Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-30
Cotton as Factor of Content I'm British Rule of India



or the steps on the road. he declared
there We're three paths along which an
advance should be made.
The first was in the domain of local
self government - village, rural. town
or municipal. This was the training
ground from which political progress
and q sense of responsibility already
had taken their start. Now the time
had come TO accelerate tic rate Of prog
resS. and thus to stimulate the sense Of
responsibility IN the average citizen and
TO enlarge his experience The hu-
reaucracy is not apt to com bat this
proposition very seriously, for il as
sumes that the progress must be made
under its own ovcrlordship.
The second path. in the opinion Of
the viceroy and his council. lay in the
more responsible employment of In
dians under the government. If they
were to get real progress it was vital
that India should have an increasing
number of men Nersed not only in the
details Of everyday administration, but
in the whole art of government. There
was nothing like admin strative expert
ence, the yfceroy observed, to sober the
judgment and bring about an apprecia-
ton of the practical difficulties which
exist in the realm of admiIfist ration it
was from this source that he looked
forward in the future to an element OF
experienced and tried ma teriaI for the
Legislative assem- blies.
Anybody who has been in India and
who has studied British ADMINISTRATION
there with an open mind Will be apt to
agree with the yiceroy. Nevertheless this
feature of the program touches the Brit
ish bureaucracy on the raw. succnctly
stated, IL means more positions to he filled
by natives Of India and fewer positions
for the members of the ruling caste from
overseas.
To take from a inaa his Office without
any country. In India IT is especially diff
ficult bccauSt the Bureaucracy, while
filled under the principle Of civil service,
has become largely Il family affair. Cen
GRAFTON after generation the same families
nave taken the examinations ana
have gone out to India. They have
rendered faithful service. but il is
impossible for them TO comprehend
dispensed with. since there are natives
capable of performing the same work But
If backed by public opinion in England
there is reason why this program
cannot be gradually put into effect.
The third question. that OF the local
legislative councils. was not defined by
the viceroy. II was the natives. both
Hindus and Nohamm edans. who were
disappointed at the lack of definite rec
concentrations on this point but the
viceroy explained that the decision rest
ed not with the government of India. but
with the imperial government in Lon
the fnal authoritative statement must
come. and the viceroy could not antict-
pate 1t.
From these statements of the Vice
roy 5 II IS apparent, nevertheless, that
the government in London, as at pres
ent constituted. is favorable to reform
ing the legislative councils in India
along the lines Of granting them in
creased authority There could be no
real enlargement of self government
without charging the authority of
these bodies.
The program, as outlined by the vice
roy is not likely to be modified in any
vital particular. The opposition Of the
bureaucratic and the military classes
in India ! have already described brief
ly. Opposition to all reforms is
chronic habit with the majority of them
and undue Importance need not be given
TO their present attitude
Signs OF violent opposition from some
OF the reactionary tory elements in Eng
land also have been manifested. This
opposition, as voiced, has been the old
plea that to grant India some freedom
in managing her own affairs was to
undermine theh empire. But the day
when such pleas can be made effective
is past. The permission given India TO
fix her own duties on cottons in con-
sonance with what she conceives to he
her own interests Is the evidence of the
change The great war means greater
freedom FOR India