Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1930-06-14
INDIANS Are Giving the Lions
TAIL a Real Twist -------

ciated Negro Press)-That there may
be something to Lothrop Stoddard's
eminent terror of the Rising Tide of
Color" is becoming increasingly ap-
parent as the spiritoal revolution in
India, set in motion by the bronzed
asletic, Mahatma Gandhi, resting
easily now in a British Jail, while
his cause goes moving on, grows and
grows to confound, confuse and de-
feat the skillful tactics of British
offcialdom.
A real spectacle of terror, so far
as the British are concerned, is pre-
scented by the developmnts Of the last
two months.
AS Lothrop Stoddard points out in
the current issue of Liberty Maya
zine, India does count-in the world
of affairs. Almost one-fifth of the
worlds total population, or 800 mil
lions of people, are in India. Many
billion dollars Of English and Ameri-
can capital are tied up in that great
country. If India should throw off
the yoke Of British domination and
repudiate its foreign debts and obli-
cations, the financial marts in Lon
don, Paris, and New York would be
thrown into utter chaos. This makes
India important. This makes any
great wave of sentiment, wether for
independence or just a boycott,
matter of concern to commercial con
Germs throughout the world. India
is where they sell their goods.
For years, Great Britain has
trusted to internal conditions in In
dia to maintain her control over the
vast empire There are wll-known
rligious, racial, and political cleav-
ages in the empire, which so far have
been unwilling to trust one another,
that have prevented any unified &C.
ton on the part of the natives. If
Great Britain fell out with one set,
she and her few soldiers were able to
line up with another group and main
tain the status quo.
The two most important groups in
India that have forght each other are
the Hindus, of which Ghandi is one,
and tie Moslems, or Mohammedans.
There are about 200,000,000 Hindus,
and about 100000 Moslems. For
many years after the Mohammedans
pressed down from the North and
conquered India to establish the dy-
nasty of the Great Mogul, the Hindus
were held in subsection by hte proud,
ruling class of the Mohammedans.
The Moslems always think of them
selves in terms of being the ruling
GLASS, but the Hindus know that India
is their lountry, and they resent the
Moslem attempt to rule them. Eng
land has kept these two groups from
coming to blows.
Within the ranks of the Hindus
themselves there has Ioperated the
pernicious and iniquitous influence of
the caste system, making horizontal
social divisions of the people. These
classes of the Hindus hate one an
other viciously, and the lower classes
and the so-called depressed class"
composed of out-castes, fight any
movement that would tend to give the
highest class, the Brahmins, any
more power. 1t is the Brahmins who
do toe casting out, or ostracising.
In addition to this racial difference
between the Moslems and the Hindus,
and the religious hates al between the
Hindu casts, there are political OBJ
stacles within the empire which keep
the people apart. Thus there are
quite a fw so-called principalities,
ruled by immensely wealthy Indian
princes, who exercise almost COM
plete sovereignty, under the watchful
eye of Great Britain. They feel that
they are held in power by this domi.
nance of foreign power, and would
be disposed to hold out against any
pro-Indian movement in order to
maintain the political autonomy they
now exercise.
AS long as Great Britain has been
able to keep the Hindus and Moslems
suspicious Of each other, the castles
at one another's throats, and these
princes as their selfish allies, the Brit
ish representatives have just sat by
and permitted different independence
movmnts to wear themselves out
against the suffocating effect of inter-
nal dissension.
But there is now evidence that the
Ghandi cause of "non-violence" is de-
finitely bringing these opposing
groups together and welding the
great peoples of India behind move
ment for the removal of Great Brit
aims sway that will not be stopped.
This conclusion is borne out by re-
cent dispatches to the Chicago Trib-
une from it's far eastern correspond
ent, Charles Daley.
Mr.. Daley has just concluded