Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/19

 artizans; of foreign manufactures of apparel, utensils, eatables, drinks, medicines, pills and potions and what not; of foreign "salvationists" of our very souls; of foreign political constitution—makers, of foreign instructors of the wives, and mothers of the race; of foreign founts of solace in literature, drama and poetry; of foreign interpreters of our religion and ritual. Where, has not the foreign influence penetrated? In our offices and councils, in our schools and colleges, in our homes and hearths, everywhere it is the influence of foreign genius, of foreign labour, of foreign enterprise and foreign standards of taste, happiness and duty that has been at work. Excepting what is born of this dependence is there anything that the nation can call its own now? Far be it from any Indian to say that a good thing, a good idea, a good service becomes bad, because it proceeds from a foreign source; and far be it from him to aspire that India should stew in its own juice. But this servile dependence on foreign good offices in the most vital concerns of the nation from year to year and from week to week is too enfeebling a looking after the well being of India, not to render it ultimately an imbecile. In this process of