Page:Eyesore - Rabindranath Tagore.pdf/25

426 hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken even the little that he hath'—this is, in a nutshell, the stern expression of the law governing our society at present; and that law has governed society from the very dawn of civilisation. A vast amount of specialisation is a necessary condition of social growth; and that process confines some men to physical work and some to brain-work. The latter naturally get the lion's share in the product of the toils of both, for the same reason that man, by his intelligence, gets the most of Nature's bounties in spite of his inferiority in physical strength to many other animals.

We cannot hope to nullify this unequal distribution without destroying the whole. In these days Brain-power is to Body-power what Credit is to Money; it immensely increases activity and velocity. Steam-engines and electrical machines are merely symbols of the enormous power of the Brain.

An Aristocracy of Brains, therefore, is and will continue to be, a necessity in the complex structure of modern society. Democracy, in the fullest sense of the term, is a mere dream, a sham. The middle class, roughly speaking, includes this Aristocracy. However that fact, by itself, is not a serious evil. Men enter into this class, both from above and from below. The middle class is so large in extent and has such a variety of interests, that its aspirations practically coincide with those of the whole nation. Those of its members who are actuated by a spirit of philanthropy and self-sacrifice, benefit the whole nation by their efforts, even those in the direction of class-interests. A wave of new ideas first affects the middle class and then in course of time it travels down to the masses. There is undoubtedly a certain amount of conflict between the interests of various classes—and perhaps as an impetus it serves a useful purpose in the body politic, as friction does in the physical world—but there is also a greater amount of harmony of interests. Thus the various sectarian assemblies that have lately sprung up in India produce within the spheres of their influence a spirit of caste-consciousness; but in doing it they set up forces for education and thus serve a national purpose in making men think for themselves.

The writer after setting up the absurd theory that the 'rich, learned, idle men of the parasitic class' live on the earnings of the labourers and artisans, proceeds to examine the Political, Educational and Socio-religious movements in India.

(i) As to Political movements he maintains that the Congress, which is the typical one, has clamoured chiefly for Government posts and Council seats, both of which represent the aspirations of the middle class. He ignores its other demands, like the reduction of the salt-tax and the expansion of irrigation. The Congress represents the whole nation and therefore it seeks to protect the interests of all classes, from top to bottom. It often confines itself to the broader issues and the laying down of principles. But its feeders, the Provincial Conferences, restrict themselves to matters of local interest, most of which pertain to agriculturists. Railway expansion, Irrigation, protection from the oppression of the subordinate Revenue staff, Temperance, Free primary education—these are the most important matters with which they deal, though the members of these conferences belong mostly to the middle class. It is the middle class men who attend to improvement in agriculture and help the holding of agricultural demonstrations.

(ii) As for Educational improvements the writer says the Dayanand College and the Fergusson College exist for the middle class and enable the poor boys of that class to find a means of living. He would have them impart primary education in villages or move as preachers like the saints of old. Now every reasonable man will admit that a highly trained body of men should impart the highest education they are capable of, and to the greatest number of men in order to give the most of the life in them; the modest work of village-school instruction is for humbler but equally noble men. The higher education imparted to the middle class boys will, in time, produce village workers in the field of education. The Depressed Classes Mission, the Seva Sadan and the Social Service League are examples of philanthropic work that is being done by the middle class for giving light and relief to the illiterate and the afflicted, particularly among the poor.

(iii) As for Socio-religious movements the writer says that the female education propaganda and the various Samajas represent the intellectual needs of the middle class. Surely to a great extent they do. But we should remember that every movement for progress is a gain to the whole nation, however small be the sphere it finds for work; it is sure to expand in scope in the fulness of time and to set up sympathetic currents all around, often imperceptible though they be. Thus the wave of female education has reached even the so-called 'backward' classes,

In conclusion I would request the writer not to minimise the work of upheaval done by sincere and earnest men in advocating a spirit of sympathy and brotherly love towards the illiterate and the poor, to remember that sectarianism is the first step towards national unity and is a useful factor of national activity and to remember also that the Aristocracy of brains is an inevitable though perhaps regrettable necessity in the organic structure of human society.

HIS won't do at all," thought Vihari, "I must take a hand in this affair. None of them want me, I know—still I must be there."

Without waiting to be asked or welcomed Vihari made his plans to cut in through Mahendra's guard. "Look here, sister Binod," said he, "This is a fellow whom his mother has spoilt, whom his