to sit with folded hands and be starved to extinction or to a condition of savagery whence they emerged thousands of years ago? As we have seen above, they cannot expect much help from their Government, and they must work out their own salvation themselves or perish. The problem is a difficult and complicated one. There is, however, one solution of it which appears to me to be possible, and I shall close this article by briefly indicating it. A movement has been going on for sometime past in different parts of India which is known as the Swadeshi (or Patriotic) movement. Its object being protection of indigenous industries, it is not much favoured by the generality of the more highly educated Indians who are imbued with the doctrine of Free Trade imparted with English education. When they, however, awaken to a sense of the fallacious nature of that doctrine when applied irrespective of surrounding circumstances, as I have no doubt they will soon, they will not only cease to look askance at this hitherto obscure and little recognised movement, but will perceive in it the germ of a great organisation which, if well directed, may effect the industrial regeneration of India. A great central organisation with branches in all important towns having for its object the promotion of the interests of indigenous manufactures will go a long way towards at least a partial solution of the compli cated problem of Indian industrial development. Such a movement will need in its apostles the exercise of even greater energy, greater patriotism, and greater self-sacrifice than the National Congress. They will have to lead a life devoid of the glamour which attaches to political pursuits, to preach upon subjects which would be considered tame when compared to those which (naturally enough) evoke the enthusiasm of orators and audiences in political meetings, to raise and administer immensely vaster funds than what suffices to set the machinery of the Congress going, and to set examples to their country. men by eschewing foreign luxuries and being content with humbler garments and humbler fare than what they have hitherto been accustomed to. A properly organisd Swadeshi movement will demonstrate even more forcibly than the National Congress, that the apparently heterogeneous peoples of India are capable of uniting for the common good of their country. It would do for struggling industries in India what is done for them by Governments in independent countries by bounties and tariffs. If it can raise sufficient funds by enlisting the sympathy of the rich, it may bring technical education within its sphere of action, and well equipped technical institutes may be started under its auspices. What little capital there is in the country, if it does not respond to the impulse of patriotism infused into it by the Swadeshi movement, would on purely business considerations seek for investment in ventures which trained hands are ready to start, and for which there is the assurance of protection when started. The idea of such an organisation may at present appear to many as chimerical. But there is really no reason why it should not be realised if a few earnest, capable, self-sacrificing men make it the mission of their lives. What is needed is a clear consideration of its urgent necessity, and a firm conviction that without the fostering care and watchful vigilance of some such organisation, the industrial enterprises of Young India will be unsuccessful and infructuous. (Hindusthan Review, February, 1906) THE handloom industry has of late been attracting considerable public attention. It is a very important factor in the industrial regeneration of India; and its possibilities are unquestionably great. But they are capable of exaggeration; and, as a matter of fact, I find they are being exaggerated in some quarters to the detriment of the development of the mill industry. Mr. E. B. Havell, in a paper read at the Industrial Conference held at Benares, scouts the proposal for meeting the textile requirements of India by starting mills, and hardly thinks, "that those who make the suggestion have realised the economic and industrial bearings of the problem they attempt to solve." Still more recently in a letter published in the Statesman he predicts" that before many years have passed Science will have discovered some more artistic applications of mechanical force than those which condemn so many European artisans to lives of hopeless misery and degradation," and asks "is it a wise and statesmanlike policy to break up the organisation of Indian village industries and encourage Indian artisans to herd together in crowded factories when perhaps in a few decades Science will enable the Indian villagers to use mechanical power as easily as the capitalist does now ?" The evils of western industrialism have long been patent. It has been fervently denounced by many an occidental philosopher-by Huxley, Wallace and Spencer among others in England. But there is no sign yet of the consummation so confidently predicted by Mr. Havell and so devoutly wished for by all Asiatics, who are being mercilessly exploited by the great powers of the West in the interests of their industries. In fact, "it seems to us an almost inexplicable enigma, that western writers, while they earnestly deprecate capitalism, should be blind to the principal cause which promotes it; so much so, indeed, that they often further it by their own action. The same physicist or chemist who will in his study or on the platform anathematise the capitalists for their iniquitous conduct will, perhaps, in his laboratory invent some machinery or discover |