Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-07-02
GOAL OF THE H|NDOOS
Students Look to Inited States
For Practical Education.
WANT TO LEARN OUR ARTS.


Aim of a Growing & ,ss of Ambitious
Young Men-Wish Develop Their
Country's Resours. s-Their Dislike
of English Rule In india.
]. C. Gossain, Nj IL. Rashid, Rash
Behari Day and ,'ames Marcos, all
natives of British India, recently ar
rived in New York city at India House,
1142 Park avenue, to take up various
courses of study at American univer-
sities They form the advance guard
of the Hindoo students who are com
ing to America under the auspices of
the Society For the( Advancement of
India.
Coal black though they are, every one
speaks English with painstaking ac-
curacy and an accent better than
many Anglo-Saxons. All wear west
ern clothes.
Not that we do not like our own"
explained one, but our clothes would
be strange to American eyes and we
should be stared at in the streets,
which would be distasteful to us AT
home, on the other hand, these clothes
we are now wearing would be con-
spicuous and even, on account of the
antiforeign agitation prevailing at
present, somewhat dangerous. So when
we return to India we discard jackets
and trousers and again wear our robes
and turbans."
a striking popularity of the group
and one perhaps best illustrative of the
advancement of knowledge in India is
that the four students belong to three
different religions and live and work
together happily, says the New York
Post. Two are Hindoos in faith one
a Mohammedan and one, Marcos, n
baptized Christian, who, while he
doesn't call himself so, is really Uni
tartan. Religious antagonism is a
thing of the past in India, according to
these young men.
Another interesting point in their
characters is their dislike of the Eng
liSh and the English rule in India.
''Tney treat us like dogs said Cos
sain. "An Indian is never considered
We have been kept down and our in
tellects stunted. Instead of giving our
people trade schools, where they might
learn industrial arts and so in time be-
come able to build up their own man
ufactures, they have taught us to be
come clerks and accountants. If India
could take care of her own raw prod
ucts, you see, that would mean so
many pounds out of England's profits
and so many more in our pockets. The
English know that.
Yes" chimed in Marcos, chat is
why we are here. That is what we
have come to America for-to learn
your arts so that we may be able to
III our people. There is plenty of
/ in India in native hands,
TO do almost anything But
" it has been idle because it
m to provide means for
sad fact that in every
IS of railroad in India
is owned by natives Had
people a knowledge of engineering
and kindred sciences they could utilize
the idle capital, and then we should
have real Indian railroads and street
car lines.
eve must inaugurate the policy the
japanese employed at first before they
NNlt NltNt III tlOuSu ~ 10 lullSS bA
themselves. They secured the best for
eign talent to direct tneir enterprises
but always the head man was native.
He might not have known enough to
manage the undertaking alone, but it
was he who signed the papers and
gave the orders, and the effect Of the
system was TO build up the latent eX-
ecutive capacity Of the japanese until
they were a BE to do things for them
selves. Executive capacity is thing
we Indians lack as yet We must
build it up"
Marcos, by the way, is proud that he
is not what he calls a rice Christian"
Rice Christians" it seems, are those
who are baptized in times of famine
in order that they may receive addi-
tional assistance from the missionaries.
Marcos does not think much of the at
temptS Of the English missionaries to
convert his countrymen.
yes, | am a Christian, but | am not
what you would call orthodox, think"
he said.
Marcos is twenty-five years old and
comes from Madras Presidency, where
ne IeCelNGu lne uSuul secondary eUuca-
ton. He is not sure yet just what
university he will enter Rashid is the
oldest of the four and is twenty-six.
He was born in Surat, but has lived
most of his life at Chittagong. in As
sam. For several years he has served
in the office of his fathers importing
and exporting firm, learning the bust
ness. Now he expects to study elec-
trical engineering, probably at Michi-
gan.
Gossain has had more advanced
education than the others. While but
twenty-three, he had studied for time
in Calcutta university and also in Vic
toria Jubilee Technical institute OF
Bombay. He will take the students
course in the works of the General
Electrical company at Schenectady.
The fourth man, Day, has not picked
out the school he will attend. In the
meantime he is spending his time at
India house, increasing his knowledge
on various topics.