The Labor enquirer., 1886-04-10

q i ~ Z i Vi 15T =
porters of the Judged by its results)
most oppressive system Of government
on which the sun has ever shone, is
what might have been expe cted.
The potato bright, withit> consequent
fever and famine, largely helped reduce
the population of Ireland from 100000
to 100000; but our accomplished Hin;
doc tells us that that the meiciless bur,
dens laid on the people of India have in
the last TWENTY-FIVE years, caused the
deaths bv starvation, of more than lO,-
600 900 of people; and these figures are
taken from official returns.
A dollars worth of salt is made to
produce revenue to the government of
from SIS to $40. So desperate became
the straits of some that they "got out of
bed at night tol lex liz the dark" the
salt found on the earth's surface; but
this salt was ordered collected and de-
stroved that, as the author deserves
"the sacred rights of monopoly should
not be infringed." After enumerating
the evils of this tax, to agriculture and
many different branches of manufacture,
no less than to the physical well being
of the people, Amarita justly observes,
Satan 10 chains, broodin0 vengeance
in hell, could not have crncocted a
scheme more effective to spread disas.
ter and confusion among G IDS inno-
cents"
That the boasted mission" of the En-,
glisk in Indla-at which Give and Hast
ings would have laughed-is proved to
be hypocritical, cruel and insulting
pretense, is shown by the comparison
which our pagan Hindoo draws between
the treatment of the natives by the ex-
listing native states and the Christian
government of England; and here q
lengthy extract becomes necessary IN
order to give your readers a sample Of
the evidence on which the statements Of
the writer are based.
In the native states "the peasantry are
not in debt nor are famines frequent
the reason being (let the readers of THE
ENQUIRER note the fact well) that in
India the landlord has always been the
best possible one, namely, the state but
the English government has stepped in
as a private corporation and absentee
rack-renter. Fallow and culti.
waited fields are charged the same in En-
glsh territories, while the
native rule is, to assess fallow land on, y
one-eighth as much as the cultivated
Unlike the native, the English govern
ment taxes wells, sunk at the persona
cost of the cultigator."
Native rulers take payment in kinC
of from fourth to third of the pro
duce for the year, whether good or bad
the English collect in cash 40 per cen
of the value of the crop, based on ht
produce of good year. If in arrears
for rent, the native rulers charged ne
interest on the debt" In native India
"pastur land is Free" but in English
India, "a forest department has made
grass and wood" only to be had by pay,
ing tribute to the missionaries of civil
, zation
As one of the most talented of Ameri
; can journalistic writer's has described
the dangerous ella ses of this cou ntry tt
be the product of our common higl
schools, so our Hndoo friend saws tina
} young India, the product of Englisl
schools, is a particularly unfortunate
race. They represent social anarchy
and conceal under their incoherenI ut
terances deep discomfort of mind tina
will shape the future of India more pow
erfully than all the mock policies
of tt e dull ruffians who, under the nam
of statesmen misrule the affairs of tina
country"
AS Christ sat upon the Mount o
Olives and wept at the calamities which
he saw approaching the city, and consid
ering the temple as representing th'
hvpocritical ecclesiasticism of His day
? foretold that mot one stone should b.
left upon another" is it not easy for on
who will read the signs Of the times tt
say that no less a destructive agent
than Titus, the Roman conqueror, is OF
the trail of the ecclesiastical mockery O.
the day, claiming Christ as its pattern
From India to Puget Sound Humanity
appeals to God of Justice against its pl e
tensions and practices. ZACCHEUs.