The Colfax chronicle., 1903-06-13
OBJECT TO THE COIN.
New One Bearing King Edwards Tn.
crowned Head Onends the
People of India,

hihg EDWARD bald head is serious
" threatening the stability of Brit,
ish rule in India. IL seems that on
the new rupee, just issued by the In.
dian mint, the profile bust of the
king appears bald and uncrowned
Therefore native feeling is stirred to
its profoundest depths, and the effigy
of royalty has been brought into
ridicule and contempt. Also it is
taken by the millions of the Indian
empire as direct insult to them
that the kaiser-i-hind should be put
on Indian coins in a condition which
appears to them improper and even
immodest
In india every respectable person
would no more think of unco,ering
his head in public than he would of
well, there is nothing that he might
no which would be more immctest.
A poor Indian may have wardrobe
made up only of ureechcfout and
turban and still be in good form.
nut let him remove his head cover
ing in public and he commits a
serious breach of decency. Only in
the seclusion of his own home. when
no strangers are by, does custom per-
NIT him to be uncovered, says the
New York Press.
On the rupees of the reign of Vic.
toria the queen appeared crowned,
and all was well: but the Indian
mint, with singular disregard of ma
tive feeling on the subject, has placed
on the new rupees the head of her
son, not only uncrowned, but bald.
IL is as If some Indian raiah had
ouiIt a statue of the king in Hyde
Park and represented the monarch
In a suit of pyjamas.
England governs many millions OF
people in India. and has about 2OO.-
600 white people there to do it. That
she is able to accomplish this remark
able feat in the governmental way
Is owing to the fact that she has
been studiously careful. since the In
dian mutiny. to study the racial
prejudices and customs of the inhabi.
tants. 1t is by a close attention to
little things that she perpetuates
her rule.
II was a little thing that precini.
tated the great Sepoy rebellion. The
Sepoys were Mohammedans. and,
therefore. forbidden to taste of the
hesh OF the swine. but the cartridges
served out to these soldiers were
creased with the grease of the un-
clean animal In those days the SOL
dier had to tear the cartridge with
his teeth before he rammed it into
his gun, and thus was obliged to vio-
late the law of him who sleeps in |
Medina by polluting his lips with |
the fat of the hog.
The rebellion which followed the |
insistence upon the use Of the creased |
cartridges was terrible lesson to |
England, and taught her so well the
danger of running counter to native
prejudices that until the new rupee
came out the other day it was
thought the lesson was not forgot.
ten. That the imperial crown is on
the rupee does not alter the case
in the minds of India's millions. II
is stamped on the reverse OF the coin,
and that does not count. The crown
should be on King Edwards head
to save him from indecency.
Again. millions of Hindus shave
their heads, and the badness of the
king will be taken in the bazars-
In fact. is taken-as an evidence that
the king is a shaved head who goes
about without his turban. This com.
plicates matters and makes him an.
pear more indecent. IT is not. of
course. probable that the new coin J.
Will cause a popular outbreak. but
IN that strange land of India nc
,ne knows what such little thing ;
nay lead TO. ,
In land where fakirs throw a
rope into the circumambient air and t,
hen climb up the rope and tlisap. ,
,car; where the mahatmas roam S
about unbridled. where even Mime.
was able to materialize a q
feacup at an afternoon picnic, and :
where one Of the bloodiest wars in .
history was caused by the use of :
creased cartridges. who can tell what |;
viii happen? From Calcutta to n
'eshawar. and from Madras to Bonn. I
'ay all India is disturbed by the bald
ind uncrowned head on the rupee.
The native is a simple child of ma.
ure who will stand many things
'ut bald and bareheaded emperor
5 little too much.
The punks walla will stand fogging. |
'ut he rebels at the new rupee. You :
an tan the hide of Dinea Din with
but don't ask him to obey
king who appears uncovered in
ublic or he is apt to draw his knife.
Left At the Post.
mo, Mr.. Slowun," said the fair pos.
essor of the square chin. 81 must re r
fssQ Il - IL 4 Il II