The Wheel of Fortune Part 6

Yours faithfully,

M. K. GANDHI.

APPENDICES

BY

MAGANLAL K. GANDHI

I

A MODEL WEAVING-SCHOOL

All the external activities of Satyagrahashram in connection with Swadeshi have for some time now been taken over by the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee. People, who are in need of or wish to know anything about ginning-wheels, spinning-wheels, looms and Khadi, are requested to correspond with the Secretary of the Khadi department of that Committee. The Ashram now only conducts a weaving-school, which teaches all the processes from ginning right up to weaving. The boys of the Ashram school are at present taking the full course of instruction here, and we have not the room to take up students from outside. Some description of the work done is given here in the hope, that it may perhaps furnish suggestions to outside students and to schools desirous of having spinning-cla.s.ses attached to them.

Forty-nine spinning wheels are here regularly at work, over and above twenty-five others which are reserved for beginners. All these are worked three to six hours per day. Some are worked for even seven or eight hours. After a month's training, a friend worked twelve to fourteen hours daily for a number of days and thus proved the possibility of earning three annas a day. Another, a sister, spun nine to ten hours daily for some days after finishing her round of domestic business. In a month and a half, she had spun enough to get _sadlas_ and other cloth woven out of yarn spun by herself, and actually began wearing these things. She is now-a-days spinning at the rate of eight hours a day. One day there was something wrong with this lady's _rentia_. She referred the matter to the present writer who set it right. But she was not satisfied. She complained again, and again was the _rentia_ operated upon. But the wheel apparently suffered from some occult malady, which she was at a loss to diagnose. Every time its spinning power would get enfeebled. At last the poor lady lost all patience and was almost ready to weep. This was reported to me, and this time I examined the wheel very critically and effected a perfect cure.

It now moved merrily, and merrily did the sister proceed with her work.

It is very desirable that all the wheels in a spinning-cla.s.s be kept in a perfect condition. When that is the case, the spinner does not tire and works cheerfully and speedily. Our cla.s.s is attended by five ladies, who spin five or six hours every day, and by twenty-three students of the Ashram school, of whom eighteen are boys and five are girls. The conduct of this cla.s.s is not an easy job. Their spirits are in continual need of cheering. Some of them spin very rapidly. But sometimes there is a grievous attack of head-ache, at other times the still more grievous attack of idleness. Sometimes the hand is fatigued, at other times the wheel gets out of repair.

We are now replacing the thick by a thin spindle. It is true that with the slightest interference or rough handling, this thin spindle bends and begins to wobble. But it makes the movement of the wheel very smooth and easy, and also adds to its speed, as the revolutions are doubled from the fifty of the thick spindle to a hundred in the thin spindle following from one revolution of the large wheel. The doubling of revolutions does not mean a double output, but there is certainly a considerable increase. With the thick spindle, the wheel must go through 8 or 10 revolutions for the drawing and winding of one length of yarn; with the thin spindle, the revolutions of the wheel needed for that purpose are reduced to 4 or 5. Hence with the thin spindle, there is an economy of labour. The speed of drawing the yarn by the hand is clearly limited, so that 200 or 300 revolutions of the spindle instead of 100 would not double or treble the speed or the output. Advanced students draw and wind two feet to two feet and a half of yarn every five seconds. This comes to 8 to 10 yards a minute. If the sliver is good and the student in a spinning-mood, there is less breakage of yarn. Even considering the time lost on account of breakage and joining, some students are easily able to spin 400 to 500 yards of yarn of about 12 counts, fit for warp. This approximates to the speed of a mill spindle, and is therefore quite satisfactory. When the work is over, the student removes the spindle from the wheel and keeps it in good preservation.

Yet accidents do occur. The cla.s.s master must know how to repair a spindle which has thus gone wrong. He must also know how to put the wheel in good working order. The string which makes the spindle revolve often breaks, but if it is well-twisted, treated with wax, and then rubbed well with a piece of cloth, it becomes more durable and lasts for a number of days.

The students generally like to work on the _rentia_. But the moment it gets a little wrong and cannot be soon corrected, they rise and flee.

Not only the beginners but even advanced scholars are sometimes confused, when called upon to set right such a simple machine as the spinning-wheel. A veteran leader who set the non-co-operating students of engineering at work upon the spinning-wheel, made the remark that English education has incapacitated our young men. It was with great pain that he said this. And it is the simple truth of the matter. We can clearly see, that as a result of this education, we have not only lost the power of our hands and feet, but we also lack in patience and perseverance. We cannot bear to take the trouble of correcting anything that is wrong. Newspaper leader-writers question the educative value of spinning and doubt its efficacy in driving away poverty from our midst.

Their doubts would vanish if ever they tried and saw for themselves what children gain from the spinning-wheel. But these writers are themselves the product of English education. To expect them to be patient, is to forget the character of the discipline to which they have been subject.

There is no better test than the spinning-wheel, if we wish to ascertain whether our children are educated in the real and the proper sense of that term.

Many people still question the economic value of hand spinning. But I believe that the results of our experiments may perhaps lead them to reconsider their views. I will here put down the statistics of our own cla.s.s. Among our students there are five playful children, who spin only when the spirit possesses them. But all of them spin good yarn fit for warp. Hardly any spin yarn below 10 counts. Many spin yarn of about 15 counts. Now-a-days the boys are giving four hours to spinning. Formerly they used to work six hours daily, but then there was a tendency to occasional slackness. Now we have ruled that when once a student has spun a length of 1000 yards, he may be allowed to leave the spinning cla.s.s, and learn carding etc. This arrangement has had excellent efforts. All spin without losing a moment and spin 1000 yards in two to four hours according to the skill acquired. And the yarn thus produced is pretty uniform, well twisted, and fit for warp. We have fixed a round wire frame on the axle of the wheel just near the handle, with a circ.u.mference of 4 feet. This frame is used for opening the cone into a hank. 750 revolutions of this mean a thousand yards of yarn. Most students count the revolutions, while they are moving the frame, and hence do not take much additional time for calculations. Some are not able to practice this, and they count the length after they have prepared the hank.

1000 yards of yarn of six counts weigh 8 _tolas_. (840 yards make a hank. If six such hanks weigh a pound, the yarn is of 6 counts. Hence 840 yards of six count of yarn weigh 6-2/3 _tolas_.) 4 annas is a quite proper wage for spinning one pound of six-count yarn of a standard quality. This means a wage of nine pies and a half for spinning 8 _tolas_. But most of our students spin yarn of 12 to 15 counts, and even finer. And this is quite good and fit for weaving. The wage for a thousand yards of finer yarn must be proportionately higher; as the finer the yarn, the greater the number of twists to be given to it.

Twelve-count yarn requires nearly half as much twisting again as six-count yarn. Hence the wage of a thousand yards of twelve-count yarn must be half as much again as that of the same length of six-count yarn.

But this proportionately higher wage makes the hand-spun yarn much dearer than the mill-made yarn of the same count. If we take 8 and 12 annas to be the wage for spinning a pound of yarn of 12 and 16 counts respectively, the wage for spinning a length of 1000 yards of the same counts will be 10 or 11 pies. One student spins this amount in 2 hours, several in 3 hours and the rest in 4.

On the last _Amavasya_ it was twenty two days since the students set regularly to work after the _vaishaka_ vacation. Deducting three holidays on Sundays and three half-holidays on Wednesdays, we get seventeen and a half working days. There was an average attendance of twenty two students out of twenty three. Twenty two students spun in seventeen days and a half twenty four _shers_ and a half of yarn of about fourteen counts. If we take ten annas to be the average wage for spinning a _sher_, this comes to fifteen rupees and four annas. This is exclusive of Rs. 1-11-0 which is the wage of 18 pounds of cotton carded and made into slivers by one student in 12 days, calculated at an anna and a half per pound. It is also exclusive of the extra work put in by students on five or six days after finishing their daily quota of 1000 yds. of yarn by way of carding and opening yarn for weaving tapes and carpets. These students gave some of their private time also to this work.

There is no doubt, that the figures will mount higher when the students acquire the habit of methodical work. But whatever the pecuniary value of their work might be, method in work itself will be an acquisition beyond all price.

So much for the spinning department. I hope to be able to deal with the weaving department on another occasion.

_Y. I.--21st July 1921_.

SPINNING DEPARTMENT

I should like to add a few more facts about the spinning department, before I come to weaving.

In _Ashadha_ the students were more energetic than before. The number of regular students was 21, and these in 23 working days (there being six holidays in the month) spun 30 pounds and 24 _tolas_ of yarn of about 12 counts on the average, fit for warp. At ten annas a pound, this means a wage of Rs. 19-2-0. The total number of hours of spinning was 1337. At 4 hours a day it should have been 1932 (23 number of days 21 number of students 4). This deficiency is not due to idleness, nor to headache.

Complaints of idleness have now quite ceased. And students now understand that headache may prevent one from reading or working sums but not from spinning. They have also realised that if the arms are fatigued by fetching water or swimming, there is nothing like spinning for removing the fatigue. The thing is that those students who have mastered spinning were engaged in carding and other process. If full time had been given to spinning, we would have turned out a proportionately bigger quant.i.ty of yarn.

The spinning power of the students is increasing every day. The student who spun 7 _tolas_ an hour during the Satyagraha week is now no longer a prodigy and others are fast overtaking him. One day a girl spun 9 _tolas_ of uniform and well-twisted 12-count yarn in 6 hours. At the above rate this means a wage of 2 annas 3 pies. For 8 hours therefore the wage would be 3 annas, for 12 hours 4 annas 6 pies, for 14 hours 5 annas 3 pies. But it is hardly necessary to emphasise the pecuniary value of the work, so far as schools are concerned. The point is that by const.i.tuting spinning as a permanent part of our school curricula we provide manual training of the highest kind and at the same time prepare for the re-advent of a day when spinning will be as much a part of our domestic economy as say cooking.

_Y. I.--11th Aug. '21_.

THE ADVANTAGE OF THE THIN SPINDLE

Since we introduced the thin Spindle, we have been keeping a number of them in reserve. When a student has his spindle bent, it is not corrected there and then but he is at once given one of the spare good ones, so there is no delay. Afterwards all the spindles that have gone wrong are collected and corrected together.

The _sadi_, i.e. the wrapping on the spindle which serves as a pulley, is often cut by itself and has sometimes to be cut off in order to correct the spindle. A new _sadi_ has to be wrapped and for this a bottle of thick gum is kept ready at hand. It must be made of fine strong yarn, and be wrapped very tight. If it is loose, the string which revolves the spindle (_mala_) sinks in it and cuts it asunder, and at once the spindle stops. If the _sadi_ is made of coa.r.s.e yarn, it becomes rough, and so the _mala_ does not run smoothly, and the spindle throbs and causes breakage of the yarn while it is being spun.

Pairs of _chamarakhan_ (leather-bearing) also are kept in reserve. When these become too soft by an excess of oiling or by rough handling, they must be changed. Now-a-days we make them from raw hides and not from leather or bamboo, and so they keep longer.

Formerly a round piece of wood or cardboard used to serve as a rest for winding the cone. But now we have subst.i.tuted a piece of horn which is more durable. Wax is kept in stock for treating the _mala_. Besides these things we have a small oil-can, a pen-knife, a hammer, a chisel, and a small anvil.

The students bring the hank twisted hard in the shape of a stick. The hank weighs two _tolas_, which is the standard weight of the sliver provided. A bigger hank causes trouble while we open it, and the yarn is spoilt. The yarn spun by each student is kept separate with his name upon a wooden tag attached to it. Every student is asked to stick to one particular count all along till he has spun out enough for a length of warp; and then the yarn is sent to the weaving department. Every one is anxious to see when his yarn is sent out for weaving. Three such lengths of warp are being woven at present. About seven are ready waiting to be woven. An eleven year old girl will soon get a piece 20 yards long and 42 inches wide out of yarn spun by herself in the course of three months. This will provide her with two suits of clothing of two small _sadis_, 2 blouses and 2 petticoats. Her father had put in a pound of yarn spun by himself, to finish up the piece, and in return for this, she is going to spare a _dhoti_ for him too. She is as much pleased to see the cloth woven from her own yarn as most girls would be to see brocade. Two other girls have combined their stock of yarn and are daily asking for it to be woven. Those students who have pa.s.sed out from the spinning cla.s.s are engaged in other departments, and have not much time to spare for spinning; so they work on holidays and prepare woof for their own warps, which are waiting to be woven. So in the second month, the spinning department is in full swing.

_Y. I.--18th Aug. 1921._

HAND-LOOMS

The working of the spinning cla.s.s having been fully described in the first two articles, the process next to be taken up is carding; but having received a number of queries as to the working of hand-looms, I propose to deal with this before going into intermediate processes.

Questions are asked as to which will be the most useful loom for weaving hand-spun yarn. Some want our opinion about the automatic looms; others insist upon the necessity of inventing a new swift-working machine, while still others ask for monetary help to prepare such after their own designs.

My humble but firm opinion is that the old pit-loom is the best, especially for weaving hand-spun yarn. No doubt it is the slowest working instrument but is the surest of all, and just as our old spinning-wheel in spite of its being the slowest instrument is absolutely capable of spinning out all the cotton that India produces to-day, so the old pit-loom is perfectly capable of weaving out all the yarn that India can produce by means of the spinning wheels and the mills.

This is not the time to enter into the figures in support of my statement. I shall only try to show the usefulness of the pit-loom. The fly-shuttle loom has its place in the sphere of home industry as well as of the factory, but the automatic looms have no room in this industry.

Its drawbacks can only be realized by a study of the facts and figures regarding concerns which employ such looms. People who newly take up this industry should beware of flashy advertis.e.m.e.nts. They should not be misled by professed calculations of the working of such looms.

The fly-shuttle looms have varying adjustments. In the Muzzaffarpur spinning and weaving exhibition held in May last, a party from this school was present with its wheel and loom. Of all the fly-shuttle looms exhibited, the one from this school was selected as the simplest and lightest of all. It is all made of wood, with the exception of nails and screws required for joining. The pickers are also made entirely of wood. The shuttle and perns are home-made. Other looms had iron bars in their boxes, were operated with foreign shuttles, and their perns were unwieldy. Our loom is modelled upon a type of looms working in thousands in the Madras Presidency. The whole loom with a wooden frame to fit on a pit, with the exception of the shields and reed costs Rs. 45. These latter things are not supplied, as there is no fixed standard of the yarn to be used on it.