editing of Young India, I told the public that it was run at a loss and that I would be obliged to give it up if the
exorbitant in spite of the low cost of paper prevalent at present. Two annas for a copy of ‘Young India’ is too much for the general reading public of India, and ‘Navajivan’ for as 11/4 is also too much. India is a very poor country and that is an acknowledged fact. If they are making profits, is it not fair that their prices should be decreased and thus make them available for the big masses?In this connection I may say that the noteworthy English weeklies such as ‘Saturday Review,’ ‘The Nation and Athenaeum,’ ‘The American Nation,’ ‘The Spectator,’ etc., are far cheaper even at the rate of 6d., since they contain more than three times the number of pages. If it is not possible to decrease the price of the weeklies under your control, can you not conveniently manage to increase the number of pages?
Some of us would believe that even if the ‘Young India’ and ‘Navajivan’ are sold at 2 to 3 pice, they will not be under loss so long as they are edited by your goodself. If you think that you owe an explanation to the public in this connection you may explain this through your paper.
Now suppose that the papers are not making profits nor are likely to make any even at the prevailing prices of as.2 and as.1/4, can you not manage to put some amount of the profit of the Press in these papers and thus make them cheap?
I have consulted the manager about the subject-matter of the letter and both he and I have come to the conclusion that the prices could not be safely reduced for the following reasons:
1. Profits are a precarious item.
2. Reduction of the prices will make no difference in the number of subscribers.
3. The masses do not count as readers because they cannot read.
4. My editing, though it has somewhat increased the number of subscribers, has not made any material increase. The papers are by no means as popular as they were before because perhaps of the subsidence of excitement. Young India and Hindi Navajivan have not yet begun to pay their way and unless English readers of Young India and Hindi readers of Hindi Navajivan interest themselves in the
