Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04
INDIA BECOMES MODERNIZED
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

I There appears never to have been a
period In the history of the world
when fundamental changes were TAX
| ing place with such rapidity as at
present. This is true of all branches
of human activity and of nearly all
places in the world. 1t is especially
| true Of the rise of modern Industrial
| ism and the spread of the use of the
| type of labor-saving machinery which
has been almost peculiarly the product
of American mechanical genius.
| Even in those countries the names
| of which have been synonymous with
| industrial backwardness, the new era
| is making itself felt. The movement
has resulted in large measure from
the changed conditions brought about
| by the war and by improvement in
| communication.
| Indeed, a land which has slumbered
| throughout centuries of history in a
sort Of contented dream is one of the
most interesting examples of what
modern industrialism has done in the
| way Of progress. A country of more
than 800 ,000, 900 people, India has re-
manned from time immemorial as a
sort Of sloth among nations, appar-
emily content to while away the gen
erations in religious contemplation.
True. some of her tribes have been
warlike, and the story Of the contests
between the French and the British
and the native Indians Is a bloody
one, but, on the whole, this population,
| three times the size of that of the
| United States, has never asserted it.
self industrially or politically in world
affairs.
Isolation ut al End.
| That period seems to have come to
an end, just as the age-long era in
which Japan remained closed to the
world at length found a terminus.
Realization of this change came with
surprise to the International Labor
| Office, an adjunct of the League of
Nations, with headquarters in Geneva
and branch offices at all important
| capitals. including the United States,
although the latter is not officially a
member. The International Labor Of
| flee not long ago called a conference
Of representatives of the eight great
est Industrial nations Of the world.
India had not been SO much as
| thought of. When one visualiZed
modern industry, the mills and facto-
ries Of the United States. Great Brit
ain, Germany, France, Italy. Poland
and other similarly placed nations
came into view. India was thought Of
merely as a vast pastoral land.
! But it was found on examination of
| statistics that so vital change had
come over that Eastern domain that
she was entitled to representation.
American machinery is playing a
large part in this industrial renais-
sance Of India. All sorts of equip
ment have been exported not only from
American shores. but from Great Brit
ain, Germany, France-a1 countries
which make machinery designed to
save labor and create mass produc-
ton.
| The Sukkar Barrage.
Typical of the work now going for
| ward in this latest recruit to the
worlds industrial nations is the Suk-
kar Barrage This is a tremendous
dam and canal system on the Indus
River. American-made machines OF
gigantic proportions are at work dam
ming the river to which Alexander the
Great penetrated on his famous inva-
sion of the East. He marched from
his home kingdom of Macedonia dis
lance as great as from New York TO
San Francisco, conquertng everything
before him. He stopped at the Indus,
then called the Fabulousus Hydaspes
because it was so far afield from the
known world of the Greeks that they
regarded the region as more or less
fabulous. ~ -
Sixteen great excavators, eight OF
them the largest ever built, are AT
Sukkar, the point on the river Wners
the dam, coupled with a power ano
canal system, is to be constructed
The mechanical excavators are taxing
the place Of thousands or coolies, 40
ing the work faster and more econom'
icallv. For instance, the cost of ex-
cavation by machinery Is $3.50 per
900 cubic yards, as compared with
$4.45 by coolie labor - the cheapest
labor in the world. The saving IN
time can scarcely be estimated. The
excavators scoop up cubic yaros
at a single dip, the equivalent OF nve
ordinary wagon loads.
There are two excavators OF par
ticularly huge dimensions. These
have impressed the natives so strong
ly that they have given them names
One is called the Wilson Bahadur and
the other the Jacob Bahadur. Bahia
dur is the native term for champion
These great engines move an average
of $4,000 cubic feet g. day. and undef
especially favorable circumstances a
record of 100000 cubic feet has beer
made. One hundred and fifty million
cubic feet of earth already have beer
excavated.
Each of these big machines has 45C
horsepower and to the natives they
appear more potent and mysterious
than the strange pagan gods Of the
East. The larger excavators are
ioperated by steam and the smaller