The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1905-11-18

A HOPELESS LAND.
$F+4-+ss---s-s---s--ssl-sii-E


Caste is a great social organization /
which governs and directs the Hindu
OF India in every action Of his daily
lie. There are four fundamental d.
visions OF caste-the priestly or Brah-
min, the warrior, the trading, and the
laboring; and these. agatni are divid-
ed into sub-sections numbering thou
sands. Below the laboring caste there
Is a substratum which Is termed Pa
riah or outcast The Pariah, says the
author OF Indian LIE In Town ana
Country" is not much more than a
sanitary machine which performs the
functions Of a scavenger.
All these castles are hereditary. A
priests son is a priest. a soldiers
soldier, a carpenters a carpenter, a
scavenger's a scavenger. There Is no
question OF What shall We do with
our boysT' in Hinduism; that problem
has been solved in advance for two
thousand years. For a sire to start
Ills son In any other calling than his
own would be against his CASTE" and
there all argument ends. For caste
Is both social and religious. and In
cludes the calling as well as the creed.
A Hindu cannot change his caste, al
though he may be expelled from It;
his social status Is fixed forever at
the time Of his birth, and he can only
fall, never rise. This has tended to
make the HIndus an ambitionless race.
Caste Will admit no infusion OF new
blood, and when the same exclusive
spirit is imported into the ordinary
dealings Of life, you arrive at that stag
! nant conservatism which Is called
custom" In the East.
Caste is restricted to the Hindus,
! but custom is universal. There is the
Indian peasants pillow. The overwheIm-
ing majority OF the inhabitants of In
dia are dependent on the land, and
their crops would be much increased
t by better methods Of cultivation.
The pillow in use Is an implement
= which merely scratches the surface OF
the earth-an heirloom from remotesi
> antiquity. A new pillow was introduce
! ed by an enterprisIng firm of manufae
? turers, and lent free for trial broad
/. cast over province. 1t did the work
D more thoroughly, ana was offered at g
: price within the peasants means. But
it did not "catch on" simply because
r the plowman could not get at his bull
: locks tails to twist them. The ;
. perior tillage, the increase OF crop
:. could not compensate for the relIn
/, quishment OF this time-honofed Gus
; tom.
a There was a contractor engaged II
a railway excavation, who recognized
I that the soil could be far more expedi
$ tously removed in wheelbarrows tina:
+ carried away in baskets on the head
? Of coolies So he invested in SOM
/ wheelbarrows and showed how the,
L were to be trundled, and fattered him
It self upon having introduced a usefu
reform The next time he visited hi
e works he found his men putting III
Q tie dust into the wheelbarrows and car
4 rying them away on their heads.
n The paraphernalia Of Indian dali
5. life all belongs to the barbarous age:
5. Attempt to introduce any other an
a you are rebuffed with the reply, Il
J. Is not the custom. Ny father use
this article, and therefore It is m
" duty to use it. Would you have m
II set myself up for a wiser man tina
"a my revered parent"
10 Thus Is stified all attempt at reform
ID There is not the excuse OF ignoranc,
II. With the superior model before hin
ID the native deliberately rejects IT, b
!" Is not to be beguiled by any demon
m stration; he is too completely cruste
with conservatism and prejudice