Arkansas State press. [volume] (Little Rock, Ark.) 1941-1959, 1945-06-08
The lndion People
BY lst/Sgt.
Marion B. Mott" Smith


people which is about three
times as many as we have in the
States, Nine out of every ten
Indians live off the land, farm
ing very small patches of earth
and it is an incredibly poor liv-
ing for the most of them. The
average wage for the farmer is
$500 per year. We in America
spend that much for one evening
OF pleasure, Out of this meager
income the Indian must provide
for a family on an everage as
large as four. You can imagine
what poverty is here in this
Our poor families in
America are rich compared to
these poverty stricken people
here. The rural population live
in small villages and is said there
are some 100000 of them and
often have to walk a mile or two
from their homes to reach the
small plot of farm land that be-
longs to them. This type of liv-
ing came about over 1000 years
ago for protection from the wild
beast of the jungle such as the
lion elephant and destructive
animals. The people here have
about 100 different languages
and dialects, but there are "a i'm
portant ones each of which is
spoken by rs per cent of the peo-
pie which are of the Hindu faith
and the rest are of the people of
the Mohammedian faith. We are
not allowed to eat irish vege-
tables from the Indian gardens
because they use human waste
for the fertilization of their crops,
which spreads severe tropical
diseases and l assumed that I
will not get a good vegetable
dinner until l return to the
States. National unity is a COM
pick problem because of diff
ferent faiths in religion and there
seems to be no solving of the
problem in the near future.
One thing particular about
their religion is, they have many
sacred animals such as the COW
which is most sacred. To kill a
cow means from seven to years
in jail and there are over 300,-
100000 cows in this country but
not of good stock as the COW in
America because there are too
many of them.
There are other sacred animals
such as the monkey snake and
etc. The reasons why these ami
mails are not killed is because
the people believe in the rein
carnation of the soul after death
and not knowing what animals
their loved ones are reborn they
do not kill any of them. The peo-
pie here are born in caste sys-
tenn which he must spend the
rest of his life and in some cases
determines how he will earn a
living. There are about 5000
castles in this country to make
myself clear if you are born poor
there is no chance for you to be-
come rich and vice versa. There
is no mixing Of different caste
systems. If a high class Indian
is touched by a low class he i'm
mediately goes and takes a bath
to make himself pure again or
even a low class shadow crosses
his path. If his foo dis touched
it becomes unfit for eating. Beg
gars in this country are plenti-
full and they have pitiful faces
and misshapen bodies. | remem-
Der travelling we came to a town
l saw a little Indian boy no more
than four years old who could
MT walk. He had the most pitt
full face l have ever witnessed
and he learnded in English how
to say mo Mama no papa" He
would crawl up to you and en-
brace your legs and with the
most pitiful plea and would ask
you to help him. That is one ex-
perience | will never forget, and
it hurts me to even think of it.
There are also beggars of reli-
gious who give their homes and
all of their possessions to wan
der from place to place living
on the charity Of the people and
if YOU are sympathetic you will