INDIA A LAND OF LOW WAGES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10592, 22 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

INDIA A LAND OF LOW WAGES.

(By Frank .G. Carpenter.)

The, unrest of India is largely a mat- , tor of wages. Suppose you bad to work for 1 or 2. cents ah hour? Suppose ■ you could liave only one square meal every day, and niglit after night your family should go "to bed hungry ? These are the. conditions of millions of Hindus. Suppose they existed at home? Would. \vc not have an unrest with a vengeance!-' I refer the question to Brother Gompers'for answer. I have before .me-a list of the wages the natives are baid. ,1 take th'cin from the statistical abstract sent by the Viceroy to the British House of Parliament, and therefore reliable. At Calcutta

carpenters, blacksroitlis, and masons are now receiving less than 6 dollars a month; and that yould be a high average" for mechanics throughout Hindustan. In the province of Oude they are paid less than 3 dollars, and at Agra only 1 dollar more. At Patna. able-bodied farm hands receive leas than 2 dollars per month. For this they work 12 hours a day and in. some eases have _to take grain for! their wages. The average income for all Hindustan is" r only abotit 4 cents a day. Not long ago there was a famine in Southern India, during which the Government relieved the people by giving them labor on public improvements. It paid 4 cents to the diggers and 3 cents to the women who carried the earth from one place to another in baskets. They worked from daylight till dark. The children were paid 2 cents a day. They were used to break up the clods and smooth over the ground. The truth is the Indian empire is largely an empire of paupers, and that of paupers surrounded by plenty. Tantalus-like, they ar?, up to the neck ill waters of poverty, with rich fruits of all kinds hanging over their heads. When they grasp for the fruits they vanish, and they strive and strive and strive in vain. 1 was struck by this at-Calcutta. That capital is known as the Citv of Palaces, but it is also a city of hovels. It has its thousands of splendid carriages and automobiles, with coachmen and chauffeurs in the most gorgeous liveries. It has rich Englishmen and native rajahs and nabobs who are loaded with jewels; but with them is want so keen that' it cuts to the heart. There are thousands upon the street who go almost naked. The dress of the common people is such that the legs of the women are oftc'njbare to the knees and. of the men to the thighs. The bones are clad only in sinews and skin. There is. not-enough meat on the legs to tempt a hungry dog. They are straight as a pipe stem, the swelling, of the calves being absent. The arms show nothing.but bones.

And then the "homes of the people! Outside the mansions of the rich,■■which 'face the Maidan and the fine buildings of the Government, and the palaces of a few rajahs, the native quarters of Calcutta, are largely composed of homes no bigger than packing cases. The stores are mere holes in the walls. 'Whole families live.in one room, and even ovit in the' country the" huts are so small that the beds are set outside in the daytime. I have travelled extensively among the farmers of- many countries, hilt I know of no place where they work so hard for so little. This is an agricultural nation. "Two-thirds of the people rely upon farming as their principal business, and this means about 200,000,000. There are more than 100,000,000 here who work in the soil, and there are 90,000,000 men, women, and children who actually farm. In addition, there are some millions who take care of domestic .-animals of various kinds. The wages of these farmers are low beyond American conception. The employees are often paid in kind, getting, in 'some cases, their food and a- small percentage, of the crop. Where money is- paid, the wages do not average 2.25 dollars per month., and nowhere, except, in Assam, do they rise to 3 dollars. In the valley of the Ganges, where the soil is as fafc as that of the Nile, the average'..wage is 1.50 dollar monthlv. and in the'province of Oude it is l".28 dollar. .In addition to this some of the laborers are bond servants, who get only their living, and a cent' now and then for a feast. The farmers who have their own lands are mortgaged up to their eyes,,and the money lender and the tax-collector give them no peace. The Government levies on real estate have been The agitators claim they are exorbitantly high in comparison, and a current book on India states that oneeighth nf the entire farming population of"Madras has been sold out of house and home within less than a decade. Not only their farms, but their furniture and personal belongings, -have been taken for taxes. On the other hand, it is claimed that the taxation to-day is less than it has ever been, and that it is lighter per head than the taxes of any other country of the .world. We pay 13 times as much taxes per head as the Hindus. The Russians pay eight times as much and the English 20 times as much.- ' , Indeed, we shall have to look outside the Government for the cause of 'lndia's poverty. We can find one in the nature of the people, which leads them to borrow whenever they can, and in the money sharks, who lend at usurious rates upon: their crops and lands. In many such cases the interest is taken in kind, the shark having his .agent on the ground and grabbing a share ot the grain as it comes from the threshing. " The usual rate of interest is_ 2-1 P"r cent per annum, and many foreigners are-paying 3 per cent, a month and unw'ard. In the -interior of India the banks charge as much as 10 per cent, per annum, although the Government itself has recently been lending the larm- ' ers something like 10,000,000 dollars at 5 and 0 per cent. , There is no country where banking is so much of a business-. There are castes here who thoroughly understand th" breeding value of and there are altogether in India 400,000 bankers and 'moneylenders, of whom more than 60 000 are women. Much roone\ .is loaned inrn real cstnte mortgages, and 'from Lhis "the bankers r.cc getting liol'l iof the land. In f-ome provinces as much as 68 per cent, of the country belongs to them, and in others 40 and 50 per " Tlie average home, of the Hindu peasant is not as good as the average American stable. It is often a mud hut from 10 to 15 feet square, without-doors or windows. The floor is plastered with cow dung, and the furniture is a rojie. bed and" a few pots and pans. The house is usually thatched with straw, and its interior is as' hare as a barn. It seldom has more than one room, and in this the whole family accommodates itself as it can. The- stove is a- fireplace made of three or four bricks f-ct on end, and the cooking is done in pots and pans. There are no chimneys, ond the smoke finds it", way out of the door and from under the caves. Most of the farmer's live in villages of such huts. In riding ncro.-s India you see these everywhere dotting the landscape. They are built along nr u roads and hav,e. none of . the surround- j ings or conveniences of American towns There aro no big schoolhouses or | churches, no street lamps, no gutters, i and no sidewalks. There is an absence | of painting and whitewash, the only outside decoration being lump's of cow dung of the size and shape of a [at buckwheat cake. There are the fuel of the people, plastered upon the walls of the hut to dry. .Tins stuff is picked up by the women and glrls, v who -follow the cattle. They carry the droppings to their houses-and mix.them with dirt, natting them into shape 'with their bare hands. Such fuel-is used over India, and the women invariably collect

-The Hindu peasants have made feeding a science. They know just how much will suffice tq keep them alive, and they eat .'little 'more. They save everything and cook just enough. Their diet'is chiefly beans, millet and coarse with chili peppers and other condiments. They seldom have meat;-, and the castes of many of thein sre such that they would die rather than eat beef or pork. They consider rhe cow holy, and would as soon think of chewing their grandparents as a tenderloin steak. They use a rancid melted butter called ghee. The Indian farmer rises at daybreak and'takes with him a snack of cold food to the field. At noon his wife brings him a hot dinner. He eats first and she takes what is left. At home the people eat off the floor. If they are rich thev hare several larae dishes; 'f pdor one or two. In addition there are small dishes for curry and •jonds-

monts. All pat with their fingers,! sirid the men always first. j It i.s u well-to-do iaimJy that has,iwo good meals 'a. day. I am told that' not one-third of the natives "can afford to eat nee, and that the majority*livis-cn flour made 1 of coarse grains,' which clbAy ' cook up into-unleavened-cakes ti-ilfed ehnppattis. ~ , '~ - ,*._ ! The whole nation seems to" live -from hand to mouth, result is that a short crop always-causes Sa"< famine. . This has boon so" for v centuries. - One hundred and forty years famine iu Bengal caused the death of 10,000,000, and' seventy-odd years' since 8,000,000 starved"-''in. one province.famines are so common that the' British Government keeps a fund in reserve, which, it adds to every year, and it has a regular system of taking care of the people by employing "themi on. public works at such times. JDuijng the famine of 1896 more than 1,000 : 000 rations wore issued each day, and notwithstanding that almost a million people died of disease or starvation. The -people live so closely that they have no reserve force, and when their ' food is cut down they drop off like sheep. In some parts of India the population is so dense that it docs not inciease from >eai to yeai, the natmal growth, which goes on aver the iest cf the world, being "absent A ■striking evidence of the poverty of India is the absolute- lack of comforts which is eveijwheie seen The peasants live moie like animals than men. They will sleep aiiywhoie. 1 see them lying on' the floors of the railway stations with nothing but a thm piece of cotton between their bones and the stone - In the towns there aie public lodgmg-places, wheie the accommodations cost from id to M a right The ordinary farmer saves his cent, and camps outside. The most common bed is v i a rude fxamewoik of wood over which a netting of ropes of the size of clothes line is stretched Tim is the bed of the more favored membeis of the fannlj They lie upon the bed spoon-fashion, foi if they should stieteh out then legs their feet would hang o/ei Sometimes the children and alwajs the widows sleep ,011 the floor. Notv- lthstandmg all this one of th« Cabinet Mmisteis of the Vicnioy tolls me that the faimois aie much better on nort than thej veic 111 the past Said he ' The wages have almost doubled in th" past geneiation When I came to India 30 -\cars ago the sjee who took ci e of m> hoiso got about six mpees (8s 4d) a month, and 1 now have to {j%\ that much foi a comuion seivant, and 12 ivpees (16s Sd) 01 11101 e loi one r{ the bcttei classes A good farm haiid c-n now get as much as si vpenco a di\ in some"localities, while 111 tlie Dunith at hanest, he will get a shillHii, ard thico pence In fact, wo aie ~hoit of laboi, and have haidh cnout,!. to hi" \ est the ciops The faimci raises a large part of his- own food and ho'is now profiting by the high prices of grain. On the other hand, the professional men, clerks and. employees of the -Government"have had their incomes materially reduced by the rise in prices oi : goods* of all kinds. This is one of the causes of the'unrest.;" ! ■_ -: ; --

' This remark of the official reminds me of an incident which occurred at the post office here this morning. I was waiting to register a letter, when I heard quarrelling among the clerks. The noise was so great that I wont to the-window and looked in. I saw there

a big fine-looking babu or native official dressed in a long white coat and gold turban, -cursing a lean Hindu in a cheap garb of white cotton.. The babu shook both his fists in the. little man's face and denounced his ancestors.to the seventh generation. The little fellow -protested"iind apologised; but the babu only cursed him the louder. Ho ended by 'shoving him back to his place at the sorting-table. - As I asked what the matter was, the weighing clerk whispered: "The mail is late and that clerk is partly.the cause. It is not his fault, though. He is poor and has not had enough to eat. Hungry men canr.it work" rapidly. That clerk gets only nine rupees (12s'6d) a month, and one cannot buy much rice for that. It used to be better; but things arc; so high now that the poor have not one ugh." .■■ This""increase _of prices, which is a common complaint in.the United States, lis.s extended all over Lhc world. It has affected all who have fixed wages or fixed incomes, and especially those Government clerks, who have 'to dress well for their station. As to, the Govern-ment.-employees, ■ I will give you only the wages of postmen. They vary in the different provinces; but they are seldom more than 16s 6s a month, while the postal runners get half .that. In Bengal the postmen receive less than GJd'a day ; in Bombay they get about 7Jd a day, while in the central provinces their wages arc less than Gd. In all India something like 2,000,000 people are supported by Government jobs of one kind or another. f There arc a-few at the top who get fairly good salaries, but the smaller places, held bv the riatives, pay very little. The "Chinese are usually considered of ;ill the world the most industrious and thrifty. As far -as work- is concerned, the "Hindus are a dose second, and thev make this peninsula hum like .a beehive:- There are all told something like. 300.000.000 of them and nearly evorv one has his own trade or profession.' A man's business is fixed by the. <>od"s.' Ho must stick to his-caste .and has but little chance for outside employment. The banker is the son of a banker, the shoemaker the son of i a shoemaker, and the beggar the son of a ben-far. Begging is a fixed profession horeHind it is ; followed by more than 2 000 000 people: Of . these two-thirds are' men and the' rest are women and 1 "1 l--o «... Cl There'are more -than 800,000 shoe--■nn'Ws in India',' and more than a million barbers. The barbers .shave tne heads, faces and bodies of their customers. Boys have -to be shaved as well as men". The native prices ojp lei for shaving "head, face and neck, and for a cleaii shave over the body, while, it costs 4d- to get a shave, haircut and M'ampoo. -The barbers aro .also shampooers and they will-knead ycrnr flesh fro.n your .toes to your-crown tor Id or l J ,d ; o'er time. '■ ' ', ■'.,." "In" the past all the manufactures ot 1 India were made ill the houses, and there-are still-millions of weavers, and workers in wood and metal who labor it home, following the trades ot their, ancestors. Within the-past generation, however; 'hundreds of mills and lac-, tories have sprung into being,, and these are equipped with modern machinery."' The natives can handle- .machinery quite as well as _we can, ami many of • those formerly m the textile trades: are now working in , the; cotton mills, jute mills and other such institutions. •"' These people.arc pauVwhat are high-wages for this -part of the world In Bombay tlie cotton mill men get Kid a day and the women:i,7d:_and:. under. < Cin!dreirarfeT)aid-4id.orsd, and those who- work half time frequently get about 2kl per - day. ■■ In the Delhi, Got-ten-milfe the'wages for ;th& -men- are about 3J.d ;and 4d, .jand'ui- other places they are; more.: Often; a. whole; family will worfc in the; mills v its earnings sometimes amounting to :2s Id or 3s. iM a day. r Such;: are esteemed -very- well ° Those : the .mills -m.niud, huts br-in^uildings Bombay. factories them;; dwellings;- ;:are overusually- have M& pn£ -room;, tewhich it Mj*i&i& : &i&m^<^&myi\ li«Kt J musti;cbme'f through -the £qor r :gsln some%thet;aocalities: theiawellings;jam belser;:hWss:^ poor betf3,>, -sjosso&. '?;';; :v;i |" p: