6. Education and Learning
Education and Learning The independent nation of China is more ancient than all the nations in the ¤ve continents of Asia, Europe, Africa, America, and Australia, and has lasted for four thousand years now. The Egyptian, Hellenic, Roman, Indian, and other ancient nations suffered a decline. Some of them are now being trampled underfoot by foreign enemies, some are living in subjection under strong foreign rule, and some have left behind no sign other than their names. But China is still an independent country; it enjoys self-rule. Although it is compelled at times to bow down before a strong Western enemy, it is capable of achieving the advancement of its country and people, and of developing the power to resist Western nations; and it is improving itself accordingly. The Americans, the English, and other Europeans may show disrespect to the Chinese, or ridicule or censure them as much as they like; they still treat the Chinese with caution. Today China has no reason to fear foreign domination. It appears certain that if China introduces changes conducive to the modern human conditions in keeping with the changing times, and strengthens the nation from within, it need fear no danger from without. What is the reason why this nation has acquired such strength, such stability and such prominence? Confucius, the teacher of the Chinese people, said that education eliminates class differences. Following his advice, the Chinese people decided not to treat any particular class as the highest, but to accept that a person's education and good morals are the true criteria of his superiority; and they established the practice of appointing a person to an of¤ce which was suited to his education and conduct, instead of entrusting the administration of the country to the nobility or a special class of people. Therefore even a person born in a poor, unknown, and lowly family in China cherishes hopes of rising to a high status on the strength of his education and good morals. Education enjoys pre-eminence among the menfolk of China. Even an ordinary laborer or servant there can read and write. Rare indeed is an illiterate man. Why then would a country whose administration is founded on education not be strong?
It is not surprising that a country whose inhabitants are ever ready to work, who do not pamper idle beggars, and who appreciate education should be independent; it would be astonishing were it not so. The learned Plutarch has said that "The fair fabric of justice raised by Numa passed rapidly away because it was not founded upon education."1 What other reason can there be for the decline of a kingdom which has all other good things? What stronger reason can there
be for its downfall than that its political philosophy was not supported by the ¤rm foundation of education? It would be surprising indeed if a nation were not destroyed, when only a few of its people get an education—and those too belonging to a particular class—and where thousands and millions of its inhabitants are immersed in the darkness of ignorance, without even a hope of obtaining a high position.
As in China, the political and moral leaders in the United States have realized the importance of education. They know well that all the inhabitants of the nation need to be at least literate if their independence is to last. And these days they consider it absolutely essential to open the avenues of education to women as well as men. In this matter they have surpassed China. Gradually all nations, including China, will come to realize the importance of women's education. The national might of the United States does not lie in its standing army, cannons, and swords; it lies in the educational advancement and diligence of the nation's inhabitants.
Schools2 People belonging to the Puritan sect found that they were unable to freely follow their own religion in their country, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to settle in the United States. They opened schools right from the beginning, because they considered education to be essential for their children. Four hundred years ago, Martin Luther tried to free Christians from their subjection to the Roman
Catholic priesthood; since that time it has come to be generally accepted that the common man in Europe needs to have some education. Luther understood that ignorance was the reason why the scheming priests could deceive millions of poor gullible people and shackle them with the chains of heterodoxy. He therefore translated the Bible into a commonly understood language, and advised all to read it and to practice their religion independently, after due thought.
Luther realized that the position of a teacher is more important than that of a preacher, and said that had he not been a preacher, he would certainly have become a teacher. People need the ability to read the Scriptures so as to practice religion according to their independent thinking; and they need the ability to read and understand the laws of the land in order to ensure that their conduct would be lawful.
A few years after settling in America, the Puritans made a rule that there should be one teacher for every ¤fty families, in each of the towns of ¤fty or more families in the Puritan settlement. They stipulated that the teacher should teach the children and servants of the families to read and write, and that the townspeople should maintain him. Subsequently other settlers followed the model of the settlers of Massachusetts, and made similar rules in their own coloEducation and Learning 139
nies. In 1665 the people of Massachusetts established schools in their State, and passed an order that all its inhabitants must send their children to school. Subsequently other settlements in New England passed similar laws. But the condition of the State of Virginia in the South was very different. It had no free schools, nor printing presses. History is witness to the ill effects of the lack of education in that State and other similar Southern States.
Although the system of education in the United States is government-run, it has no connection with the Federal Government. Each state government assumes the responsibility for educating its citizens and their children, and establishes and pays for schools, colleges, etc., according to its own convenience. Thus all States and Territories have their own systems of education. In twenty-eight out of the thirty-eight States, there are a total of ninety-eight large normal schools for training teachers. The male and female teachers trained there teach the children in all the government-run or private schools. The United States
Government realized that it was essential to educate its citizens and their children, and that it is the Government's duty to provide funds for public education; and immediately after the establishment of the Republic, the United States Government made laws to encourage education. In 1785, that is, immediately after the end of the War of Independence with the English, the United States Congress passed an act that in each State one-sixteenth of the public lands should be reserved for defraying the expenses of public education. In 1848 the Congress passed a new act and gave another 68,000,000 acres of land to the twenty-seven
States in order to further encourage education. In addition, the Government has also allotted vast areas of land for the establishment of state universities. In 1862 much more land was given for the establishment of schools of agriculture and the mechanical arts in all the States. The land in the States and Territories allotted by the Federal Government as educational endowments since 1886 amounted to 78,000,000 acres, that is, more than the combined area of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Among the nations of Europe, Germany is in the forefront of public education. It spends $34,500,0003 annually on education. The United Kingdom ranks immediately below Germany; it spends $33,425,000 annually on education. The United States Government expends $96,000,000 per year on providing education to its citizens. The same Government spends about $47,000,000 every year on its army. The United Kingdom is said to spend $144,500,000 per year on its army. This will show that the British Government spends on its army alone three times the amount of money required by the United States Government for the same purpose; and that the United States Government spends on educating its citizens two and a half times or more the amount of money spent by the Government of Great Britain on its department of education. The reason why they
140 The Peoples of the United States
are poles apart in this manner is that the monarchies of Europe depend for survival on their armies, and the Republic of the United States draws its life and strength from education. There is only one single nation on earth which incurs a higher expenditure on education than on its army, and it is this republic.
The government-run public schools are forbidden to provide religious instruction, that is, to teach the beliefs of the different religious denominations.
Before school starts every morning, the principal teacher, male or female, reads a passage from the Bible, but without commenting on it. This practice meets with general approval. All people, with the exception of orthodox Roman Catholics, want education for their children and for the common people. The Roman
Catholic bishops have always been afraid of education, because they know very well that educated people will not blindly accept their preaching. But the ordinary Roman Catholics in the United States have also come to appreciate education; they too send their children to public schools. No one asks them about their religious af¤liation there. As a result, even the papal orders forbidding this irreligious general education no longer have any effect. If a hungry person is offered a plate heaped with delicacies, such as nectarlike education, and told not to touch any of it, why would he listen?
It has been mentioned above that the United States Government spends its own money on providing people with an education; but this Government is a body of elected administrators, and spending its own money means utilizing the money collected from its citizens. Also in our own country, which is under British rule, the subjects pay tax for education. But the Government does not consult them about the expenditure of that money; on the contrary, even after collecting tax from its subjects, it charges a monthly fee for giving education to their children. In the year 1880, four-¤fths of the total educational expenditure of the United States Government was defrayed by taxes, the remaining amount was met by selling or leasing lands attached to schools. That the citizens of this country are happy to pay the tax for education clearly shows their strong appreciation of education.
In addition to public schools there are thousands of colleges which are by and large independent and privately established. Their expenses are defrayed by fees paid by the students and donations from generous people. Many receive government aid. Most colleges are accredited by the Government, so that their managing bodies can award appropriate degrees to their students. There is a great deal of unevenness in the standards of the colleges; while one may be termed a university, another will be included among colleges. Harvard, Columbia, Cornell,
Princeton, Michigan, Oberlin, and other similar colleges are known as elite universities; other universities do not have the same status as these. In this country there are 3,550 high schools (higher than the public elementary schools), colEducation and Learning 141
leges, and universities, in which there are about 500,000 students. Of these, 364 are colleges and universities, and the number of men and women studying in them is 59,594.
The last census shows that in the year 1880–81, there were 180,750 schools (including both public and private schools) in the United States; and 273,000 teachers taught in them. Of these, 154,375 were women! (Detailed information about the education, etc., of native women is given in the chapter entitled "The Condition of Women.") The United States troops do not exceed twenty-¤ve or thirty thousand; but the troops of teachers working day and night to ¤ght and defeat ignorance amount to 273,000. How then will the fortunes of this country not be ever brilliant? When these vast troops are ever ready to protect the prosperity of the country and the freedom of the people, it is no wonder that the country and the people will shine like the most brilliant gems in the necklace of the nations of the world.
When I arrived in Philadelphia at the beginning of 1886, I had planned to spend only two or three months in America. But when I had occasion to visit the public schools in the city, I was so impressed with their management, their teaching methods, the ability of the teachers, and so on that I decided to spend some more time in the country to acquaint myself with the system and methods of education; and I stayed on longer. In this manner, during a period of nearly three years, I made a practice of visiting most of the elementary and high schools at every place I went to, and getting acquainted with the system of education.
Germany, England, and other great nations of Europe perhaps have an excellent system of higher education; but one can safely say that the United States is the most advanced in terms of general public education.
I ¤nd the American teachers to be excellent on the whole. The female teachers are usually modest, unassuming, self-controlled, diligent, ¤rm, but affectionate, and they keep excellent order in their schools. They take pride in their position and their schools, and exert themselves day and night to raise the standard of their schools. They believe that it is more creditable to win the affection of the children, give them an excellent education, and win the respect of their parents than to extract forced obedience from the children by threatening them. Corporal punishment has stopped in most of the schools here ever since women were put in charge of education. Educated women are able to extract good work and obedience from the children without beating them. The female teachers of this country are totally unacquainted with cruel punishments like caning, sit-ups, pinching, ear-pulling, and slapping. I had occasion to see an obstinate child being punished in some of the schools I visited. The punishment would be to sit quietly on a high chair for a quarter or half an hour. The very worst corporal punishment is to make a child stand in a corner for a while. The style of teaching is excellent and captivating enough to make children eager to learn. I have heard
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many children say that they were waiting for the vacation to be over and for school to start. If the education imparted by the teachers is so enjoyable for the pupils, it is no wonder that the children ¤nd it a terrible punishment to sit quietly on a high seat instead of learning lessons. Most of the naughty children begin to behave themselves out of fear that they would have to sit idle instead of learning a lesson, and that all the children in the school would point at them and laugh inwardly. Of course one must not forget that even in America there are a few surly teachers and obstinate children!
The subjects taught in the general elementary schools are reading, writing, English grammar, history of the United States, arithmetic, geography, mapmaking, drawing, sewing, physical education, and health and hygiene. Some of the science subjects are also taught in some schools, according to the inclination of the teachers. The high school curriculum is similar to that in our own English high schools and colleges. However, the rote learning common with us is not found here.
Singing, playing the piano, sewing, drawing, and other useful accomplishments are ordinarily taught in girls' schools, in addition to the other subjects.
Boys and girls study together in the public elementary schools. This is mostly the rule also in high schools; but in some places there are separate schools for boys and girls. In elite universities also it is getting to be common to give men and women the same education, and together. In many universities, such as Oberlin, Michigan, and Cornell, women study along with men. This is very bene¤cial to the students, and propagates good morals in society. The student body started to observe decorum after women gained entry into colleges which were earlier reserved only for men, and indecorous conduct is now on the wane.
After having had this experience year after year, the presidents of the great universities, who are pre-eminent scholars among the native teachers, have now expressed an opinion favorable to women. The presidents and professors of universities such as Michigan, Cornell, and Oberlin support this idea.
In 1884 the famous General Armstrong,4 of the excellent industrial school at Hampton, wrote in his historical account of the Hawaiian Islands that the best way to strengthen the morally weak is to monitor them constantly.5 It is essential to give them a good upbringing by dispelling their prejudices regarding the relationship between the two sexes, and by replacing them with a proper understanding. This would have an effect only if education is given by setting a concrete example, instead of citing imaginary cases and preaching. If the two sexes are kept apart, they are not able to deal appropriately with situations where they come into contact with each other later in life. It is like teaching a boy how to swim while keeping him away from water. If anyone ¤nds that it is morally undesirable to teach boys and girls of a community together, even after proper arrangements have been made by schools, it means that there is no hope for the Education and Learning 143
advancement of that community. It is certain that the community is doomed to immorality and destruction. It is true that coeducation requires resolute, upright, and excellent teachers as well as superior schools. But if we hope to strengthen a community in body, mind, and morals, and to ensure its survival, we are likely to succeed only if we combine decorum, religious conduct, and interaction among family members, not otherwise. A coeducational school is a place where women and men have constant opportunities to enjoy equal rights and opportunities to display their abilities; and it is a good means of getting acquainted with one another and observing one another's abilities. The experience at Hampton has made them think deeply about the various kinds of future interaction among young men and women, and they have increasingly come to prefer the coeducation of men and women interacting like members of a morally upright family.
Some years ago, only men sat on the managing committees of public and private schools. But women are very helpful in educating children, and mothers are more concerned than fathers about the type and level of moral instruction their children receive, about the morals of the teachers, etc. This realization has made the discerning and farsighted men and women in some States support women as managers and inspectresses of schools; and these women managers are engaged in greatly improving the system of education. If women are given an opportunity to work in education and other departments side by side with men, the management of each of these departments will improve and the entire country will bene¤t. Such is the belief generally gaining ground everywhere; and it appears that it will soon be put into practice. May God let this happen! Because it is obvious that the country can achieve its welfare only if both wheels of the carriage—which society can be imagined to be—run together and on the same path, and not if each goes in a different direction. It is not right to think that men alone are wise and have a deep understanding of everything. Some years ago it was customary for people of the Conestoga tribe (with whom the great
William Penn made a treaty of everlasting friendship), who were among the original inhabitants of America, to appoint also women as their leaders to speak for them in assemblies. The Englishmen of the time found this custom very strange. When they asked the Conestogas why they allowed women to speak in assemblies, they answered that some women are wiser than men. Two or three hundred years ago a savage tribe knew this truth to be self-evident; it is only now that a civilized and advanced race like the Americans is beginning to realize it.
But the Americans have still not fully comprehended its import. The chief reason why education and other matters here are improving day by day and attaining excellence is that educated, cultured women are concerned about them and are exerting themselves day and night. The nonpartisan and farsighted men in this country support this belief.
144 The Peoples of the United States
Among the White inhabitants of this country, there are very few who cannot read and write. Ninety-three percent of the men and 89 percent of the women are literate. The reason why the proportion of literate women is lower than that of men is not the inferiority of their intellect or brains, but that general education has been made available to them for less than sixty years, and higher education for less than four decades. And the avenues of education had been open to men for hundreds of years before the founding of this nation. Women have endured many kinds of calamities, struggled against public censure and against thousands of obstacles within such a short span of time (of ¤fty or sixty years), and reached the same level of education as men; this clearly shows how genuine are their qualities of sharp intellect, diligence, and intrepidity. The number of schools for the superior instruction of women was 175 in 1870 and had increased to 227 by 1880; during the last eight years, hundreds more colleges have been established only for women. This will show how eager women are to obtain an education if they get the opportunity. Who can even begin to estimate what brilliance and strength the republic of the United States has gained and will continue to gain on account of this excellent growth in women's education?
The details of people studying in different branches of education in 1880 are as follows. Of all the inhabitants of the country, one in ¤ve attends public school at the elementary level, one in every 455 receives a secondary education, and one in every 842 receives higher education in a college or university. One in every
1,848 is given a commercial education, one in every 4,321 receives a scienti¤c education, one in every 9,568 persons is taught theology, and one in every 16,000 is trained in law. This clearly shows how interested the Americans are in education, and how ¤rmly they believe that their level of education will determine whether their country will progress or regress.
For some years now, many farsighted men and women have realized that education does not mean mere literacy, but that pupils need to be given vocational training along with book learning for education to be a complete success. This alone will ensure that the thousands of rupees spent on education and the labor of millions of people bear fruit. These people have therefore started offering industrial education in general schools. Great philosophers of education in Germany also shared this belief. Froebel,6 the famous teacher and inventor of the "kindergarten" method of education, maintains that one should receive an education from early childhood, and that this education should be such that one makes equal use of one's hands, feet, intellect, sight, hearing, speech—in other words, the whole body and mind, which thus gain strength in equal proportion.
When an infant begins to identify objects by sight, its parents should pay heed to training it well while talking to and playing with it, and to giving it a physical and mental education. And man's real progress depends on receiving such a wellrounded education from infancy on; which is why Froebel said that children's
Education and Learning 145
education depends entirely on their mothers. It is futile to hope that children will achieve excellent, general, and balanced progress as long as their mothers do not receive an education and moral instruction.
The natives call the famous Miss Elizabeth Peabody7 of Massachusetts, a highly respected elderly lady, the Mother of Child Education. This good lady suffered many hardships, struggled against obstacles and public opposition, made persistent efforts for many years, and propagated Froebel's kindergarten method of education in this country. I met this lady about two years ago. She is now about eighty-six years old, and has become feeble. But although old age has rendered her body in¤rm, her mind and intellect remain young. Her face expressed pleasure when she talked about education. She told me of her childhood experience. Her mother was a very good-natured, thoughtful, and affectionate woman; and she educated her daughter mostly at home. It was due to the kindness of her loving mother that Elizabeth has acquired this stature today, and is counted among the chief architects of education in this country. The face of the elderly Miss Peabody became radiant when she talked of her mother, and for a moment she looked very pretty, as if she had forgotten old age and re-entered childhood. Elizabeth was compelled to earn her livelihood from the age of about ¤fteen, and she started teaching children. After a few years, when she had saved some money, she studied hard and went to Europe to acquire a knowledge of the best methods of education there. When she went to Germany and studied the Froebel method, she was convinced that it would be best to train children by this method from an early age, and to lay a ¤rm foundation for their morals, education, and general progress. Without all these, hollow book learning would be useless. Then she returned home and delivered innumerable lectures on this subject at different places. She trained thousands of women in the kindergarten method, and taught children herself. Her labors have begun to yield results now, and she feels contented to see that the fruit of her efforts is available to her countrymen and -women during her lifetime. This affords us great happiness indeed. Few people in this world are blessed with the great good fortune of seeing the results of their labors.
The kindergarten method has been adopted in the public education system in famous educational centers like St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Boston. It seems likely to be introduced soon in other cities also. The Department of Public Education in St. Louis has used this method for twelve years now, as a result of which its public schools are superior to all other public schools in the country. The National Education Association, which met in Chicago in 1887 and in San Francisco this year (i.e., in 1888), had organized an exhibition of sketches, drawings, maps, etc., drawn by schoolchildren, in which the schools of St. Louis won the ¤rst rank and the award.8 This showed everybody that the Froebel method is excellent and serves as the foundation for all knowledge. The method has not 146 The Peoples of the United States
been accepted as much in public schools as in private ones, but it is expected to be more widely accepted soon. Following Miss Peabody, teachers like Professor
Adler,9 Colonel Parker,10 and others began to demonstrate the principle that it is necessary to impart vocational training together with book learning. Dr. Adler has opened an excellent school in the city of New York, in which children receive both kinds of education, which they greatly enjoy. Colonel Parker is the principal of the Cook County Normal School near Chicago; he teaches thousands of male and female teachers how to give vocational training to children. His method is truly laudable.
What is meant by vocational training here is not training in industries like carpentry or the craft of the blacksmith, etc. Many public and private schools have been established for teaching such industries. This vocational training means teaching children to work with their hands, to draw or sculpt in clay any object they see, to handle tools, etc., in order to strengthen the muscles in their limbs along with their brains, while teaching them to read and write. This does not merely strengthen muscles, but also provides children with amusement; it also helps to assess a child's aptitude for a special type of education and makes it easy to send him to the right place and give him the right type of schooling or industrial education. A boy who has no aptitude for mathematics might learn drawing or a craft very well, and one who cannot draw might be able to read excellent books. Vocational education is very useful for ascertaining such things.
Special schools for giving such education have been established in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. In Quincy, Massachusetts, there is a large school with such an excellent method of education that children of all ages acquire theoretical as well as practical knowledge, and develop an interest in industry. This method is known as the "Quincy Method."
In Hampton, Virginia, an agricultural school has been established through the efforts of General Armstrong. It gives a theoretical and industrial education to the boys and girls of two races—savage Indians and half-savage Negroes newly freed from slavery. The school at Hampton is "agricultural," but it teaches other useful industries also. The children trained there emerge from their savage state as if reborn, with good breeding and industriousness; and they become ¤t to go into respectable society. This clearly shows the combined power of theoretical and industrial education.
Newspapers and Books11 Merely spending a few years in school does not make children experts in managing household affairs. School education indicates the direction of future duties. Just as the alphabet opens the door to the storehouse of knowledge for one who will one day study philosophy, so does school education open the door
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to practical and scienti¤c knowledge. One should be ever ready to enter through that open door and seek the gems of knowledge. The means of acquiring these gems are quite different. There are two chief ones: reading newspapers, and perusing old and new books. Just as the people here have the facility of acquiring an education at school, they have the means of acquiring a variety of useful knowledge through books after leaving school. Immediately upon settling here the Puritans started the practice of reading newspapers. They were by nature interested in politics, and had an intense desire to understand the political events and developments. Later, when a political transition was about to occur, the men and women, and even children, of New England eagerly awaited news about further developments in the country, about who won or lost the war, who delivered what kind of address in the Congress in Philadelphia, etc. The ¤rst newspapers in this country were handwritten; then came printed sheets. In a republic, every person is well aware that it is his nation, that he is closely connected with its welfare, that he is able to participate in making the laws which are applicable there and in bringing about new developments which will advance the nation.
It is quite right that in such a republic the people should have a strong desire to understand the events taking place there, and to decide where their duty lies.
There are no other means as excellent as newspapers to convey these essential matters to the people.
At no time did this country have the "Press Act," which is in force in Russia under the tsars or in India under sahibs like Lytton—that is, a prohibition on expressing one's opinion freely through newspapers.12 And such a prohibition will never be enforced as long as this country remains a republic. If the people themselves cannot speak their minds freely and express their opinions about matters which closely concern all, who can? It is only those who want to extract forced obeisance and make pro¤ts at the cost of their subjects who feel the need for detestable laws like the Press Act. Everyone in this country expresses his opinion freely. If President Cleveland wants to abolish tariffs on imported goods, any street sweeper or cobbler who does not approve of this boldly corrects the President Sahib and does not hesitate to fault Mr. Cleveland just because he is President.13 Daily, weekly, biweekly, and monthly papers are seen in people's hands everywhere—in every house and street, lane and alleyway, in every store, in the mansions of the rich and the huts of the poor. If a carriage driver has to keep his carriage waiting for someone, he immediately takes a newspaper from his pocket and starts reading. Cooks, maids, launderers, tailors, sweepers, coal sellers, chimney sweeps—all these people read newspapers in their free time. Every morning, noon, and night, people come down to breakfast or other meals, newspaper in hand, and read while they eat. An incident which takes place three thousand miles away is conveyed from one coast of this vast country to the other by 148 The Peoples of the United States
telegraph, printed immediately in newspapers, and made available for all to read within twelve to ¤fteen hours. It is rare to ¤nd a town or village which does not have at least one local newspaper. Also, newspapers cost very little, just a few cents. In 1880 this country had a total of 11,314 newspapers, magazines, etc.; four- ¤fths of them published political, social, and commercial matters, and one-¤fth dealt with professional and scienti¤c subjects. Hundreds of additional newspapers and magazines must have started during the following eight years.
It is worth remembering that 10,515 of the above-mentioned 11,314 papers and magazines are published in English. A common language is essential for national unity and for enabling the people of one region to know the thoughts of those in another. People from almost all parts of Europe, such as the French, Scandinavians, Spanish, Dutch, Italians, Welsh, Bohemians, Poles, and Portuguese, come and settle down in this country; they speak their mother tongue at home, and together they publish almost a thousand papers in their own languages. But they have to deal mostly with English-speaking people everywhere. Only English is taught in public schools, the administration is conducted in English, and all the things like trade and commerce, accounts, etc., have to be carried on with the help of the English language. Therefore they cannot manage without learning English. And it does not require too much effort to learn the language in a place where one hears only that language spoken all around. About a hundred million people who have settled down in different parts of the world are born in English families and speak English. On the strength of this ¤gure, the supporters of that language have started claiming that English will become the language of all the people in the world. It is dif¤cult to say how far this will come true; but certainly the growth of this language is quite marvelous.
Now, why should our people not give a little thought to this matter? When our National Congress14 meets in Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, or the Punjab, the words of the speakers from one part of India cannot be understood by the people from another. Then they deliver long orations in English; but what use are they to the common people? Erasing all the existing languages of our country and putting English in their place is like drowning India in the sea and installing the British Isles in that spot. If our learned, intelligent, thoughtful people are attempting to elevate our country and people, how is it that they do not consider the fact that it is essential in our country to have a single language—and an Indian one—which can be understood by all?
There is a language in our country also, similar to the English language which has now become the language of a hundred million people. Almost all the people in India understand Hindi. Braja or Mathuri, Avadhi, Punjabi, and Madhyadeshi are all dialects of Hindi,15 and the slight difference among them is not greater than the difference among the Marathi of Poona, the Konkan, and the Deccan.16
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The Hindi language, including all the above-mentioned dialects, is today the mother tongue of a hundred or a hundred twenty million people in India. The language of our neighbors, the Gurjars,17 is half Hindi and half Marathi. Then what is the objection to granting a great language like Hindi the status of the national language? During their reign, the Mahommedans had dealings with the people in Urdu. Urdu is not a separate language, but is half Hindi, mixed with words from languages like Arabic, Persian, Marathi, and Kanarese.18 Besides it does not require much effort to learn Hindi. Like English, Hindi can also accommodate all the languages of the world; therefore there is no hindrance to its growth. Hindi grammar is also very easy. Words from Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit,
English, and even the language of the Demons19 can be transformed into Hindi.
We have such an invaluable, beautiful language available to us, and it is so easy to make it the national language. But our learned brethren discuss the public matters of India in the English language, which has come from beyond the seven seas, and which is as unintelligible to the common people as the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Will they explain why?
If our National Congress and other public bodies take this matter seriously, all farsighted well-wishers of the country—from Kanyakumari to the Himalayas, and from the mouth of the Indus River to the frontiers of Manipur20—will exert themselves in their own ways to promote Hindi. Newspaper editors and authors of books will receive encouragement. It will not be dif¤cult for the brethren from Madras and those from the Punjab to talk to one another when they meet. And how many languages can there be in this world which cannot be written in the Devanagari script? This alphabet contains the essential sounds in all the languages in our country. Therefore, even if we take words from all those languages and put them together to make an admixture of Hindi, it can be written in Devanagari letters. I humbly request the National Congress to take up this matter for consideration during their next session.
Not all the newspapers in the United States are good, and not all the topics covered by them are excellent. There is bound to be a mixture of good and bad wherever people enjoy the liberty to make their views public. But if one investigates the matter with due thought, one will ¤nd that the good emerges victorious. The reason for the existence of newspaper editors is to provide knowledge about religious, commercial, and scienti¤c topics to the general public in a simple manner and at a low cost; and this purpose is ful¤lled in this country. The great, in®uential newspaper editors do not content themselves with publishing only the matters of their own country. The proprietor of a newspaper called the New York Herald provided money and other assistance to Henry Stanley, who had achieved immortal fame for exploring different parts of the continent of Africa, to enable him to travel in that distant and unknown continent. Since then many
150 The Peoples of the United States
other newspapers have also sent their correspondents to many far-off lands to explore new things, and have thus greatly bene¤ted the world. The Century, Harper's Magazine, and other American magazines are superior to all European magazines in terms of their range of topics, depth, illustrations, and excellent printing. In Europe, Austria is said to excel in the art of printing; but the owner of the best printing press in Austria congratulated the proprietor of the American magazine called the Century on the excellence and superiority of its printing and illustrations, and requested him to reveal the secret of his printing technique.21
The essays in the Century and other magazines are very good. The magazine proprietors pay the authors one to two hundred dollars, that is, three to six hundred rupees, per essay. The woodcuts of the beautiful and excellent illustrations prepared for printing cost hundreds of rupees each. Evidently a capital of hundreds of thousands of rupees is required to run such a monthly or weekly. But their proprietors are able to make a large pro¤t after paying these vast expenses, the reason being public patronage. A magazine like the Century has no fewer than one hundred thousand subscribers.i Printing is done by steam power.
At the beginning of each month, these magazines are ready for sale in each city in the United States, and in the large cities in Europe. The boys who go around selling newspapers in railway trains and streetcars carry these magazines and local newspapers. In a city like New York, hundreds of thousands of people buy the daily paper; such is the extent of public patronage here. A common language, almost total literacy, and widespread national concern are the reasons for this generous public patronage. It is not surprising that writers and journalists feel encouraged to perform their duties with zeal, and that the people appreciate their sincere work and support it. But, for all this to happen, it is essential for people to have the freedom of expression, courage to express their views, and patriotism alive in their hearts.
Like newspapers, new books are published here all the time. Different kinds of books are published—old English books and books by modern authors, translations of good books from foreign languages, etc. Their prices are not beyond the means of the common people. The same book is published in various editions—very expensive and quite cheap; in large, medium, and small print—so that they are available to all kinds of people, from millionaires to the poor, to read. Even large volumes like the Encyclopaedia Britannica are, like small books, published and sold at a price which is moderate in relation to their size and scope. The Britannica is the largest among all the encyclopedias in the world. It costs a great deal in England, but it is available in America for about $75, which is why it has been reprinted several times, and ¤fty or sixty thousand copies have been sold. A knowledgeable man claims that the number of copies of the BriEducation and Learning 151
tannica sold in America was four times as high as that sold in England. A bookseller named Appleton has compiled and published the American Encyclopaedia, which costs more than $70. It has sold about one hundred thousand copies.
Books written and published originally in England are cheaper in America, and American books are cheaper in England. The reason is that the books copyrighted in one country amount in the other to goods dumped in the street. The two Governments have not yet signed a treaty to protect their own authors in the other country, and to protect the books of these authors from being pirated.
As a result, booksellers in England and the United States are ¤lling their coffers by boldly pirating their neighbor's books quite openly. There are upright people in both countries who are engaged in negotiating to stop this daylight robbery; but the booksellers in the two countries are not in favor of a legal arrangement in this regard.
The authors here do not depend on royal patronage for recognition of their books. Public patronage here is greater than any amount of royal patronage. Authors receive the recognition which is their due. The American people are very hungry for books. Every year $90,000,000—that is Rs. 270,000,000 at the current exchange rate—are spent only on books and papers. Every large and small family has the number of books it can afford. An ordinary carriage driver, farmer, or even laborer has a collection of books at home. Rich or middle-class people have proper libraries in their houses. There is also a wealth of public libraries and reading rooms everywhere. It would be extremely dif¤cult to ¤nd a village which does not have at least a small public library; large cities have several vast libraries. Men and women who value knowledge exert themselves with great energy and zeal to improve the libraries in their towns. They nurture the pride that their town, like their country, is the best place on earth.
In the United States today there are 23,000 libraries only in schools, holding 45,000,000 books. In addition, there are 3,500,000 books in college libraries. Besides these, the enormous libraries, such as the Philadelphia Free Library, Boston
City Library, Astor, Congressional, etc., together hold millions of books, estimated at over 50,000,000. Needless to say, the number of male and female readers who borrow books from these libraries is very large indeed. However, not everyone reads good or serious books; people read good or bad books according to their education and natural inclination. Those engaged in physical labor the whole day, and those who while away their time doing nothing but yawning, are excessively fond of reading novels; at times this borders on addiction. Some people read excellent or medium-grade books and enrich their intellect with gems from the treasure-house of knowledge. Many people here take great care to prevent the publication of bad or obscene matter, and they are largely successful.
On the whole, the American people greatly value education, and there is no fear that their minds or bodies will succumb to subjection as long as the Sun of 152 The Peoples of the United States
Knowledge (clouded only temporarily, once in a while, by Ignorance) continues to shed its brilliant light all around, and to dispel the darkness of Ignorance.
Note in the Original Text i. Magazines like the Century are intended for grown-ups, but the people here are very much concerned about the advancement of children. The famous magazine St. Nicholas is published only for children. Its editor, Mrs. Mary Mapes
Dodge, is a very scholarly woman, and has equaled the very best and most highly esteemed, learned editors in achievement. They say that even England does not have a magazine as excellent as St. Nicholas, which is big, illustrated, interesting, and informative on account of its style of making profound scienti¤c subjects simple. In addition, many other popular magazines, such as Harper's Young People and Youth's Companion are published for children. They too have more than
100,000 subscribers each. The subscribers here remit their subscriptions to newspapers on time. A diligent man has calculated that about 107,000 tons of paper are needed every year in this country to print newspapers and books. In the United Kingdom 94,000 tons of paper are needed for the same purpose.22
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