Evening star., 1928-12-02
INDIA AWAITS REFORMS
AND HOPES FOR NEW ERA
All Classes Anxiously Expect Inevitable
Changes, But Feel Period of Adjust
ment Will Bring Burdens.

: and obliging, especially the higher off,
cialS. We met the first of these on the
vo up from Singapore. At Ran
COON n tall, broad-Shouldered man,
dressed quietly and in the best of taste,
came aboard the ship. He was modest,
deep-voiced and possessed wealth of
definite information. He knew Burmah
and India and the Hoo River that
leads to Calcutta, and the factories, oil
installations and jute mills along its
slln-baked banks. He described 1ute
growing, the retting processes. and ad-
mitted that some of his savings had
gone into the great establishments we
we're passing. He dro"Ded useful hints.
This mans English was better than
that OF any other passenger, either
British or American, aboard the steam
shi and he easily gave the impression
Of owning the best brain. He afterward
put himself to much trouble to help
this correspondent through the tedious
red-taDe period that all correspondents
! in India must encounter. This mans
entire career, like that Of every other
| Anglo-Irdian in government service.
was threatened by the coming changes
Hears of Color Predjudice.
Another Anglo-Indian at the head
of one Of the government bureaus
in Calcutta was similarly kind and
| helpful. He was greatly interested in
the United States and the treatment
that his two sons might receive If he
sent them to an American university.
where he had heard there was a pos
sibility of prejudice because of their
color" That remark about color"
was interesting. You encounter It in
unexpected places over here, as If the
idea is being spread that all Asiatic
races are united in sort of color
bondage
BY no means all the Anglo-Indians
have the ability and education of the
two we have mentioned. 1t Is becom-
ing accepted in India that as the full
blooded Indian sets himself to the task
of capturing the offices he is not neces-
Sarily inferior. In the passing of uni
versity examinations he seems to be
even the better man. Furthermore the
standard of education open to the
Anglo-1ndian in his own schools Is
with certain exceptions not so high
as that open to Indians.
That the Anglo-Indians appreciate
their difficulties was proved last Sum-
mer by their congress in Calcutta,
which tried to formulate plans for the
future. But what could they do?
Even their announced sympathy with
the home rulers does not help them
much, for their group, of about 115,000
souls, IS too small to be force in poll
tics. and the jobless educated Indians
simply outnumber the jobleSS Anglo
Indians.
Group Tries to Raise Status.
The Anglo-Indians are trying to
raise their status as a group. They're
making efforts to better their educa-
t1onS, but their attempt seems insult
f1ciently vigorous to meet the crisis.
The demand formulated at Poona,
that "Anglo-Indians and domiciled
Europeans be considered part of the
permanent settlement in India" is in
teresting, but perhaps nothing more.
The PoOna meeting also asked that
the matter of their education be left
in the hands of the central CBritish)
government, freed from control of the
1ndian-controlled provinces.
AS group Of the Anglo-Indians are
less virile and ready to fight than
their British fathers. And as a group,
too. they are wage-workers and gen.
orally their lot in life is poverty.
Opinion in India holds that the
Anglo-IndianS have a slim time ahead
but that the strong ones among them
will rise to the occasion and win out
by individual effort. AS the Calcutta
Statesman observes, the more capable
will meet the crisis depending, after
the Anglo-Saxon fashion upon them
selves and not upon the community"
That would be good certainly, though
contrary to Indian usage. And It
would not be a real solution of the
Anglo0Indian problem.