The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-01

of India has already approved of ex- | tensions which, when made, will pro l tect 100000 acres, and irrigate 5000. 900 acres The estimated cost of these
 extensions is about $45 1000, 900. and the plans are to be carried out "as funds /, can be provided" Ten per cent of the
 army expenditure. applied to irriga.
 ton, would complete the system with,
 in five years. but instead of military
 expenses bsing reduced. the army ap- | propriation was increased more than 1 $10,000000 between 1904 and 1905. Of the total amount raised from tax ation each year about 40 per cent is I raised from land, and the rate Is SC heavy that the people cannot save
 enough when the crops are good t1
 feed themselves when the crops are
 bad More than 10 per cent of the total
 tax is collected on salt. which now pays about hve-eighths of a cent per
 pound. This Is not only q heavy rate. when compared with the original cost of the salt. but 1t is especially burden
 some to the poor. The salt tax mas been as high as l cent pound, and when at that rate materially reduced the amount of salt consumed by the people.
 The poverty of the people of India is distressing in the extreme; millions live on the verge of starvation all the time, and one would think that theiE very appearance would plead success fully in their behalf
 The economic wrong done to the peo- pie of India explains the political wrong done to them. For more than twenty years an Indian National Con- gress has been pleading for a modified form of representative government- not for a severing of the tie that binds India to Great Britain, but for an in creased voice in their local affairs. But this request cannot De granted. Why? Because a local government, composed of natives selected by the people would protest against so large an army, re- duee the taxes and put Indians at low CT salaries into places now held by Europeans
 It is the fear of what an Indian To- cal government would do that prevents the experiment, although two other reasons, both insufficient, are given. One of these is that the Indian people are not intelligent enough and that they must be protected from them selves by denying them a voice in their owr affairs. The other IS that the In- dians are so divided into tribes and religious sects that they cannot act harmoniouslY together. The first ar gument will not impress any unpreju- Qlced traVeler who has come into con tact with the educated classes There are enough informed. college trained, men in India, not to speak of those who. like our own ancestors a few centuries ago, have practical sense and good Judgment without book-learning, to guide public opinion. While the per centage of literacy is deplorably small the total number of educated men Is really considerable, and there are at this time 17.0oO students above the secondary schools and studying for the B. A, degree, There is not a dis trict of any considerable size that has rot some intelligent men in it, and these could be relied upon to direct the government until a larger number are qualified to assist It is true that na- tive princes have often seemed indif- ferent to the welfare of their subjects princes who have lived in great lux ury while the people have been neg lected. but today some of the native states vie with those controlled by European officials in education and ma terial advancement. And is not the very fact that the people are left un- der the government of native princes | in the native states conclusive proof l