Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-23
PROBLEMS OF INDIA
Similar to Those Found in the
Philippines.
VALUE OF SUFFRAGE
NOT APPRECIATED BY THE
GREAT MASS OF NATIVES.
Universities Graduate Many Candi-
dates for Government Positions
Civil Service Conditions.
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondents Of The Evening Star and
chicago Record Herald.
CALCUTTA, March %, 1904.
American visitors to India are always
deeply impressed with the presence Of the
same problems of government here that
perplex our own people in the Philippines,
and although England has sent her ablest
men and applied her most mature wisdom
to their solution they are just as trouble
some and unsettled as they ever were. and
We will doubtless have a similar experience
among our own colonial or, as they are
called, insular possessions.
There are many striking condolences 1t
makes one feel quite at home to hear Lord
Curzon accused of the same errors and
weaknesses that Judge Taft has been ac-
cused OF; and if those two worthy gentle
men could get together they might en-
brace with sympathetic fervor One class
OF people in India declare that Lord Cruzon
sacrifices everything of value to the welfare
or the natives; another class insist that he
mas his foot upon the neck of the poor
Hlnou and Is grinding his brown face into
the dust. In both England and India are
organizations of,good people who have con-
celNed II to be their mission to defend and
project the natives from the imaginary
wrongs they are suffering, while there are
numerous societies and associations whose
business is to see that the Englishman gets
his rights in India also
II Is the same way in the Philippines.
Judge Taft could not satisfy everybody any
more than Lord Cruzon, and it may console
him to know that the criticisms of his pol
Icy and administration have been directed
at every Vlceroy and governor general of
Ind1a since the time of Warren Hastings.
and they will probably be repeated in the
future as long as there are men of different
minds and dispositions and different ideas
of what is right and proper
And the most striking of all the coinci-
denceS is the element of 'benevolence' that
enters into the administrative policy of In
dia, as it does In that of the Philippines
There are men who can look each other in
the face without smiling and talk of the un-
SelhShneSS of Great Britain in maintaining
a good government here for the exclusive
benefit of the poor ignorant. helpless
Hindu The same men extol the blessings
of self-government as exemplif1ed in the ma
tive states and municipalities of this great
empire This has been the text of more
sermons and more speeches than any other
subject, and to read some of the books and
articles that have been written about India
one would suppose that the greatest boon
ever conferred upon mankind is the oppor-
tunity afforded native Hindus to hold office
A Hollow Farce.
We hear the same sort of talk at home
our statesmen and politicians have doubt
less deceived themselves as to the value of
the suffrage which has already been
granted to the Filipinos; but there, as here
in India, self-government, or representative
government, II that is better term, is a
hollow farce performed for the benefit of a
few progressive and enterprising politicians
who have managed to get to the front and
manipulate things for their own benefit.
England has given India a splendid gov
eminent It has accomplished wonders in
the way of material improvements, and we
can say the same of the administration in
the Philippine Islands. even for the short
period OF American occupation. OF course
many mistakes have been made in both
countries. President Roosevelt, Secretary
Taft, Governor General Wright and his as
sociates would find great profit in studying
the experience of the British here. The
same questions and the same difficulties
that confront the officials at Manila have
occurred again and again in India during
the last zee years. and particularly since
1883, when the authority and rights of the
East India Company were transferred to
the crown. And the most serious of all
those questions is how far the native shall
be admitted to share the responsibilities OF
the government. The situations are SINH
lar.
The population Of India, like that of the
Philippines, consists Of a vast mixed null
titude in various stages of civilization, in
which not one man in fifty and not one
woman in 200 can read or write. In India
there are fourteen distinct races, speaking
11S different languages, divided by customs
traditions and religion Just as they are by
mountain ranges. forests and straits Of the
sea. The same proportion holds good in the
Philippines, where the people, If anything.
are very much more ignorant and less civ
flized. and there are more naked savages
than were ever known in India. Ninety per
cent Of the people Of India and the same
proportion Of the people of the Philippines
do not care rap about representative
government" They do not know anything
about it. They would not understand what
the words meant II they ever hear them
spoken. The small minority who do care
are the educated natives" who are just
as human as any of the rest of u.s. and
equally anxious to acquire money and power
and hold a government Office
There are many most estimable Hindu
gentlemen hwo do not come within this
class, but I am speaking generally and
pressed the same opinion that Hindu i'm
mediately becomes politician as soon as
he Is educated. If he does not succeed
in obtaining an Office he becomes an on
ponent of the government, and more or less
OF an agitator, according to his ability and
ambitions.
Not Representatives Of the People.
The universities Of India turn out about
Eve thousand young men every year who
have been stuffed with Information for the
purpose OF passing the civil service exami-
nations. and most Of them have only one
aim in life. which Is to secure government
employment. As the supply of candidates
Il always much larger than the demand.
the greater number fail, and In their dis
appointment, finding no other profitable
field for the exercise OF their talents be-
come demagogues, reformers and critics of
the administration. They inspire and main
tain agitations for home rule and repre-
sentative government" They hold conyen-
TONS deliver lectures and denounce Lord
Curxon and his associates. II they were in
the Philippine Islands they would organize
revolutions and paper governments from
places of concealment In the forests and
mountains. They classify their emotions and
desire for Office under the name of patriot
ism. and some of them are undoubtedly SIN
cere. II they had chance they would GER
tainly give their fellow-countrymen the
best government and the highest degree of
happiness within their power, and they call
themselves "the people" But in no sense
are they representatives OF the great mass
es of the Inhabitants They have no fnfit,-
ence with them and really care nothing
about them.
If the English were to withdraw from
India today there would be perpetual rev.
olution. II the Americans were to with
draw from Manila the result would be the
same.
1t should be said. however. that. with all