The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-02

railway. no more than the perfection OF
elaborate mail facilities and the compile
ton OF a most extensive system OF tele-
graph. has advanced the material welfare
Of the native. Were there no railways at
all. and the masses stayed at home. con-
fning their pilgrimages and festivals as
formerly TO comparatively nearby places.
no small share of the 500. 900 now an
nualiy going from the support of railways,
postofhce and telegraph would remain in
the hands of the original earners Of the
money-the natives.
Discussing with an Englishman the en-
failing upon single generation OF ire
mendOus an expenditure for modern facili-
ties and the danger of the complete exhaus-
ton OF the masses, as has this year been
realized. the characteristic reioinder was
whats the difference? II their money
old not go for these. IL would for something
else. and they wouldn't have any left any
how
MISSIONARIES MERELY TOLERATED.
Between the missionaries and the govern
ment in India really good feeling has
ever prevailed. 1t is a matter Of history
that the English dominated the country for
two hundred and fifty years with a wall,
fguratively speaking. about 1t no mission
airy, those of the Church of England or
other, could surmount. II is only within the
latter half of the present century the Briton
would tolerate even his own missionaries
in India. and 10 this day the government
decries and minimizes their influence. That
the missionaries have any official recog-
milton whatsoever is not from choice, but
IS In Difference TO the strong church senu-
ment at home. and which it would not be
safe to wholly antagonize. Practically,
nevertheless, the yielding is more the
shadow than the substance. The influence
Of the missionary is powerless to lessen the
systematic debasing. degenerating and de-
bilitating of the native by the government
for the enhancement of it's revenues. The
life blood, the very sap Of the nations
vitality. is being exhausted. and famines'
awful ravages have been made more awful
by the weakened mentality and the pois-
oned physique of it's victims. Despite all
the clamor raised in religious circles and
the protests of the humane everywhere,
the continuance Of the governmental
monopoly OF opium producing and sale is
maintained, not Quiescent and evidencing
some regard for opinion but aggressive
Rnd defiant. The consumption OF the para
lying drug is stimulated by every means
within the governmental ramiications.
twenty-five millions Of dollars come into
the exchequer yearly from opium privileges
and as much more from the liquor excise
receipts. No very impressive sums upon
their face, when the millions liquor licenses
here aggregate are considered. But ii
should be remembered that a native in
India lives on a tenth the income of the
commonest laborer in this country. dime
TO him being more than a dollar to our
hodcarrier. No lines are drawn in originat-
ceipts from governmental monopolies. In
the face of all the missionaries have been
able to accomplish in the way of influence
and protests. the opium dens and the dram
shops have been carried into the village
formerly removed from these contaminat-
ing agencies. Nine-tenths of the population
of the empire agriculturists, and live
in the village communities which, through
out centuries of existence and change of
rulers, have preserved their exceeding sim
plicity of life. Already this is giving way
before the inroads OF modern civilization
exemplifed in the encouragement of the
appetite for that which the abuse of is, in
the lower humankind, the inevitable out
come. The system in vogue of disposing
the privileges for the sale to the highest
bidders and so perfecting the operation Of
the regulations governing the traffic that
the larger the receipt OF the government
the greater the profit to the holders of the
privilege, has worked to increase the reve-
nue.. but at what expense the famine has
shown in the frightful aggregate Of the
death record The physical system is re-
duced to the extreme of debility through
the want Of nourishing food. the nervous
system shaken by the insidious strain of
opium. and the mental system dulled and
deadened by the emasculating force of al
cohol, for where it is not the one 1t is the
other and often all three which kills.
POOR SHOW FOR NATIVES
The native has a slim show for existence
with government that does not regard
him as even a being, but merely as a
means. and the writer in India, expressing
the conviction that the poor INDECENT is
better OF dead than alive, is, from the
standpoint OF our civilization, but honest
and humane. There would seem to be moth
Ing FOR the hapless Hindu to look forward
70 in the future but continuance Of con-
EcAAlAa aleu- AAASCASs -NO PAOSECCl WHdlcNch
of things becoming better for him within
the term OF his natural life. The effect of
this seasons disaster will add appallingly
to the burden OF arrears of taxes, interest
and forfeited obligations, already stagger-
ing. The same systematic exactions under
which India has reached her present ghast-
" plight will prevail the same complete
Indifference TO the native, the same all
pervading spirit OF commercializing every
thing. to the very body and soul. will gov
ern; the same utter absence of every con-
ceivable impulse save self-a selLfulness
which of itself is so selfish as to recognize
naught but the immediate moment: the
sucking OF an orange and throwing away
the rind; the pairing of an apple and tread
tng the peel into the dust of the earth; the
swallowing Of the pulp of the grape and
ejecting the skin any and everywhere Nc
more unconcernedly the Englishman graft
nes his taste in these respects than he fol-
lows his inclination TO make the native ir
India meet his every desire, and the abso-
lutte fmpoverishment of the latter as a con
sequence is as the orange .rind, the apple
pairing and the grape skin-nothing. With