Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-11

Gandhi and his followers, in protesting
against the salt monopoly, awake
American interest in the possibility that
resistance to the tax involved may
extend to all the people Of India. Some
see in this Oriental movement parallel
to the tax protest of Colonial days
which inspired the Boston tea party.
IF Lord Irwin had chosen q wiser
course" remarks the Brooklyn Daily
Eagle, "he would have thrown spoke
into the Gandhi plans by Immediately
wtping out this salt burden. His action
would have been popular. It would
have thrown oil on the troubled waters"
That paper sees blunder in the "deci-
sion not to arrest MahatIna Gardhi, but
to jail SO of Gandhi's followers, includ-
ing two prominent members of the All
India Congress and the Mahatma's son
for the crime Of making salt This
resembles the throwing Of British tea
into Boston Harbor. It is civil diso-
bedience based on the principle that
taxation without representation Is
While agreeing that the Gandhi ac-
ton sis very like the tea party gesture"
the Savannah Morning News adds:'
LICIC 10 COAAb dob 0CbWCSAA OAASAA "AAAS~N
exhibits the contrast between the
Gandhi method and the Boston method.
Gandhi is not organizing raids on
British salt making, with property de-
struction in view: he Is striking from
another angle. His method is the quiet
one, the appeal to the action Of the
sun on the salt being plainly wonder:
full thought. The Boston party appealed
to nothing but good right arms.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES was its plan.
Gandhi wraps his disobedience in sym:
bolism. He knows his followers, And
the British, while armed trouble may
follow In India as eventually in Amer
lea, will likely handle his case differently
from the method It followed In America"
I'VE made more trouble about that"
recalls the San Bernardino Sun, than
the tax In itself would have justified:
It was a matter OF principle. And
Gandh1, In marching with sort OF
Coxey's army to the sea, and under
taking to bootleg salt In spite of the
government, Is resisting somewhat as
our own particular branch OF the British
Empire did then, only more peaceably.
active. It may become so in India
later on"
A parallel, also, In the American
Colonists' production Of salt at Toms
River Is found by the Newark Evening
News, with the comment that's "as In
India, the Illicit production Of salt
was accomplished by other defiances OF
British rule. How much more wisely
Britain will deal with its disobedicnt
Indian subjects," continues the News,
probably cannot be discerned imn1e-
diately. The British government has
exercised restraint. It has liberal at
its head who wants TO deal justly with
India. He has o highly complicated
problem to solve and may rightly feel
that Gandhi Is not beginning at the
root Of midas troubles. Gandhl'S
opponents, the 'untouchAblee,' who are
opposing him because Of his indifference
to their claims for religious and civil
liberty, represent midas greater neces-
sity. II their agitation to break down
the caste system could make Roadway,
Britain's problem In India would be
very much eased."
"Forbearance or force will be the
British response to the Nationalist
movement, according As its tactics are
peaceful or provocative Of violence" be-
iieves the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, as
it raises the question whether the mod
crate methods of constitutional agita-
ton or the extreme measures Of civil
disobedience. as advocated by the more
radical Of the Indian leaders, viii pre-
vail"
The Baltimore Sun holds that Can
dhi has Unanswered the British into O
tight place," and at the same time
agrees thatWhile the native leader "has