Page:The Illusions of New India.djvu/104

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HIGH EDUCATION
91

resounding with the cry of India’s impoverishment due to the drain on account of Home charges, etc., for the last half century. That it is an important cause there is no doubt, and is admitted even by some impartial Englishmen. But it is a cause the removal of which does not lie within the ken of practical politics, and may, for all practical purposes, be regarded as unavoidable. One seldom hears, however, of the equally impoverishing drain which is due to the sinister influence of new India. That is a cause of impoverishment which it rests with the Indians themselves to remove, at least to a great extent, if they only make up their minds to do so.

The infatuation of new India for the material developments of Western civilization is intensifying and accelerating the economic crisis which, if the present conditions continue, is inevitable in the near future, and the shadow of which may already be seen by those who have eyes to see. Our present social structure is gradually assuming the form of an inverted pyramid, and cannot endure very long. We have already adverted to the appalling condition