Mohave County miner., 1917-02-03
INDIAN POLITICAL MATTERS
TAKE ON ADDED IMPORTANCE

OF looking upon India as nation. AS
a matter of fact, Hindustan represents
many races and many languages, and
in the process Of unifcation there are
as many difficulties to be overcome as
there would be, for instance, in an at
tempt to bring all the various coun-
tries of North and South America un-
der one government.
Moreover the average Indian Of
the so-called illiterate class knows
nothing of politics and takes no inter-
est in problems of government. He is
mainly concerned with his own little
personal matters and so long as con-
ditions of government favor him in
the pursuit of his affairs, it makes
small difference to him what that gov
eminent is or what shape it takes.
"The ideas of democracy are entire
ly foreign to the bulk Of India. For
endless centuries, until the assumption
of British rule, the people were gov
erned as a conquered race, and so
thoroughly has the idea Of subsection
been instilled that it will be exceed
ingly hard for them to break away
from the belief that they can have no
voice in governing themselves. But all
this is bound to change gradually with
the spread of general education.
zone great stumbling block in the
way Of democracy is the fact that the
Indian never has learned to bow to the
will of the majority. This may be seen
wherever bodies Of Indians come to-
gether for the discussion of matters
of mutual interest. Opinion is divided
along partisan lines, family, racial and
religious ties playing an important
part in the division. The fact that the
majority decide that certain things are
for the best means nothing to the mi
nority, and split Of the body into two
factions. is almost inevitable. Thi:
characteristic is something that mus
be overcome before any success car
be achieved in the matter of popular
government.
There are numerous other feature:
which present obstacles to the home
rule advocates. We have two great
religious bodies-the Hindus and Mo
hammedans-whose interests at pres
ent are largely at variance with eacf
other. Some Indian politicians viii
tell you the claim that Hindus and Mo
hamedans cannot work in harmony il
pure fallacy; but to one who has
spent many years in India and has
made a deep study of these questions
| it seems an almost self-evident fac
that the chasm to be bridged between
these two bodies is wide and deep. VI.
timately, through a process Of educa'
ton, Hindus and Mohammedans viii
be drawn together into close enough
political bonds so that they can work
in unison for the common good. We
have seen similar conditions in the
past history Of many countries, and
while the question Of religion at the
moment is a most important one, yet
do not feel that it is a permanent
barrier in the way Of political progress
for India.
despite all the drawbacks to home
rule, have great faith in the capacity
of India to govern itself ultimately
and to do it well. The Indians are a
wonderful people, and while they lack
certain characteristics which we Of the
west consider important, in some 9TH
er features they have shown them
selves to be our superiors. The peo-
pie of this vast empire are rousing in
remarkable manner from the leth-
argy into which they had sunk.
81 cannot, of course, set myself up
as a spokesman of the government of
India, but have talked with many Of
ficials on the question of home rule,
and 1 may say that in general have
gathered the impression that the Brit
ish government intends to do all that
may seem possible to facilitate the en-
trance of Indians who are qualified to
higher positions in the government!
service"