No amount of human ingenuity can manage to distribute water over the
whole land, as a shower of rain can. No irrigation department, no rules
of precedence, no inspection and no water-cess. Every thing is done with
an ease and a gentleness that by their very perfection evade notice. The
spinning-wheel, too, has got the same power of distributing work and
wealth in millions of houses in the simplest way imaginable. Those of us
who do not know what it is to earn a livelihood by the sweat of one's
brow, may consider the three annas a day as a pittance beneath the
consideration of any man. They do not know that even in these days of
high prices, there are districts in India where even three annas a day
would be a boon to the poor. But we must not consider the question of
the spinning-wheel merely from the point of individual earnings. The
spinning-wheel is a force in national regeneration. If we wish for real
Swaraj, we must achieve economic independence. Boycott of foreign cloth
is its negative aspect. For this we must produce cloth sufficient to
clothe the country. This can only be done by hand-spinning. All the
mills that we have got, will not be able together to cope with the
situation. If all rush for the thin mill-made cloth, it will rise in
price beyond the capacity of the poor, and the experience of 1907-08
will be repeated. Moreover, the cloth best suited for the three seasons
of India is _Khadi_. Those who have used _Khadi_ during this summer,
have come to realise, that after the soft clean touch of _Khadi_ it is
impossible to use sticky Malmal or twills. _Khadi_ can enable its wearer
to withstand the cold of an average winter as even wool cannot. The
climate of India demands that clothes be washed as often as possible.
Only _Khadi_ can stand this constant wash. _Khadi_ was once the dress of
the nation at large. One must see to believe how venerable the old
Patels and Deshmukhs looked when dressed in home-spun _Khadi_. There are
instances of whole villages taking a legitimate pride in the fact that
they had to import nothing but salt in the whole round of the six
seasons. With such conditions, there could be no drain, no exploitation
and therefore no Para-raj. A little village could make terms with the
rulers of the land consistent with its self-respect, dignity and
independence. Is our love of luxury so inveterate, that we cannot
control it even for the sake of Swaraj?
_Y. I.--6th July 1921._