SWADESHI. 161

is, then, a Swadeshi, a higher Swadeshi, which should boycott
certain goods, not because of their foreign origin, but
because of their intrinsic worthlessness. Take another
class of miscellaneous goods, such as nibs, stationery,
scientific instruments, clocks and watches, and a large part
of machinery in general and many of the things made by
it. Some of these things have with great difficulty been
produced in India. But in such cases the quality of the
locally manufactured article has been altogether wretched.
The patriotic Swacleshist has to pay more for an inferior
article. Now, I say that, in the face of this state of affairs, it
is no use having Swadeshi manufactures unless the home-
made things are at least as good as the imported ones, and
unless the people of India are benefited by their manufacture.
Take for example textiles, which are a speciality of the
Swadeshi movement. Here we have clearly something
which India has formerly excelled in producing, and still
produces in large quantities. But the most vulgar Man-
chester prints are still fast driving out locally made and
artistic materials. At the Madras Exhibition of 1903, says
Mr. Harris :

"Side by side with the very many good examples displayed in
various textiles, there were a number of specimens of gaudy-
coloured goods of weak design, colour and quality, poor imitations
of art fabrics and European textiles. "

Why, then, do people stand with folded arms and
look at a declining industry in which there is money with-
out any attempt, in a practical way, to revive the trade ?

" Already a change for the worse is visible in the tastes of the
common people, and one has only to go into any street or tillage
near a large town to see the glaring cloths of Manchester or Ger-
man production freely worn by the populace. These are rapidly
taking the place of the beautiful white and tinted cloths of hand-
loom work, so lately in general use all over India, and so much of
which was, until the middle of the nineteenth century, exported to
various countries."
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