New Britain herald., 1930-04-21

one city, or were sporadic, there would be little need for alarm. Bu. the disturbances have taken place in cities 1000 miles apart. All ob- servers agree that an underlying feeling of resentment against Brit ain percolates almost the entire h. dian colony.
 Although Nehru and other Indian Nationalist leaders have been arrest ed as a result of the disorders, there has been no interference with Mo- handas karamchand Gandhi, the acknowledged leader of the move- ment. The British are wary. An ar rest of Gandhi may do more harm 10 their own prestige than letting him proceed. After the trifling sail making episode they nullified much of the effect among Indians by in quiring. What neXt?"
 The British have experience to guide them. When in 1922 he was brought to trial, pleaded guilty and himself suggested six years jmpri- sonment, he increased his prestige throughout India. Humanitarian motives caused his release in 1924 after an operation for appendicitis.
 Born in 1889 of a family which adhered to the school of Hinduism which subscrbes to the doctrine of non-injury, and which places love higher than even wisdom, he was bctrothed at eight, married at io, and was already a father when, at 19, he left India 10 study law in London.
 Turning to a record Of his record as q practitioner of law:
 He practiced law in Bombay with oCdHt SuCCeSS. It Io3o, le Ncltt oli legal business to South Africa, where 150,000 Indians had been settled several years previously. They were being oppressed by civil and eco homie disabilities. Gandhi. a Hindu of high race, had been wont to m4t only courtesy and consideration. and in South Africa encountered for the first time extreme personal animosity because of his color. He began to champion the cause of the Indians in South Africa, then practically with out legal help; and consistently fought their cause in the courts and before Government tribunals While considering their situation, he de- veloped his civil philosophy of re- sisting evil without violence and his personal creed of asceticism. He has testified that he was influenced not only by the ancient Hindu literature and precepts, but also by the New Testament, and by Tolstoi, Ruskin, and Thoreau.
 Gandhi finally surrendered the lucrative legal practice which he had built up at Johannesburg, and founded on the principles of non- violence a cooperative colony which enlisted the interest and support of Tolstoi. Although frequently arrest ed and imprisoned, he ultimately wrung many concessions from the government headed by General Smuts. When in 1914 he returned to India as a larger field, he was cele- brated throughout the East. al though still practically unknown in Europe and America.
 When the World war. broke out, Gandhi offered to organize an am- bulance corps of Indians, and did not oppose the service of native Indian troops during the War. He came out in open, although non-violent, oppo- sltlon to British rule in India only after the war, when he considered that Great Britain had broken her wartime pledges to India and was nroclaiming martial law legislation in India without justification. Talk Ing the leadership in preaching boy cotts of government posts and schools, and of foreign goods, he be- came known as Mahatma, "the great soul."
 The crux of the situation, there fore, is broken promises" Nations. like individuals, sometimes are too prone to make promises ard slow to perform them. Men and nations can save themselves much trouble by not making too many promises; bu. then, that sounds like preaching | about it and we leave that for others. Meanwhile, watch India. History may be in the making, or the entire Gandhi movement may be just an other incident.