The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-03-26
BY PHILIP wHITwELL.

L.
Il fa now Just three centuries
,i,.c the British went to India, and
he question today IS whether they
hall stay there. The first contact
vftn inc country was commercial
Tpiy and the story is that the East
Indn company was founded under
oua,r Elizabeth i'm 1893 because the
1u'rn raised tho price of pepper
rom gs 10 IS a pound. Broadly,
what happened was that tho Inn
ruise which led the British to set
tIe In America also drove them to
,r,dr with Asia. and what they
wanted was the "open door" They
lnokod upou India not as an empire
Inn as market and IL they in
,-iru, with princes, IL they pO-
bp.J the roads, IL they guarded
their agencies, tho object was to buy
and o. sell. and TO gather in a re-
sultant profit. They had their own
sailing ships, the famous lndiamcn,
and % was only In a gradual fashion
that Britain, as "a sovereignty, was
drawn into the enterprise, or india,
as of other territory, IL was true
that the empire was conquered in
A iii OF absence OF mind" But In
1858. two and half centuries after
the affair started, the mutiny
aroused Britain to the fact that sho
had. whether realizing It or not. as
umed political responsibility for
India. IL could not be regarded as
q mere act of commerce that the
French should have been excluded
from effective sovereignty, or the
Dutch similarly excluded. Queen
Victoria therefore annexed India.
and 20 years later, on the advise of
Disraeli, was declared empress of
the great dependency. India be-
came by far tho most populous ele-
ment in the British empire.
Two Great Advantages.
For 80 years after the mutiny. In
dia had no acute crises. Two great
advantages were Immediately Sc
cured to her. First, she was saved
from internal dissenslon. Beyond a
riot here and there. or a robber raid.
the people enjoyed unbroken peace.
Secondly, she was preserved from
external pressure. Neither Germany
nor Russia could touch her. on the
north lay the Himalayas or the
cactus hedge, as Lord Rosebery
called these mountains, while be-
y0nd them Persia, Afghanlstan and
1907 Sir Edward Grey, as foreign
secretary, included the Anglo-Rus
sian agreement which virtually es-
tabllshed for India a Monroe doc
trine in Asia--rendering it impossi-
bic for Russia, even with her vast
conscript army. To threaten the
northern frontier. That agreement
was criticized as an illiberal bargain
with a reactionary czardom at the
expense OF Persian nationality, but
for India II meant n small army, not
more than $4,000 European troops
and 100000 Indians, for popula-
ton equal to that OF North and
South America and Africa COM
bined. To this day. the percentage
OF milltarism in India is as low as
anywhere in the world. II is one
tenth the percentage of Japan. \
great association of peoples and
states has been subjected to a pro-
Ionged rest cure from war.
During this period-1S5S to 1906
"A vast amount OF reorganization
was achieved and today the position
may be summed up, i'm general
terms, as follows: Thuggery, mean
ing robbery with violence, has been
repressed. The roads are compara-
lively safe and they have been
everywhere extended. Railways
have been developed. Determined
efforts have been made to reduce
the loss OF life from snakes and
Wild animals. An almost perfect
system has been elaborated for COM
batting plague and famine. Irriga-
lion has reclaimed enormous areas
OF desert which are now fertile and
productive. other areas. under the
shadow Of the Himalayas, which
mad been porennially devastated by
border fighting are now restored TO
peaceful habltation. As a result
OF these measures and Of tho pro-
vision Of hospitals and a first appll-
cation Of medical science TO the sick,
me population OF India is increas-
ing by 2O,000,O00 persons every 10
years. Under British rule India
must have added 100000, ,000 to her
people by natura! increase. There
is ~ immigration.
Religious Liberty.
From the first the British laid Il
down that there must he fun lib
erty OF religious observance. within
lhls rule IL Is the policy Of the gov
eminent TO interfere as little as pos
slble with the customs and institu-
uons OF the people. Flagrant in
iQultles, Ike suttee-the practice Of
burning widows with their husbands
have been forbidden. But caste
remains in force. Child marriages
are still perpetrated. Women still
i've purdah, or hidden I'm the zenana.
Ascelics still impose upon them
serves amazing contortions and
SS,her miseries. PolygRmy Is lawful.
many things go on which, according
70 western ideas, cannot be defend