Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/388

 298 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES

on the onward path, men struggling to bs good.

Too often do we believe that material prosperity means moral growth. It is necessary that a movement which is fraught with so much good to India should not degenerate into one for merely advancing cheap loans^ I was therefore delighted to read the recommendation in the Report of the Committee on Co-operation in India, that " they wish clearly to express their opinion that it is to true co-operation alone, that is, to a co-operation which recognizes the moral aspect of the question that Government must look for the amelioration of the masses and not to a pseudo-co-operative edifice, how- ever imposing, which is built in ignorance of co-operative principles. '* With this standard before us, we will not measure the success of the movement by the number of co-operative societies formed, but by the moral condi- tion of the co-operators. The registrars will, in that event, ensure the moral growth of existing societies before multiplying them. And the Govern- ment will make their promotion conditional, not upon the number of societies they have registered, but the moral success of the existing institutions. This will mean tracing the course of every pie lent to the members. Those responsible for the proper conduct of co-operative societies will see to it that the money advanced does not find its way into the toddy-seller's bill or into the pockets of the keepers of gambling dens. I would excuse the Opacity of the Mahajan if it has succeeded in keeping the gambling die or toddy from the ryot's home.

A word perhaps about the Mahajan will not be out of place. Co-operation is not a new device. The ryots co-operate to drum out monkeys or birds that destroy their crops. They co-operate to use a common

�� �