Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1930. A SAINTLY FIREBRAND

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 100, 30 April 1930, Page 10

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 1930. A SAINTLY FIREBRAND

Except in his own district of Gujerat, through which he conducted his non-violent pilgrims to the sea, Mr. Gandhi's, campaign against the salt tax is now reported to be "almost a complete failure," and in the course of a week or two even that well-informed but appallingly discreet person, the Secretary for India, may be constrained, subject to the. necessary qualifications, reservations, and circumlocutions, to admit the. fact. But even in Gujerat the violation of the salt laws seems to have fizzled, and, much to the MahatmaV chagrin, without the display of so .much violence on' the part of the police as will have landed him in gaol. The thirst which might have been created by the manufacture of illegal salt on a large scale and of a faith strong enough to consume the dangerous stuff is now to be produced in another way.' From salt Mr. Gandhi has diverted the attention of his followers to strong drink. He is aiming at "preventing the sale of native liquor by a system of picketing by Congress volunteers." Himself a rigid ascetic, Mr. Gandhi may be said to eat very little and to drink nothing, and he is a prohibitionist as well as a total abstainer. But it is not in either of these capacities but as an apostle of lawlessness that he is attacking' the sale of native liquor, and the common feature of the new movement and the one that has just fizzled is that they both aim at an important source of revenue. But this idea of bringing the liquor question into the present campaign is not a new one with Mr. Gandhi. How much was in that voluminous "ultimatum" to which the Viceroy replied in a single sentence we do not know, but several weeks previously Mr. Gandhi had said-in tcYoung India" that if the Viceroy would satisfy certain "very simple and vital needs .of India" he would hear no more of civil disobedience. These "very simple needs" were reported in "The. Times" of the 31st January as including the total prohibition of the sale of liquor, the reduction of the rupco ratio to 16d (it is at present 18d), the reduction of land revenue by 50 per cent.,1 the abolition of tho salt tax, the reduction of military expenditure by 00 per cent, to begin with, tho reduction of salaries in the' higher grades of the Services, tho abolition of the Criminal Investigation Department, and the passage of the Coastal Traffic Reservation' Bill (a measure for transferring the control of-coastal shipping to Indians). If these very modest demands were conceded, what then? Would Mr. Gandhi arid his friends be satisfied? Very far from it. They would merely abandon disobedience, whether violent or non-violent, for the present, and be graciously pleased to discuss the next step towards India's independence. Hitherto they had decided to boycott the proposed Round Table Conference, but subject to the conditions stated the National Congress will, said Mr. Gandhi in this article, take part heartily in a conference where there is perfect freedom of expression and demand. The Viceroy had only to agree to turn the fiscal system, the defence system, and the police system of India upside dbwn—not ■. to mention a few other trifles—and these patriots would be ready to meet him and discuss the rest of their programme on a footing of perfect equality. In a later statement Mr. Gandhi brought these "very simple needs" of his into closer relation to his present campaign. On the 17th February the "Times of India" published an interview in which he said that .although the "civil disobedience" scheme is not finally settled, the breaking of the salt monopoly and the picketing of liquor shops and foreign cloth shops are some of the implications of the plan. ' Yesterday's report from Delhi sho^vs that the first two of these items have now been taken in the order named. In view of the very small amount of support that the first of his methods has received, and of the limitation of that slight success to the sphere of his direct personal influence, the decision to take them one at a time is doubtless wise. The expulsion of foreign cloth, which of course means for the most part British cloth, is to be left at present to the peaceful competition of the spinning wheel which Mr. Gandhi set going shortly after his release from prison about six years ago "as the sole hope of economic revival throughout the 700,000 villages of India." In all that time the British manufacturer has found the competition of the village spinning wheel so thoroughly non-violent that neither he nor the British Government has been seriously troubled about it. Yet it was just about the time of the statements above quoted that a special correspondent of the "Daily Express" found the Mahatma at his spinning wheel and was told how the liberty of India was being spun. You will find millions of our men and women in cottages spinning hour after hour. This means that tho whole nation will boycott foreign-spun cloths. This must eventually mean the end of British predominance in industry, which is the . chief reason for the presence of your troops.' But it is clear that the process of liberation by this peaceful process was not moving fast enough, for

about three weeks later Mr. Gandhi made the statement which we have quoted from the "Times of India." For the present, however, the native liquor shops are, as that statement suggested, being given precedence over the foreign cloth shops*. This new movement is expected, we are told, to degenerate, as has th salt movement, into violence. There are, indeed, strong grounds for this expectation. Picketing is a very ticklish business at the best of times, and in times of -excitement "peaceful picketing" is almost a contradiction in terms. The omission of the epithet from our cabled report, therefore, does not amount to much. Despite that temporary aberration on the part of Mr. Gandhi in the face of the ignominious failure of his salt making expedition, we must suppose that non-violence is still his watchword, and that the new departure is intended to be governed by it. .But what he intends and what he effects are unfortunately different things, and the most precise declaration on the subject would not prevent the specifications from being exceeded if the new movement gets any way on at all. If the salt tax campaign resulted in violence, how can the much more risky attempt to picket the liquor shops be kept clear of it? But years ago Mr. Gandhi had a far more terrible experience than this in the violence and bloodshed in which one of his non-violent crusades resulted. He repented then with prayer.and fasting, but he is at it again and with his eyes open. I know, he said in his "ultimatum," that in embarking on the campaign I am taking on a mad risk, but victories have never been won without'risks. Mr. .Gandhi had previously faced quite frankly the nature of the "mad risk" that he was taking. If we have to go through the agonies of civil war or foreign invasion, he wrote in "Young India" in January, it will hot be a new thing in the history of nations that have struggled for freedom. - ' . '■ If this saintly firebrand is still at large, it is some comfort to know that the authorities have taken his measure and are not afraid, ir.it think that for the present he is doing less mischief out of gaol than he would do inside. <