Salt Lake Telegram | 1939-02-16 | Page 2 | Gandhi Presses Campaign to Outlaw Liquor in India

Gandhi Presses Campaign To Outlaw Liquor in India I NEW YORK, Fab. II UPV-Mo-handss Gandhi's crusade to make 'mighty India "dry" In three years appears to be going placee fast, ds-spitc ds-spitc ths slss of the order. ' The' saintly little ascetic's latest triumph places ths world-famous port of Bombay on ths "dry" list as from August L That Is Indssd soms victory for ths nationalist followsra of the former for-mer mahatma. Thia cosmopolitan city, which for centuries hsa provided pro-vided the wherewithal to quench the thirsts of wayfarers from many nations, na-tions, houses about 1 .100,000 people. Thus far out of ths 11 provinces of British India, partial prohibition haa been Inaugurated In half a Idossn where the nationalists that I Is. ths all-India national congress have gained control of the govem- menta. Addition of the rich prise i . u i i of Bombay to the list will glvs ths movsmsnt much Impetus. Ons of ths last acta of ths Gaek-war Gaek-war of Baroda, ths famous prog res-ilve res-ilve maharajah who died the other day, waa to make aa agreement to prevent alcohollo beverages from going to Bombay from hla stats, which adjoins tha Bombay presidency. presi-dency. Total prohibition Is one of the chief objectives of the congress, for an India which they hope to make absolutely lndspsndsnt of England. Writing in his wsskly papsr, "Harl-Jan," "Harl-Jan," Gandhi says ths congress haa the right to expect the eympathy "of ths beet m'nda In ths whols world in this, perhaps the greatest moral movsmsnt Of the century." Gandhi also haa said that "If India In-dia carries out prohibition It may well hastsn ths return of prohibition prohibi-tion In the United States." Bs that as It may, Gandhi wll have done a sisabla dsv's work if and whan hs makss India dry, quits apart from America. India covers a territory bigger than the continent of Europe, without with-out Russia. The population is about s90.000.000, or somsthlng llks a sixth of ths people on the earth. And that's a lot of folk to put on and keep on the water wagon. The questioa ef loss ef liquor revenues due to prohibition is a big one for the provincial governments. In six provinces soms M0.000.00O were sacrificed during the first year of the experiment. Dealing with this problem, Gandhi says: "Let It be remembered that this drink and drugs revenue la a form of extremely degrading taxation. All taxation to be healthy must return ten-fold to the taxpayer In the form of necessary services. Excise Ex-cise makss psopls pay for their own corruption, moral, mental and physical It faUs Ilka a dead weight on thuee who are least able to bear it" The former mahatma 's road presumably pre-sumably will be made aomewhat easlsr by the fact that the use of alcohol la against the teachings of both the Hindu and the Moslsm religions, which between them cover most cf the people ef India.