Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-22
INDIAN UNREST
CONCERNS LION
ENGLAND WATCHES ARMlNG
OF NATIVES
CoNcILlATE TRIBES BY HONOR
TO RENGALl LEADER
Correspondent Writes of Political and
Commercial Conditions in East.
Football Played in Heavy
Ranstornn
BY A. r. HOWARD

CALCUTTA, Aug. 21.-A story which
has obtained circulation that the dis
contented sections of the tribesmen IN
the northwest hinterland have applied
to the amir for breech- loading ammu-
milton is probably true. AS they
shrewdly put their case, they nave now
a large number of rifles in their pos
session, and if they are given an apuii,
dant supply of cartridges they VIII
he prepared Loyalty to help the amir
in anV emergency. AS a matter or
fact. they are not absolutely short or
ammunition, for 1t is the practice now
of traders to sell 100 rounds with each
rifle that is bought, and several mil
lions Of cartridges are known TO nave
been carried inland from the Mokrah
coast. The ordinary tribal hghtlng
man cannot, Of course expect to be on
an equality, as regards ammunition,
with the rtgular soldier Of the British
army whom he may meet in warfare
but he desires to have reserve stock
upon which to draw when any lighting
takes place He knows that in Kabul
there are abundant supplies and that
the factories there can turn out Mar
tint cartridges of fairly good quality.
Hence his plausible appeal for assist
ance in this important matter of am
munition.
The amir, however, is not likely to
look at the question solely from the
tribal point of view. The history OF
Afghanistan shows that when the
clans are confident of their armed
strength they are given to turbulent
outbreaks and even organized insur-
rections, which may become of extreme
danger to the government of the coun-
try. Abdur Rahman had to deal with
q Ghilzai rebellion, and also with dis
affection among other sections of his
tribesmen. The present amir has de-
parted from this line of policy, to some
extent by encouraging the traffic in
arms; but he will not deplete his re-
serves Of ammunition at Kabul by
sales on a large scale to every tribe
that begs this favor
Aeitate Against English Rule
Their bare promise Of Loyalty sup
porting him is not enough, for they
might be tempted to rebel and to throw
in their lot with some pretender to the
throne. The Wisest course which he
could adopt would be to make his reg
ular army thoroughly efficient and to
rely upon it in all circumstances. He
would then have nothing to fear from
tribal combinations, and he could make
his authority respected in the most re-
mote parts of the country AS mat
ters now stand, there is a tendency to
defy his officials in some districts, and
the eastern borderland is far from
being under control. If the "consti-
tutional' movement in Turkey and
Persia should spread to Afghanistan
the kabl-durbar would find that the
wide distribution of rifles and ammu-
milton among the tribesmen had Sc
riously complicated the position.
A recent issue of the Bengal, Suren-
dranath Banerjee's paper, contains the
following advocacy of persistent agita-
tion against English rule in India:
"The man who says that Bengalis
ought to be satisfied and to cease 'agi-
tating against the government because
one of them has recently been ap-
POINTED member of the vicerOy's ex-
ecutive council, knows very little Of the
Bengali of today. The appointment Of
Indians to the highest offices in the
gift of the state has indeed some value
alike for the government and the peo-
pie. To the government 1t would mean