The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-25

city dveller are equally bad. During
my stay in Bombay the leading paper
was inveighing against the cotton mill
owners for their inhumau treatment of
the employees It accused the operators
Of sinking all feelings OF humanity to
wiring every additional pound of pro-
QUESTION from the aching limbs of their
workers, merely to swell profits al
ready between 90 and so per cent. Out
Of seventy-nine mills in Bombay, fifty
nine have installed electric light in or
der 10 work their employees fifteen
hours q day, with only haIf-hoUT rest
at noon. Mil labor is more exhaUstfug
in the tropics than in a temperate eli
mate, and these eXactiOns are about all
that flesh and blood can stand. At the
late hour Of dismissal II is a detecting
sight TO see the streets filled with mel
anchOly figures Of the mill slaves, drag
ging themseI IS back TO their novels
from their long, exhausting toll
The White Mans Greed.
For their extraordinary days exer-
tons the expert weaveTs are paid but
20 cents. the unskilIed women 6 cents
and the children cents. They are not
slaves in the sense that the CaptiVes Of
the MOgUls were but their modern
masters give them such an infnitesimal
part Of the wealth which they create
starvation the end Of many. I am sure
that if punishment is melted out to
those who violate the divine injunction
TO do unto offers as you would that
others Go unto you, the English in India
viii have mUch to answer for. There
is little need 10 refer TO the barbaTities
OF OIden times when we have before US
the spectacle Of what some white men
Of this age, both at home and abroad,
VIII do Cor mouey-for more money
when they already have plenty
Further insight into the helpless
WTetChe5ness Of India's prolific millions
is given by the statement of an expert,
who asserts that only ) per cent of the
population get three meals day, that
fully 90 per cent of the people live from
hand TO mouth with no provision for
support beyond the day and hour. Such
q state OF affairs is indeed appalling
explaining in itself why hundreds of
thousands of them die Of hunger. or fall
ictims to the various forms Of dis
ease which rage as a result Of such
uncertain and unwhoIesOme habits of
living All this after England has ruled
India 4 hundred years! All the public
improvements made during this time
DO not relieve her from the indictment
of leaving the people to their wretched
fate. IF there is anything that can
affect English conscience the spectacle
it seems that the soul of John Bull is
calioused by long familiarity with such
scenes.
The English Defense.
The Englishman defends h.s failure
to relieve the suffering of the masses
by claiming that their religious preju-
oices and caste absurdities have stood
in the way of helping them; he ends
any argument by telling you how many
thousand miles of railways and iTriga-
ton canals have been built, and dweIis
upon the security that now prevails
There is no philanthropy IN his enter
prise. although he would lead you to
think so. It IS safe to say thar neither
the railways nor the irrigation projects
would have been put through were they
not the means of producing so much
revenue. That the Englishman loses
enthusiasm when dividends fail is
proved in the case of BuTmah. Tbs is
a province of India with ten million
Inhabitants, but railways nave not Deen
profitable there. consequently the cOun-
try has only 420 miles of track Ad-
ditiOaal proof Of the backward cllarac-
ter Of the Burmese is afforded by the
fact that ten illiOn of them support
only eight newspapers
There is really no foundation for the
English contention that the As.atic Is
not capable Of being educat ted. The
success the missionary societies have
met with in their school enterprises Is
a Tefutati0n of the claim that the in
ferior races canno- assimilate knowl-
edGe. The truth of the matter is that
the English have not seriously tried to
educate. It S a sad commentary on
neglected opportunity in this respect
hat India at tho present time is pro-
ducing $459,00o 600 annual revenue, YET
there are only 734 schools in the entire
country receiving government support