Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-09-29

ferior social station. 1t is an
aristocracy of the worst form. There
are 50,000,o00 people in the lower
castles in India and 20,000,000 of these
belong to the pariahs or lowest class
of all. proportion fully equal to that
of the negro slaves in the United
States before the Civil War. Their
condition is in some respects worse
than that of slaves.
These people are called "untouch-
ables,' because contact with one OF
them-even with his shadow-com-
pels the high caste man to go through
elaborate purification ceremonies. In
some parts of the South of India they
are sold with the land, as serfs were
formerly in Russia, and their economic
condition is virtually that of slavery,
| with no obligation on the landlord TO
provide for their needs in old age.
| They are everywhere restricted to the
| lowest and most mental forms OF
labor, and any attempt on their part
to better their condition is prevented
/ py force. They are not allowed to
| carry an umbrella or to wear any
thing but the scantiest clothing. They
i
public wells as their touch would be
pollution. on the occasion OF a child
| having fallen into well no female
was willing to risk her life, and an
"untouchable' who offered to descend
the well was prevented because he
would contaminate the water. Be
fore a man of the higher caste could
be found the child drowned. The
children of the untouchatIles are not
permitted to sit on the same benches
in school with those of the higher
born. In consequence only one in
200 of them goes to school.
They call themselves Hindoos but
are not permitted to enter the sacred
precincts of the temples or to hear the
Nedas read. In short, a more cruel,
malign boycott was never carried on
in any other part of the world. IN
slavery there were kindly relations
between the blacks and the decent
masters. and recognition of recipro-
cal duties, but in the caste system
there is nothing of the sort. The
chance 10 better ones condition, which
jefferson called the right to the pur-
| suit of happiness" and Napoleon in
more sounding phrase, the career
open to talent" is absolutely denied
these degraded creatures who live and
die like the beasts of the field, help
less and hopeless. England can hard
lIy say that freedom follows the Eng
lish flag.
The degraded condition of these
lpeople naturally aroused the pity Of
ha Itch GGinnafipS They
taught them to read and instructed
them in simple trades. 1t was dis
covered that they were quite as cap
liable and doeile as the higher castles,
though it had been supposed that they
were the survivors of the aboriginal
race and the others the descendants of
the Aryan conquerors. Some of them
learned trades, and, being employed by
the English, began to accumulate
property. One of the untouchables
opened store in Bombay with the
ironie sign, NO touchables served.
It became evident to the more intelli-
gent of the Brahmins that these peo-
pie could be kept ne longer in their
"praper position and that there was
S growing up nation inside of the ma
ton. So they devised a ceremony b,
which the pariahs can be initiated int
, | a higher caste and have the right oil
coming to church and even of wear
ing the sacred cord" drawing water
from the village well, and being re-
garded as human beings.
That a social regulation at least 16
centuries old which has grown into
an institution with vested rights as
solid as any in the world, should show
signs of weakening, is perhaps the
best evidence that the twentieth CEN
fury can give of the progress of justice
and freedom. which after all are much
the same thing, in their effects at
lleast-Hartford Times.