The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-21

AllahaDad, 1911.
TIME unrest of India is largely a mat
ter of wages. Suppose you had to
L work for l or cents an hour? Sup
pose you could have only one square meal
eTtry day and night after night your
family should go to bed hungry? These
are the conditions of millions of Hindus.
Suppose they existed at home? Would
we not have an unrest with vengeance?
[ refer the question to Brother Gompers
for answer
Low Wages in India
| have before me list of the wages
the natives are paid. l take them from
the statistical abstract sent by the viceroy
70 the British houses of parliament ana
therefore reliable. At Calcutta carpen-
ters, blacksmiths and masons are now
receiving less than Sc a month; and
that would be a high average for me-
ehanics throughout Hindustan. In the
province of Dude they are paid less
Than So and at Arga only 81 more.
At Patna able-bodied farm hands re-
eeive less than 80 per month. For this
they work IL hours a day and in some
cases have to take grain for their wages.
The average income for all Hindustan
Is only about cents day. Not long
ago there was famine In southern
India, during which the government re-
lieved the people by giving them labor
on public improvements. 1t paid cents
to the diggers and cents to the wom-
en- who carried the earth from one place
to another in baskets They worked from
daylight till dark. The children were
paid cents a day They were used to
break up the clods and smooth over the
ground.
Rich and Poor MT Calcutta
The truth is the Indian empire is
largely an empire of paupers. and that of
paupers surrounded by plenty. Tantalus-
like, they are UP to the neck In the wa
ters of poverty, with rich fruits of all
kinds hanging over their heads. When
they grasp for the fruits they vanish,
and they strive and strive and strive In
vain. / was struck by this at Calcutta
That. capital Is known as the City of
Palaces, but it Is also a city of novels.
1t has It's thousands of splendid carriages
and automobiles, with coachmen and
chauffeurs in the most gorgeous uveries.
1t has rich Englishmen and native rajahs
and nabobs who are loaded with Jewels;
but with them Is want SO keen that 1t
cuts to the heart. There are thousands
upon the street who go almost naked.
The dress of the common people Is such
that the legs Of the women are often
bare to the knees and of the men to the
thighs. The bones are clad only In sinews
and skin. There Is not enough meat on
the legs to tempt a hungry dog. They are
as straight as pipe stem, the swelling
of the calves being absent. The arms
show nothing but bones. The poor Ben
agli corresponds to KIpling's description
of the woman who was " a rag, bone
and hank Of hair save that there Is
now and then stringy muscle thrown in.
These people work almost naked, and
their whole forms may be seen. I have
spent sine time watching them bathing
In the Ganges. The water CLUES the
clothes to the skin, Nand you see thous
ands of skeletons bathing and praying.
And then the homes of the peoplei Out
side the mansions of the rich, which face
the Madam and the fine buildings of the
government, and the palaces of a few
rajahs, the native quarters of Calcutta
are largely composed Of homes no bigger
than packing cases. Whole families live
In one room. and even out In the country
the huts are SO small that the beds are
set outside in the daytime.
The Farmers
I have Travelled extensively among the
farmers of many countries, but I know
of no place where they work so hard for
so little. This is an agricultural nation
Two-thirds of the people rely upon farm
ing as their principal business, and this
means about 100000 00 There are more
than 100, 900 here who work in the soil
and there are 90,00O,000 men, women and
children who actually farm If every
man. woman and child in the United
States would go out In the fields every
day to dig up the land or harvest the
crops, you would have the farming situa-
ton in India. In addition, there are
some millions engaged in stock grazing
and 2,0OO0 900 or 1900 600 who take care of
domestic animals of various kinds.
The wages of these farmers are low be-
yond American conception. The en-
ployes are often paid in kind getting, in
some cases, their food and small per-
centage of the crop. Where money is paid
the wages do not average 81. Is per month,
and nowhere, except In Assam, do they
rise to 49, In the valley of the Ganges,
where the soil is as fat as that of the
Nile, the average wage is s150 monthly.
and in the province of Dude it is 81 Is.
In addition to this. some of the laborers
are bond servants, who get only their
living, and cent now and then for a
feast.
The farmers who have their own lands
are mortgaged up to their eyes, and the
money lender and the tax collector give
them no peace. The government levies
on real estate have been advancing. The
agftators claim they are exorbitantly
high In comparison, and current book
on India states that one-eighth of the en-
tire farming population of Madras has
been sold out of house and home within
less than a decade. Not only their farms,
but their furniture and personal belong
ings have been taken for taxes. On the
other hand, It is claimed that the tax
alton today is less than It has ever been,
and that 1t Is lighter per head than the
taxes of any other country OF the world.
We pay 18 times as much taxes per head
as the Hindus. The Russians pay eight
times as much, and the English 20 times
as much.
Oppressed BY the Money Sharks
Indeed, we shall have to look outside
the government for the causes Of India S
poverty. We can find one in the nature
of the people, which leads them to Dor
row whenever they can, and in the money
sharks, who lend at usurious rates upon
their crops and lands. In many such
cases the interest is taken in kind. the
shark having his agent on the ground
and grs bling a share of the grain as Il
comes from the threshing. The usual
rate of interest is "a per cent per annun
and many foreigners are paying 3 per
cent month and upward. In the in
terror of India the banks charge as much
as 10 per cent per annum, although the
government itself has recently been lend
ing the farmers something like $40 900, COX
at or per cent.
There is no country where banking Is SC
much of business. There are castles
here who thoroughly understand the
breeding value of interest, and there are
altogether In India 100000 bankers and
money lenders. of whom more than 0.00t
are women. Much money Is loaned upon
real estate mortgages. and from this the
bankers are getting hold of the land. In
some provinces as much as 6S per cent
-e haY< 10 bon u,