SWADESHI. 16&

•attained ; and a time will come again, or the hopes of civilisa-
tion are vain indeed, when there will be for all men, work
worth doing, a life not over-hard or over-anxious, and such
surroundings as are fit for human beings. We are little
in touch with these regenerative tendencies. It does not
• even follow that the situation must be saved for us in just
the same way. But many of these ideals were already
:attained under the industrial systems prevailing in India.
Each caste or tra.de possessed an organisation largely
socialistic in character and embodying democratic and
communistic ideals. It may well be doubted whether the
true hope for Indian industry does not lie in some such
•developments of the caste system itself, in the village and
home industries of the past, aided by such improvements
as are needed (e.g., the Hy-shuttle or the distribution of
•electric power.)

No doubt a great many common things must be made
by machinery in future ; and it may even be that a time
will come when machinery will be actually used as a labour-
•sa,ving, and not as a profit-making device; but it is
probable that men will not ultimately rely nearly as mtich
upon machinery as is supposed; and where they must, or at
any rate now do so, we may for the present very well leave
other nations to do such hewing of wood and drawing of
water for us, and concern ourselves with the revival, both
for our own use and for export, of what are really our own
industries, now decaying everywhere for lack of intelli-
gent encouragement.

Not infrequently • the Swadeshi cry is an exhortation
to self-sacrifice. It seems to me that this is an entirely
false position. It is never worth while in the long run
putting up with second best. Swadeshi for the very poor
may mean a real sacrifice of money. But how far this is