sources so uncertain and detrimental to the public welfare as those founded upon the consumption of drugs and liquors that destroy the health of the people?

Shall we not again be increasing the stability and glory of the Empire in caring for its dest.i.tute ma.s.ses and in turning what is now a danger to the State into a peaceful, prosperous and contented community? And finally will not our Poor Man's Paradise be infinitely superior from every point of view to the miserable regulation _workhouse_, that is in other countries offered by the State, or again to the system of charitable doles and wholesale beggary that at present exists? To me it seems that there is indeed no comparison between the two, and General Booth's book has opened out a vista of happiness to the poor, such as we should hardly have conceived possible save in connection with a Christian millennium or a Hindoo "_Kal Yug._"

But it may be objected by some that in providing those outlets for the dest.i.tute, we should in the end only aggravate the difficulty by enormously increasing the population. This reminds one of the gigantic folly of the miser with his h.o.a.rds of gold. An amusing eastern anecdote is told of one who having gone two or three miles to say his prayers to a mosque suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to put out an oil lamp before leaving home. He at once retraced his steps and on reaching his house called out to the servant girl to be sure and put out the light. She replied that she had already done so, and that it was a pity he had wasted his shoe leather in walking back so far to remind her. To this he answered that he had already thought of this and had therefore taken off his shoes and carried them under his arm so as not to wear them out!

And here you have a wretched cla.s.s of miserly so-called "_economists_"

who are afraid to light their lamp, lest they should burn the oil, and who would rather sleep in the darkness, doing nothing, or break their necks fumbling about in their vain efforts to do little, when for a farthing dip they may put in hours of profitable toil! And when a shoe is provided for the swollen foot of a nation they are so afraid of wasting their shoe leather, that they would rather hobble about belamed with thorns, stones, heat, or cold, than lay out the little that is necessary to bring them so ample a return!

Each labourer represents to the state what the piece of gold is to the miser. He is the human capital of the nation and is capable of producing annual interest at the rate of at least a hundred per cent, if placed in sufficiently favourable circ.u.mstances. What folly is it then, nay what culpable negligence, nay what nothing short of criminality to sink this human gold in the bogs of beggary and dest.i.tution! Man is the most wonderful piece of machinery that exists in the world! The cleverest inventions of human science sink into insignificance in comparison with him! The whole universe is so planned that his services _cannot_ be dispensed with and indeed he is at the same time the most beautiful ornament and the essential keystone of the entire fabric! The utmost that science itself can do is to increase his productive powers.

But the idea of dispensing with the service of a single human being, or of consigning him hopelessly to the perdition of beggary, dest.i.tution, famine and pestilence is the most stupendous act of folly conceivable.

What should we think of a railway company that would shunt half its engines on to a siding and leave them to the destructive influence of rain and dust? And how shall we characterise the stupidity that shall shunt millions of serviceable human beings into circ.u.mstances of misery so appalling as well as of uselessness so entire, as those which we have endeavoured to picture? Why, here we have not even the decency of a siding! These wonderfully made semi-Divine human engines are suffered to obstruct the very main lines on which our expresses run, not only wrecked themselves, but the fruitful cause of wreckage to millions more!

But I have said enough I trust to show that the problem is not a hopeless one, and that the portion of General Booth's scheme to which this chapter refers is particularly applicable to India and capable of being successfully put into operation on a scale commensurate with the necessities of the hour.

Having obtained our territory we should proceed to mark it out, and to direct into the most advantageous channels, the inflowing tide of immigration. There would be a threefold division into agricultural districts which would furnish food for the incoming population, a pastoral district for the cattle, and a central market, which would furnish the pivot on which all the rest would work. Our agricultural and dairy farm proposal I have already fully discussed and will now proceed to describe the social City of Refuge which will act as a sort of solar system round which all the minor constellations would revolve.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SOCIAL CITY OF REFUGE.

I am tempted again to turn to Hebrew history to find a parallel for what would I believe be easily accomplished at an early period in connection with our "Poor Man's Paradise." I refer to what was styled the "City of Refuge." The object of this inst.i.tution was to provide a temporary shelter for those who had unintentionally killed any one, so that they might escape from "the avenger of blood." If on inquiry it could be proved that the death was purely accidental, the fugitive was ent.i.tled to claim protection until by the death of the high priest, the blood should have been expiated when he would be free to return to his home and people. If, on the other hand, it were a case of premeditated murder, the city authorities were bound to hand over the fugitive to justice.

The careful provision made by the Hebrew law for the occasional manslayer surely casts a severe reflection on the millions who, many of them through no fault of their own, represent the submerged tenth! Let us leave for the time being the wilful criminals who are the open enemies of society to be dealt with as severely as you like by the arm of the law. Turn for a moment a pitying gaze towards those hungry dest.i.tute mult.i.tudes, who cannot it may be, plead their own cause, but whose woes surely speak with an eloquence that no mere words could ever match! Why should we not provide them with a City of Refuge, where they will have a chance of regaining their feet? If it be urged that their numbers preclude such a possibility, we would reply that it has already been proved in the previous chapter, that this will in really make our task the more easy. The impetus and enthusiasm created by a movement in ma.s.s tends largely to ensure its success.

If on the other hand it be urged that our object is to divert the flow of population from cities to villages, it must be remembered that this does not preclude the creation of new towns and cities, which shall furnish convenient centres and markets for the surrounding villages. It is not a part of General Booth's scheme to abolish cities, but rather to dispose suitably of their superfluous population. And no doubt in course of time the world will be covered not only with suburban farms and industrial villages, but with cities which for commercial importance and in other respects will rival any that now exist.

I am the more encouraged to believe that this will be particularly practicable in India for the following reasons.

1. We have an enormous population close at hand. If at a distance of 12,000 to 14,000 miles, England can build its Melbournes, Sydneys and Adelaides, surely it does not require a very great stretch of imagination to suppose that here in our very midst with millions upon millions of people at disposal we shall be able to repeat what has already been elsewhere accomplished under circ.u.mstances so specially disadvantageous.

2. Again let it be remembered that in this case we should have the special advantage of carrying out the work on a carefully organised plan and in connection with a scheme possessing immense ramifications all over India and the world.

3. Once more, India supplies labor at the cheapest conceivable rate, so that the cost would be infinitesimal as compared with the other countries just mentioned.

4. Another important fact is that the laborers are accustomed to be paid in kind, and to carry on a system of exchange of goods which will further minimise the cost of the undertaking.

5. A still more encouraging element in the solving of our Indian problem is the fact that nearly every native is a skilled artizan and you can hardly meet with one who has not from childhood been taught some handicrafts. Indeed the majority both of men and women are acquainted with two or three different trades, besides being accustomed from childhood to draw their own water, wash their clothes and do their cooking. Hence it is impossible to find a more self-helpful race in the world.

6. Again this very thing has been already done in India itself, especially by its great Mahommedan rulers, hundreds of years ago, and that under circ.u.mstances, which made the undertaking infinitely more difficult than would now be the case. What was possible to them then, is equally possible to us now.

7. Finally in the midst of some of the very waste tracts of which we have spoken may be found cities which were once the flourishing centres of as large and enterprising a population as can anywhere be seen. Why should not such places be restored to their former prosperity instead of being handed over to become "the habitation of owls and dragons."

The selection of the site of the future city would of course be made with due reference to advantages of climate, water, and communication and it would be planned out previous to occupation with every consideration of convenience, health, and economy. Gangs of workmen would precede the arrival of the regular inhabitants, though we should largely rely upon the latter to build for themselves such simple yet sufficiently substantial dwellings as would meet the necessities of the case. We might reasonably antic.i.p.ate, moreover, that the influx of population would attract of its own accord a certain proportion of well-to-do capitalists, for whom a special quarter of the town could be reserved and to whom special facilities could be granted for their encouragement, consistent with the general well-being of the community.

It would be easy to fill many pages with a description of the internal colony, the business routine, the simple recreations, the practical system of education for the children and the lively religious services that would const.i.tute the daily life of the City of Refuge. Suffice it to say that we should spare no pains to promote in every way the temporal and spiritual welfare of its inhabitants, to banish drunkenness and immorality, to guard against dest.i.tution and to establish a happy holy G.o.dfearing community, that would const.i.tute a beacon of light and hope not only for its own immediate surroundings but far and wide for all India and the East.

CHAPTER XVII.

SUPPLEMENTARY BRANCHES OF THE COUNTRY COLONY.

(1.) _Public Works_--

While the central idea of the entire system will be that of providing permanent, as contrasted with temporary work for the dest.i.tute, there is no reason why the former should not be supplemented by the latter. The great public works which at present afford occasional relief for thousands would still be possible, only provision would be made for the redistribution of the ma.s.ses of labour thus withdrawn from the ordinary channels as soon as the public work in question was completed.

For this again we possess a scriptural parallel in the "levy out of all Israel" raised by King Solomon, consisting of thirty thousand men who were sent "to Lebanon ten thousand a month by courses; a month they were in Lebanon and two months at home." In addition to the above we find that he employed seventy thousand "that bare burdens" and eighty thousand "hewers in the mountains, beside the officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work." It was the elaborate organisation of these laborers, and the provision for their spending a certain proportion of their time at home, which enabled Solomon to carry out his great public works without seriously deranging the labor market, or hindering the prosperity of the nation. I have selected this instance because it is from well authenticated sources, goes fully into details and refers to a nation and country very much resembling India. Indeed it is almost identical with the familiar Indian inst.i.tution known as "begar" or forced labour.

The weak point of such special efforts is that they tend to leave things in a worse position than ever when they are concluded. n.o.body sits down to calculate what is to become of the thousands who have been drawn together, often hundreds of miles from their homes, when the time comes for them to be paid off. They are thrown bodily upon the labor market and left to shift for themselves as best they can, without any means of informing themselves where they ought to go, or into what other channels they can most profitably direct their labor.

This evil we hope to obviate by means of our Labor Bureaux, which will be planted in every city and district, and will keep such elaborate returns as will enable to watch all the fluctuations of the labor market.

For instance let us be informed of the fact that a railway is to be opened, a ca.n.a.l dug, or some other public work constructed in a particular district, we should be able to calculate from our returns the amount of labor that could conveniently be withdrawn from existing channels, and the amount that would have to be imported.

We should be able to const.i.tute a Solomon's levy (voluntary of course), and the laborers would have the a.s.surance that when the work on which they were engaged was concluded, sufficient provision would be made for their reemployment elsewhere, or for their restoration to their ordinary occupation. Our Labor Bureau would thus do for the laborer what is at present impossible for him to do for himself, and would economise his time to the utmost.

(2.) _Off to the Tea Gardens_--

We should be able again to supply the Tea and Coffee Districts with gangs of laborers, and should guard the interests of both employer and employed. The former would be supplied with picked laborers at the ordinary market rate, without the worry, delay and expense of having to procure them for themselves. The latter would be kept in communication with their families, and could be worked in "courses" on Solomon's plan.

(3.) _Land along the Railways_--

Among other proposals General Booth suggests that the land along the Railway lines might well be utilised for the purpose of spade husbandry.

There seems no reason why these extensive strips of often fertile soil should be left to go to waste, conveniently situated as they are on borders of the main arteries of commerce and in close vicinity to stations.

(4.) _Improved methods of Agriculture_--

This is a subject which deserves a chapter to itself in a country like India. If it be true that there are millions of acres of waste land that are only waiting to be cultivated to yield a rich return, it is equally notorious that by improved methods of agriculture the present produce of the soil may be doubled and trebled. To this subject we intend to pay the full attention that it deserves, making the best possible use of Native experience and European science. We shall be in a peculiarly favorable situation for experiments on a large scale. But this is a subject on which we cannot at present do more than touch, reserving for a future period the elaboration of schemes which will doubtless have an enormous reflexive effect upon the whole of India, and thus materially increase the wealth of the entire country and the revenue of the Government.