THE DAILY PROVINCE JANUARY 23, 1914 THE PROVINCE p.6 FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1914 THE PROBLEM OF INDIA. ------------------- In Canada there are 7,000,000 people, all of whom may be classified as white; in New Zealand there are 1,000,000; in Australia, 4,500,000; in United South Africa, 1,275,000. These make a total of 13,775,000 white people in the dominions. In the United Kingdom there are 45,600,000 people. Altogether there are just under 60,000,000 white people in the British Empire. The total population of the Empire is 421,178,965. Thus for every white man there are six colored. In India alone there are over 315,000,000 people. Putting the matter thus crudely makes it very much clearer to understand why the deportation of a Hindu form British Columbia or discrimination against Hindus in South Africa is attended with such profound danger to India. The pebble cast into the Gulf of Georgia causes a disturbance, which sends a tidal wave sweeping along the coasts of India. Naturally the affairs of the place in which a man has his being are the most important to that man. The problems which concern people thousands of miles away seem of no consequence to him. India is almost exactly half-way round the world from Vancouver. The fact that it is part of the British Empire is perhaps its only feature of importance to most people in Canada and that is purely sentimental. It has recently come into more prominence as a somewhat serious factor in the problem of Oriental immigration. Yet India is vital to the British Empire not only on account of trade, but of honor, prestige, policy and existence. There is great unrest in India. No one attempts to deny it; many are attempting to analyze it. Its foundation really lies in the fact that Great Britain has raised India financially, industrially, morally, materially. It has brought peace and prosperity where tyranny and bloodshed reigned. It has given education and in giving knowledge it has undermined the foundations of its THE DAILY PROVINCE JANUARY 23, 1914 p.6 own power. India cries out for equality with the white man. It is not discontent with British rule because the educated Indian knows that in good time he will gain an equal share in the administration of his country. What Indian resents is that it is a social disqualification to be an Indian. He feels that the British Raj has made him an outcast not only in the Empire but in his own country. There is no need here to retrea(Sic) the very solid grounds on which the white man refuses to allow the Oriental free and unrestricted immigration into the dominions. But it is as well to realize that the insistence on such restriction entails responsibilities. It is like running a live wire through a barrel of gunpowder and when the gunpowder blows up and causes unending distruction(Sic), apologizing to remnants with scientific platitudes on the progress of science. It is even easier to argue further and say that whatever India may mean to Great Britain it means nothing at all to Canada. Directly it may only mean a trade of about $2,000,000 a year while the United States has a trade of $101,000,000 annually with this British dependency. But trade is perhaps immaterial. What would be the effect on the world at large then if India wrested herself free from British control either on account of British apathy or weakness? In the first place India would be drenched with blood from end to end. In the second several different rulers would arise each seeking his own security and aggrandisement. In the third the tribes in the north would break lose(Sic) and once more plunder the borders. In the fourth India would fall to a new conqueror from the north. Russia eventually would probably dominate India and she would be crushed under the heel of the Muscovite conqueror. The whole face of Asia would be changed. British trade and influence in China would perish, the Pacific trade routes would be atrophied at one end, Vancouver instead of being on the direct Oriental trade routes would be isolated in the northern part of the Pacific. Australia and New Zealand would be over-run with Orientals and the British Empire as we know it would perish. The only outlet for Western Canada to European trade markets would be through the Panama Canal. THE DAILY PROVINCE JANUARY 23, 1914 p.6 This may seem a very general statement. It is easy to criticize it and ask why all these things should happen. Might not India grow strong and be able to look after itself may be asked. It might in the next two or three centuries. It probably will. But that depends on whether the British remain in India. That seems to be the outcome of British rule. At present such an ideal is far away and it can only come gradually. Today India is vital to the well-being of the whole Empire. To hold India the sea routes must be held. To hold the sea routes a navy is somewhat of a necessity. With the roads held safe the government of India can endeavor to solve the very difficult problems is faces with the same courage and hope with which it has already faced and solved even more serious ones.