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TO INDIA.
AN ANTHEM OF LOVE.
CANADA AND INDIA
Two hands are we to serve thee, O our Mother,
To strive and succour, cherish and unite; Two feet are we to cleave the warring darkness,
And gain the pathways of the dawning light. Two ears are we to catch the nearing echo,
The sounding cheer of Time's prophetic horn; Two eyes are we to reap the crescent glory,
The radiant promise of renascent morn. Ce heart are we to love thee, O our Mother,
One undivided, indivisible soul,
ISSUED BY
CANADA INDIA COCIMITTEE 158 Bay
Bound by one hope, one purpose, one devotion,
Towards a great, divinely destined goal.
-Mrs. Sarojini Naidu.
AUSTRALIA AND INDIA.
By the Rev. C. F. Andrews. (From the "Modern Review.")
I have been trying to study carefully the dominant ideas underlying modern Australian life in their relation to India, and have been surprised to find how small is the margin of conflict. I have had to modify considerably some of the points that I regarded as axioms, and in certain fundamental ways to change my thoughts concerning Australians them- selves.
By accident of fortune, trend of circumstance, and hard- fought conflict combined, Australia has become more and more the working man's close preserve, his unchallenged estate. The laborers, who found it difficult to win even one of their rights and privileges in England, have entered into them all with extraordinary ease and rapidity in Australia. There have been many wild adventures and brilliant successes of capitalists, as some new gold mine has been discovered, or some new patent cold-storage has been invented; but, not- withstanding all this, the country has never got into the capitalists' hands. The laborers have struggled to their kingdom, and have won it so securely that now they have the capitalist almost at their mercy.
It may be that the pendulum has swung too far; that labor has got too completely the upper hand; that there has been much that is sordid and selfish in the labor policy. This may be readily granted; yet the victory has been a signal one all the same. It is one of the new landmarks in the history of the world, and it is of far greater significance to humanity than the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, or the German invasion of Belgium.
THE CRY FOR A "WHITE AUSTRALIA." But how, then, comes in this cry for a wholly white Aus-
, ur lear or the "color prejudice," but that in the exig- encies of warfare they soo become not only next-door neigh- hors, but also the best of comrades (I am certain this last part is true, every word). Invariably, whenever I told that story to Australians, their comment was that in those condi- tions there would have been no objection among them at all to "colored" men, and they were quite misunderstood on the "color" question. They pointed out to me how glad Austra- lians were when they heard that Indian troops were going out to fight along with the British at the front-quite a dif- ferent mood from a considerable volume of English opinion
March, 1916
in South Africa which rather resented it and thought it might lower the dignity of the white man.
I think it may be fairly said that actually, in daily life, there is no more color prejudice in the "Anzac zone," down here at the Antipodes, than there is in England itself-and for the same reason, because there is no experience. I would go further, and give very high praise to the New Zealander, where there is experience. For his treatment of the Maori has been recently almost exemplary. To open the door to ful citizenship in fifty years to this different race; to give them the fullest facilities for education and to allow them to carry arms and take rank in the army where merit has been shown; to take them into the comradeship of sport; to cast no slur upon the children of intermarriage to accom- plish all this in fifty years is no small achievement.
AN ECONOMIC OBJECTION.
What, then, is this cry of "White Australia"? We must go back to our earlier historical setting, and study more carefully the labor struggle and the labor victory. At every point in this great, historic struggle the capitalist has endeav- ored to bring in, entirely for his own profit-making business, the colored man, who can work and live more cheaply than the white man. If the capitalist had been able to effect this, then the whole battle of Australian labor would have been lost. The capitalist to-day would have become master of the There situation, and the laborer to-day would be his helot. capitalists on protected ground, and not allowing them to would be slums and foul places, and foul, unhealthy condi- tions in Australia to-day such as still exist, almost un- heeded, in Europe. Labor has won its great battle on one condition, and one condition only, by fighting against the import cheap industry from outside. That is what "white Australia" has meant hitherto.
It is an evil term, and it should never have been used. It is a term which, every year, becomes more and more morally dangerous; for it tends to foster in the minds of young Aus- tralians a color-pride which is next-door to color-prejudice. It is a term which ought to be dropped as soon as possible, for it is grossly insulting to other races: and India and Japan and China are quite right in resenting its use most strongly. But, on the other hand, as I have tried to show, in its origin it is wholly, or almost wholly economic. In its origin it differs as widely as possible from that color-hatred in Africa, which is only in a small part economic, and is in a far greater measure a hardened racial instinct.
INDIAN INDENTURED LABOR IN FIJI. How, then, does this reading of Australian history affect the problem of Indian indentured labor in Fiji? Very ma- terially indeed. For, if my argument has been followed, it will be seen that India has the whole of the victorious senti- ment of Australia (which has won its own way out of labor- serfdom) on its own side. Australia, as a whole, would like to see indentured Indian labor in Fiji abolished to-morrow. Australia, as a whole, hates the very thought of such cheap, sweated, profit-making business as the great sugar factories are carrying on in Fiji. From one side of Australia to the other, and in New Zealand also, I have only heard one opinion when I have broached the subject: and that is, "Abolish indenture in Fiji as soon as possible!" If I say to them that the largest company in Fiji (the practical mon- opoly there) is an Australian company, they reply at once, "We hate monopolies in Australia, and we would like this one smashed, as well as every other monopoly in the land." If I say to them, "Would you be ready to stand up for the rights of colored labor in this matter, as you would for the rights of white labor?" they will answer, "We have no hold on Fiji at all, because it is a Crown Colony. But if it were to come under Australia we would do all we could to abolish it."
There are many other sides of this widely ramifying ques- tion which I have consciously passed over in order to make ont point clear. Australia and New Zealand are, both of them, in principle bound to support us in our own struggle to abolish the indenture system.
I have been obliged to talk about "white" and "colored" in this article, because these are the present Australian terms. I hate them myself, because they always seem to imply arro- gance in the appropriation of the word "white" by the Euro- pean. I believe we shall not get rid of the evil and hateful sentiments behind the use of the words until we give them up altogether and talk about our different nationalities with- out referring to "color" 'at all-at least for so long as "white" implies an arrogant and unwarranted assumption.
Rabindranath Tagore's play, "Chitra," was staged most sucessfully by the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, on March 4th.
An-
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