Mr. Hodge writes to me to say that you would like to have an hour's chat
with me, and he has suggested that I should open the ground which I
gladly do. I will not take up your time by trying to interest you in any
other activity of mine except the spinning wheel. Of all my outward
activities, I do believe that the spinning wheel is of the most
permanent and the most beneficial. I have abundant proof now to support
my statement that the spinning wheel will solve the problem of economic
distress in millions of India's homes, and it constitutes an effective
insurance, against famines.
You know the great Scientist Dr. P. C. Ray, but you may not know that he
has also become an enthusiast on behalf of the spinning wheel. India
does not need to be industrialized in the modern sense of the term. It
has 7,50,000 villages scattered over a vast area 1,900 miles long, 1,500
miles broad. The people are rooted to the soil, and the vast majority
are living a hand-to-mouth life. Whatever may be said to the contrary,
having travelled throughout the length and breadth of the land with eyes
open, and having mixed with millions, there can be no doubt that
pauperism is growing. There is no doubt also that the millions are
living in enforced idleness for at least 4 months in the year.
Agriculture does not need revolutionary changes. The Indian peasant
requires a supplementary industry. The most natural is the introduction
of the spinning wheel, not the hand-loom. The latter cannot be
introduced in every home, whereas the former can, and it used to be so
even a century ago. It was driven out not by economic pressure but by
force deliberately used as can be proved from authentic records. The
restoration, therefore, of the spinning wheel solves the economic
problem of India at a stroke. I know that you are a lover of India, that
you are deeply interested in the economic and moral uplift of my
country. I know too that you have great influence. I would like to
enlist it on behalf of the spinning wheel. It is the most effective
force for introducing successful Co-Operative Societies. Without honest
co-operation of the millions, the enterprise can never be successful,
and as it is already proving a means of weaning thousands of women from
a life of shame, it is as moral an instrument as it is economic.
I hope you will not allow yourself to be prejudiced by anything you
might have heard about my strange views about machinery. I have nothing
to say against the development of any other industry in India by means
of machinery but I do say that to supply India with cloth manufactured
either outside or inside through gigantic mills is an economic blunder
of the first magnitude just as it would be to supply cheap bread
through huge bakeries established in the chief centres in India and to
destroy the family stove.
Yours faithfully,