Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/208

M. K. Gandhi slave-owners resorting to the dodge of indentured labour. The yoke, if it fell from the Negro's black neck, was transferred to the brown neck of the Indian. In the process of transfer, it had somewhat to be somewhat polished, it had to be lightened in weight and even disguised. Nevertheless in all its essentials it retained its original quality. The hideousness of the system was forcefully demonstrated when the curse descended upon South Africa in the shape of indentured labourers from China for working the gold mines. It was no mere election cry that the late Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman had taken up when he made the British Isles from end to end ring with denunciation of the system. No cost was counted as too great for ridding South Africa of the evil. The great multimillionaires of Johannesburgh spared nothing to be enabled to hold to the indentured Chinaman, They asked for breathing-time. The House of Commons remained unmoved. Mine-owners had to shift for themselves. The interest of humanity overrode all other considerations. The mines were threatened to be closed. The House did not care. The millions promised to Mr. 88