All the external activities of Satyagrahashram in connection with
Swadeshi have for some time now been taken over by the Gujarat
Provincial Congress Committee. People, who are in need of or wish to
know anything about ginning-wheels, spinning-wheels, looms and Khadi,
are requested to correspond with the Secretary of the Khadi department
of that Committee. The Ashram now only conducts a weaving-school, which
teaches all the processes from ginning right up to weaving. The boys of
the Ashram school are at present taking the full course of instruction
here, and we have not the room to take up students from outside. Some
description of the work done is given here in the hope, that it may
perhaps furnish suggestions to outside students and to schools desirous
of having spinning-classes attached to them.
Forty-nine spinning wheels are here regularly at work, over and above
twenty-five others which are reserved for beginners. All these are
worked three to six hours per day. Some are worked for even seven or
eight hours. After a month's training, a friend worked twelve to
fourteen hours daily for a number of days and thus proved the
possibility of earning three annas a day. Another, a sister, spun nine
to ten hours daily for some days after finishing her round of domestic
business. In a month and a half, she had spun enough to get _sadlas_ and
other cloth woven out of yarn spun by herself, and actually began
wearing these things. She is now-a-days spinning at the rate of eight
hours a day. One day there was something wrong with this lady's
_rentia_. She referred the matter to the present writer who set it
right. But she was not satisfied. She complained again, and again was
the _rentia_ operated upon. But the wheel apparently suffered from some
occult malady, which she was at a loss to diagnose. Every time its
spinning power would get enfeebled. At last the poor lady lost all
patience and was almost ready to weep. This was reported to me, and this
time I examined the wheel very critically and effected a perfect cure.
It now moved merrily, and merrily did the sister proceed with her work.
It is very desirable that all the wheels in a spinning-class be kept in
a perfect condition. When that is the case, the spinner does not tire
and works cheerfully and speedily. Our class is attended by five ladies,
who spin five or six hours every day, and by twenty-three students of
the Ashram school, of whom eighteen are boys and five are girls. The
conduct of this class is not an easy job. Their spirits are in continual
need of cheering. Some of them spin very rapidly. But sometimes there is
a grievous attack of head-ache, at other times the still more grievous
attack of idleness. Sometimes the hand is fatigued, at other times the
wheel gets out of repair.
We are now replacing the thick by a thin spindle. It is true that with
the slightest interference or rough handling, this thin spindle bends
and begins to wobble. But it makes the movement of the wheel very smooth
and easy, and also adds to its speed, as the revolutions are doubled
from the fifty of the thick spindle to a hundred in the thin spindle
following from one revolution of the large wheel. The doubling of
revolutions does not mean a double output, but there is certainly a
considerable increase. With the thick spindle, the wheel must go through
8 or 10 revolutions for the drawing and winding of one length of yarn;
with the thin spindle, the revolutions of the wheel needed for that
purpose are reduced to 4 or 5. Hence with the thin spindle, there is an
economy of labour. The speed of drawing the yarn by the hand is clearly
limited, so that 200 or 300 revolutions of the spindle instead of 100
would not double or treble the speed or the output. Advanced students
draw and wind two feet to two feet and a half of yarn every five
seconds. This comes to 8 to 10 yards a minute. If the sliver is good and
the student in a spinning-mood, there is less breakage of yarn. Even
considering the time lost on account of breakage and joining, some
students are easily able to spin 400 to 500 yards of yarn of about 12
counts, fit for warp. This approximates to the speed of a mill spindle,
and is therefore quite satisfactory. When the work is over, the student
removes the spindle from the wheel and keeps it in good preservation.
Yet accidents do occur. The class master must know how to repair a
spindle which has thus gone wrong. He must also know how to put the
wheel in good working order. The string which makes the spindle revolve
often breaks, but if it is well-twisted, treated with wax, and then
rubbed well with a piece of cloth, it becomes more durable and lasts for
a number of days.
The students generally like to work on the _rentia_. But the moment it
gets a little wrong and cannot be soon corrected, they rise and flee.
Not only the beginners but even advanced scholars are sometimes
confused, when called upon to set right such a simple machine as the
spinning-wheel. A veteran leader who set the non-co-operating students
of engineering at work upon the spinning-wheel, made the remark that
English education has incapacitated our young men. It was with great
pain that he said this. And it is the simple truth of the matter. We can
clearly see, that as a result of this education, we have not only lost
the power of our hands and feet, but we also lack in patience and
perseverance. We cannot bear to take the trouble of correcting anything
that is wrong. Newspaper leader-writers question the educative value of
spinning and doubt its efficacy in driving away poverty from our midst.
Their doubts would vanish if ever they tried and saw for themselves what
children gain from the spinning-wheel. But these writers are themselves
the product of English education. To expect them to be patient, is to
forget the character of the discipline to which they have been subject.
There is no better test than the spinning-wheel, if we wish to
ascertain whether our children are educated in the real and the proper
sense of that term.
Many people still question the economic value of hand spinning. But I
believe that the results of our experiments may perhaps lead them to
reconsider their views. I will here put down the statistics of our own
class. Among our students there are five playful children, who spin only
when the spirit possesses them. But all of them spin good yarn fit for
warp. Hardly any spin yarn below 10 counts. Many spin yarn of about 15
counts. Now-a-days the boys are giving four hours to spinning. Formerly
they used to work six hours daily, but then there was a tendency to
occasional slackness. Now we have ruled that when once a student has
spun a length of 1000 yards, he may be allowed to leave the spinning
class, and learn carding etc. This arrangement has had excellent
efforts. All spin without losing a moment and spin 1000 yards in two to
four hours according to the skill acquired. And the yarn thus produced
is pretty uniform, well twisted, and fit for warp. We have fixed a round
wire frame on the axle of the wheel just near the handle, with a
circumference of 4 feet. This frame is used for opening the cone into a
hank. 750 revolutions of this mean a thousand yards of yarn. Most
students count the revolutions, while they are moving the frame, and
hence do not take much additional time for calculations. Some are not
able to practice this, and they count the length after they have
prepared the hank.
1000 yards of yarn of six counts weigh 8 _tolas_. (840 yards make a
hank. If six such hanks weigh a pound, the yarn is of 6 counts. Hence
840 yards of six count of yarn weigh 6-2/3 _tolas_.) 4 annas is a quite
proper wage for spinning one pound of six-count yarn of a standard
quality. This means a wage of nine pies and a half for spinning 8
_tolas_. But most of our students spin yarn of 12 to 15 counts, and even
finer. And this is quite good and fit for weaving. The wage for a
thousand yards of finer yarn must be proportionately higher; as the
finer the yarn, the greater the number of twists to be given to it.
Twelve-count yarn requires nearly half as much twisting again as
six-count yarn. Hence the wage of a thousand yards of twelve-count yarn
must be half as much again as that of the same length of six-count yarn.
But this proportionately higher wage makes the hand-spun yarn much
dearer than the mill-made yarn of the same count. If we take 8 and 12
annas to be the wage for spinning a pound of yarn of 12 and 16 counts
respectively, the wage for spinning a length of 1000 yards of the same
counts will be 10 or 11 pies. One student spins this amount in 2 hours,
several in 3 hours and the rest in 4.
On the last _Amavasya_ it was twenty two days since the students set
regularly to work after the _vaishaka_ vacation. Deducting three
holidays on Sundays and three half-holidays on Wednesdays, we get
seventeen and a half working days. There was an average attendance of
twenty two students out of twenty three. Twenty two students spun in
seventeen days and a half twenty four _shers_ and a half of yarn of
about fourteen counts. If we take ten annas to be the average wage for
spinning a _sher_, this comes to fifteen rupees and four annas. This is
exclusive of Rs. 1-11-0 which is the wage of 18 pounds of cotton carded
and made into slivers by one student in 12 days, calculated at an anna
and a half per pound. It is also exclusive of the extra work put in by
students on five or six days after finishing their daily quota of 1000
yds. of yarn by way of carding and opening yarn for weaving tapes and
carpets. These students gave some of their private time also to this
work.
There is no doubt, that the figures will mount higher when the students
acquire the habit of methodical work. But whatever the pecuniary value
of their work might be, method in work itself will be an acquisition
beyond all price.
So much for the spinning department. I hope to be able to deal with the
weaving department on another occasion.
_Y. I.--21st July 1921_.