l growth, forced by editors and politicians,
and warped by ignorance and prejudice. The widely current idea that,
owing to British rule, the poverty of the Indian people is now greater,
and that the famines are more frequent and severe than in former
dynasties, is the outstanding instance of the rank growth. Neither the
allegation of greater poverty nor the causes of the acknowledged low
standard of living have been studied except in the fashion of party
politicians. Another of the ideas, as widely current, is that every ton
of rice or wheat exported is an injury to the poor. A third is that the
payments made in Britain by the Government of India are virtually
tribute, meanly exacted, instead of honest payment for cash received and
for services rendered. Again, what can be the remedy? In the early part
of the nineteenth century, the Foreign Mission Committee of the Church
of Scotland objected to Dr. Duff, their missionary, teaching Political
Economy in the Church's Mission College, the General Assembly's
Institution, Calcutta. They feared lest the East India Company would
deem it an interference in politics.[46] In 1897, after the Tilak case
already referred to, the writer on Indian affairs in _The Times_
complained of the teaching of historical half-truths and untruths in
Indian schools and colleges, instancing the partisan writings of Burke
and Macaulay, and many Indian text-books full of glaring historical
perversions. The remedy for such erroneous ideas is certainly not to
withhold the present dole of knowledge, but to teach the whole truth.
The recent History of India and Political Economy with reference to
India should be compulsory subjects for every student in an Indian
University. It ought to be the policy of Government to select the ablest
men for professors and teachers of such subjects. If, along with that
remedy, more Anglo-Indians would take a high view of their mission to
India, and of their residence in that country, much of that regrettable
bias and bitterness on the part of Indians would surely pass away. If
instead of adopting the attitude of exiles, thinking only of the
termination of the exile and how to while away the interval,
Anglo-Indians would take some interest in something Indian outside their
business, much would be gained! The best Anglo-Indians are eager to
promote intercourse between Europeans and Indians, but many
Anglo-Indians, whatever the cause, seem incapable of friendly
intercourse.