142 A PILGRIMAGE FOR PEACE
June oUth in the current year the production has been
over 24 lakhs of rupees and the figure is sure to go over
50 lakhs of rupees. In the year 1937 seven lakhs of
rupees were distributed by way of wages and this is likely
to be at least doubled this year.
"k Bombay and Ahmedabad mills with a capital of
over 50 crores of rupees are providing labour for 1,75,000
men while the All-India Spinners' Association with a
capital of 25 lakhs is providing labour for over 1,60,000
men f excluding workers employed by certified centres),
Further, while it requires only Re. I/- to Rs. 3/- to buy
a spinning wheel and give employment to a worker, it
needs Rs. GO/- to put up one spindle in a mill, and one
man can manage 200 spindles. So that a sum of
Rs. 12,000 will be necessary to give employment to one
man.
" The following telling figures would illustrate the
strides that the country has taken towards the goal of
self-sufficiency under the inspiration provided by the
khadi movement, during the Civil Disobedience move-
ment :
" Production in Indian mills in 1920-21, before the
Civil Disobedience movement, was 158 crores of square
yards of cloth worth 63 crores of rupees. In 1921-22, after
the inauguration of Civil Disobedience, it stood at 173
crores of square yards. The figure stood at 242 crores of
square yards in 1929-30. In 1930-31 it shot up to 256
square yards. As against this the figure for cloth import-
ed from foreign mills in 1920-21 was 141 crore square
yards worth 80 crores of rupees. In 1921-22 it dropped
to 98 crore yards worth 40 crores of rupees. In 1929-30,
it again shot up to 242 crore square yards but after the
resumption of Civil Disobedience in 1930-31, it again
dropped down to 81 crore square yards and further de-
clined to 69 crore square yards in 1931-32."
Still more striking was Premier Khan Saheb's
reply to those critics who have tried to dub the Associa-
tion as a communal organization: " Our critics have
sometimes remarked that the Charkha Sangh is merely a