The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-05-29

BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

SdlSulld.
The railways OF India are the strong
est link in the chain which binds 1t
to Great Britain, and at the same time
one OF the factors in the unrest which
is tearing the countries apart 1 have
just returned from call upon Mr..
Robertson, the viceroy's secretary of
commerce and industry, under which
department the railways are managed.
Said he:
"one of the striking features of this
unrest just now is an anti-railroad
crusade carried on by the extremists
among the revolutionary agitators.
They claim that the roads are built
with British money for robbing the ma
tives. They say that the dividends and
interest go out of India, and that the [
railways are bad thing for the
people, not only in money way, but
on the ground of religion. They are
using this argument to excite the mass
es, who can be stirred UP only by at
lacking their religion and imperiling
their caste. The extremists say that
the railroads are breaking down caste
distinctions. and that eternal damna-
ton is sure to follow. They advise the
people not to patronize them and say
they should be given over to the ma
tive leaders. who could regulate the
traffic to suit their faith"
India's Greatest Ciyilizer.
But are the extremists not right
in saying that the railroads are affect
Ing caste prejudices?" I asked
Yes" replied the secretary "They
are bringing the people of India to-
Eether. and, for @ time, at least, put
ting all castles on the same level. When
natives demanded that special cars be
furnished for certain castles. The Hin
does and Mohammedans would not sit
down together. and the Brahmins de-
Tnanded to flock by themselves. After
a time they found that they could not
get the cars, and they then tacitly de-
cided that caste must be abolished
while on the railroad trains
$50 the native has apparently
dropped such prejudices when he enters
the cars. although he assumes them the
more rigidly when he leaves. You
cannot imagine what this means until
you have lived a long time in India and
know something of the people. Our
railway trains are about the most
crowded of the world. and the different
castles are all TANNED in together. The
travel steadily increases, and, that
especially at certain seasons of the
year. The people are using the trains
to go TO the shrines and our Pilgrim
age traffic Is enormous. 1t used to
take weeks and months for the aver
age pilgrim TO go to Benares or some
other distant sacred locality. The man
now finds he can get there by rail in
hours or days. we caterto this ele-
ment. and do all we can to accommo-
date II. Moreover, we have what might
be called heavy social traffic during
the wedding season. On many of the
roads the crowt!s are then so great We
cannot carry''theIa. We make the rates
as low as possible, and we have on
the whole the lowest passenger fares
of the world. The average rate for all
passengers is about two-ffths of a
cent per mile and the third-class fares
are below that. Still it is from the
lowest fares that we pay our divi-
dends."
Government Ownership.
During my talk with Mr.. Robertson.
learned something of the plan of the
government to take over the railroads.
A large number of the lines have been
built and controlled by the State, but
others were constructed by private
parties and not a few by companie:
with government guarantees or sub
sides. The government has now taker
possession of all the lines, and is pay