Modern India by William Eleroy Curtis

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The efforts of the government have been to direct the attention
of the people to mechanical industries rather than to mining,
because it is important to break them of their nomadic tendencies
and accustom them to permanent homes and regular employment.
They resemble the Bedouins of Arabia in many respects and prefer
to follow their flocks and herds over the mountains rather than
settle down in the towns. The men are hardy, brave, honest and
intelligent, but are desperate fighters and of cruel disposition;
the women resemble the Chinese more than the Arabs, and are bright,
active and ingenuous. The sense of humor is highly developed and
the laws of hospitality are similar to those of the Arabs.

Although the British agent in Baluchistan has autocratic powers
whenever he finds it necessary to exercise them, the Khan of
Kalat is allowed to govern the country in his own way, and to all
appearances is the independent authority. He is given a subsidy
of about $75,000 a year on his private account from the Indian
government, and his official income averages about 500,000 rupees
a year, which is equivalent to about $175,000. With this he pays
the expenses of his government and maintains a bodyguard of about
250 native cavalry. Only once has the British government found it
necessary to interfere in an arbitrary manner. On that occasion
Khudadad, the late ruling khan, murdered his prime minister in a
fit of passion, and upon investigation it was found that he had
put to death also without trial a number of innocent subjects. The
Viceroy of India permitted him to abdicate and gave him a generous
allowance, which was much better treatment than the villain was
entitled to. His son, Mir Mahmud, who succeeded him, turns out
to be an excellent ruler. He is intelligent, conscientious, and
has the welfare of his people at heart.

There is little of interest except the political question and
the peculiar appearance of the people up in that particular part
of India. It has been debatable ground as far back as the earliest
days of Aryan colonization. Although Peshawur is regarded as a
modern city, it is mentioned by the historians who wrote up the
campaigns of Alexander the Great, and if you will go up there
the guides will show you where he crossed the river. The city has
a population of about 80,000, of which three-fourths are Moslems.
They come from every part of Asia, and the streets and bazaars
swarm with quaint costumes and strange faces unlike any you have
ever seen before. And what strikes a traveler most forcibly is
their proud demeanor, their haughty bearing and the independent
spirit expressed by every glance and every gesture. They walk
like kings, these fierce, intolerant sons of the desert, and
their costumes, no matter how dirty and trail-worn they may be,
add to the dignity and manliness of their deportment.

They are so different, these haughty Mohammedans, from the
bare-legged, barefooted, cringing, crouching creatures you see
farther south. It would seem impossible for these men to stoop
for any purpose, but the Bengalese, the Hindustani and the rest
of the population of the southern provinces, do everything on
the ground. They never use chairs or benches, but always squat
upon the floor, and all their work is done upon the ground.
Carpenters have no benches, and if they plane a board they place
it upon the earth before them and hold it fast with their feet.
The blacksmith has his anvil on the floor; the goldsmith, the
tailor and even the printer use the floor for benches, and it
is the desk of the letter writer and the bookkeeper.

It looks queer to see a printer squatting before a case of type,
and even queerer to see a person writing a letter with a block
of paper spread out before him on the ground. But that is the
Hindu custom. You find it everywhere throughout India, just as
you will find everybody, men, women and children, carrying their
loads, no matter how light or how heavy, upon their heads. If an
errand boy is sent from a shop with a parcel he never touches it
with his hands, but invariably carries it on top of his turban.
One morning I counted seven young chaps with "shining morning
faces" on their way to school, everyone of them with his books
and slate upon his head. The masons' helpers, who are mostly
women, carry bricks and mortar upon their heads instead of in
hods on their shoulders, and it is remarkable what heavy loads
their spines will support. At the railway stations the luggage
and freight is carried the same way. The necks and backs of the
natives are developed at a very early age. If a porter can get
assistance to hoist it to the top of his head he will stagger
along under any burden all right. I have seen eight men under
a grand piano and two men under a big American roller top desk,
and in Calcutta, where one of the street railway companies was
extending its tracks, I saw the workmen carry the rails upon
their heads.

XXII

THE ARMY IN INDIA

The regular army in India is maintained at an average strength
of 200,000 men. The actual number of names upon the pay rolls on
the 31st of December, 1904, was 203,114. This includes several
thousand non-fighting men, a signal corps, a number of officers
engaged in semi-civil or semi-military duties, those on staff
detail and those on leave of absence. The following is an exact
statement:

BRITISH

Cavalry, three regiments 2,101
Artillery, eighty-seven batteries 14,424
Infantry, forty-five battalions 42,151
Engineers, one battalion 204
------- 58,880

NATIVES

Cavalry, forty regiments 24,608
Artillery, fourteen batteries 6,235
Infantry, 126 battalions 108,849
Engineers, twenty-three battalions 3,925
------- 143,617
Officers on staff duty 617
-------
Grand total 203,114

This regular and permanent military force is supplemented by
native armies in the various independent states, which are only
indirectly under the command of the commander-in-chief and are
not well organized, except in one or two of the provinces. There
is a reserve corps consisting of 22,233 men who have served in
the regular army and are now upon what we call the retired list.
They may be called out at any time their services are needed.
There is also a volunteer force numbering 29,500 men, including
cavalry, artillery, infantry and marines, many of them under the
command of retired officers of the regular army; and the employes
of several of the great railroad companies are organized into
military corps and drill frequently. There is also a military
police under the control of the executive authorities of the
several provinces, making altogether about 300,000 men capable of
being mobilized on short notice in any emergency, about one-third
of them being Englishmen and two-thirds natives.

In 1856, before the great mutiny, the British forces in India
consisted of less than 40,000 Europeans and more than 220,000
natives, besides about 30,000 contingents, as they were called,
maintained by the rulers of the native states and at their expense.
The greater part of the artillery was manned by native soldiers
under European officers. Three-fourths of the native soldiers
participated in the mutiny. The Madras forces in southern India
and the Sikhs in the Punjab were not only loyal but rendered
valuable services in suppressing the revolt. On the reorganization
of the army, after the mutiny was suppressed, it was decided that
there should never be more than two natives to one European in
the service; that the artillery should be manned by Europeans
exclusively, and that all the arsenals and supply stations should
be in their charge. Since the reorganization there has been an
average of 60,000 British and 120,000 native troops in India. All
the artillery has been manned by Europeans, the British troops
have been garrisoned at stations where they can render the most
prompt and efficient service, and all of the cantonments, as the
European camps are called, all the fortresses and arsenals, are
connected with each other and with Bombay and Calcutta by railway.
When the mutiny broke out in 1857 there were only about 400 miles
of railway in India, and it was a matter of great difficulty,
delay and expense to move troops any distance. To-day India has
nearly 28,000 miles of railway, which has all been planned and
constructed as a part of the national defense system. In 1857
it took between three and four months for a relief party to reach
Delhi from the seaboard. To-day ten times the force could be
sent there from any part of India within as many days.

Another vital error demonstrated by the mutiny was the former
plan of drawing soldiers from a single caste. They were all under
the same influence; all had the same interests and were governed
by the same prejudices, and could be easily united for the same
purpose. Now caste is not recognized in the army. Recruits are
drawn from every tribe and every caste, and men of different
races, religions and provinces are thrown together in the same
company and are not allowed to serve in the locality where they
were enlisted. Enlistments are entirely voluntary. The natives
are armed, equipped and clothed by the state, but provide their
own food, for which they receive a proper allowance. This is
necessary in order that they may regulate their own diet and
obey the laws of their caste. There are also what are called
"class company regiments," composed chiefly of men who are serving
second enlistments. That is, men of the same race and caste are
organized into separate companies, so that a regiment may have
two companies of Sikhs, two companies of Brahmins, two companies
of Rajputs, two companies of Mohammedans, two companies of Gurkhas
and companies of other tribes or religious sects which neutralize
each other and are inspired by active rivalry.

Race outbreaks and religious collisions very seldom occur in
India these days, but the hostility between the several sects
and races is very deep. The Mohammedan still dreams of the day
when his race shall recover control of the Indian Empire and turn
the Hindu temples into mosques. The Sikhs hate the Mohammedans as
well as the Hindus. None of the sects is without its prejudices.

The most efficient section of the native army is composed of the
Sikhs, the Gurkhas, who are enlisted in Nepaul, and the Pathans,
who come from the hill tribes in the far northwest. These are all
vigorous, hardy races, fearless, enduring and fond of military
service. It would be difficult to find in any country better
soldiers than they make, and their numerical strength in the Indian
army could be doubled without difficulty in case more soldiers
were needed.

All cities, towns and villages have regularly organized police
forces, consisting entirely of natives and numbering about 700,000.
In the larger cities and towns the chief officers are European,
and throughout the entire country the preference in making
appointments to this force is given to men who have served in
the regular army. About 170,000 officers and men have this
distinction and make very efficient police.

The supreme authority over the army in India is vested by law in
the viceroy and is exercised through a member of the council of
state, known as the secretary of military affairs, who corresponds
to our Secretary of War. The active command is in the person of
the commander-in-chief, who is also a member of the council of
state by virtue of his office. The present commander-in-chief
is Lord Kitchener, the hero of Khartoum and of the recent Boer
war. Lord Roberts was formerly in command of the Indian army.
He served in that country for thirty-eight years in various
capacities. He went as a youngster during the mutiny, was with
the party that relieved Delhi, and saw his first fighting and
got his "baptism of blood" upon the "ridge," which was the scene
of the fiercest struggle between the English rescuers and the
native mutineers. He has recently published a readable book giving
an account of his experience during thirty-eight years of military
service in India.

Lord Kitchener is assisted by four lieutenant generals, each
having command of one of the four military divisions into which
the empire is divided. The Calcutta division is under the command
of General Sir Alfred Gaseley, who led the combined international
forces to the relief of the besieged legations in Peking. There
is a general staff similar to that recently organized in the
United States army, which looks after the equipment, the feeding,
the clothing and the transportation of the army with an enormous
corps of clerks and subordinate officers.

The officers of the staff corps number 2,700, and are appointed
from the line of the native army upon the merit system. Many of
them were educated at the military colleges in England; many
others have seen service in the regular army of great Britain,
and have sought transfer because the pay is better and promotion
is more rapid in the Indian than in the British army. However,
before an officer is eligible for staff employment in India he
must serve at least one year with a British regiment and one year
with a native regiment, and must pass examinations in the native
languages and on professional subjects. This is an incentive to
study, of which many young officers take advantage, and in the
Indian army list are several pages of names of officers who have
submitted to examinations and have demonstrated their ability
to talk, read and write one or more of the native tongues. The
gossips say that during his voyage from London to Bombay two
years ago Lord Kitchener shut himself up in his stateroom and
spent his entire time refreshing his knowledge of Hindustani.

No officer is allowed a responsible command unless he can speak
the native language of the district in which he is serving, and,
as there are 118 different dialects spoken in india, some of
the older officers have to be familiar with several of them.
Such linguistic accomplishments are to the advantage of military
officers in various ways. They are not only necessary for their
transfer to staff duty, but insure more rapid promotion, greater
responsibilities and render them liable at any time to be called
upon for important service under the civil departments. Several
thousand officers are now occupying civil and diplomatic posts, and
are even performing judicial functions in the frontier provinces.

The armies of the native states look formidable on paper, but
most of them are simply for show, and are intended to gratify
the vanity of the Hindu princes who love to be surrounded by
guards and escorted by soldiers with banners. Some of the uniforms
of the native armies are as picturesque and artistic as those of
the papal guards at the Vatican, and on occasions of ceremony
they make a brave show, but with the exception of two or three of
the provinces, the native forces would be of very little value
in a war.

The military authorities of India are exceedingly proud of the
morale and the hygienic condition of their troops, and the records
of the judge advocates and medical departments show a remarkable
improvement in these respects, which is largely due to the scientific
construction of barracks, to the enforcement of discipline and
regulations framed to suit climatic conditions, a better knowledge
of the effect of food and drink and the close observance of the
laws of hygiene. The climate is very severe, particularly upon
Europeans, who must take care of themselves or suffer the
consequences. The death rate in all armies in time of peace should
be much lower than in the ordinary community, because recruits
are required to submit to physical examinations, and none but
able-bodied men are enlisted. The death rate in the army of the
United States before our soldiers were sent to the Philippines
was remarkably low, only three or four per 1,000 per year.

Some years ago in the army of India the mortality from disease
was as high as sixty-nine per 1,000, but by the introduction
of the reforms mentioned the rate had been reduced to nineteen
per 1,000 in 1880, and for the last ten years has been less than
sixteen per 1,000. According to the opinion of those best qualified
to know, this is largely due to the introduction of what are known
as Regimental Institutes, or Soldiers' Clubs, corresponding closely
to the canteens which were abolished in our army a few years ago,
but which are considered as important a part of the military
organization in India as a hospital or arsenal. After fifty years
of experience in India the British military authorities gave up
the attempt to prohibit drinking in the army. Lord Kitchener says:
"You might as well try to hasten the millennium." And for twenty
years they have been using various measures, some of which have
proved practicable and others impracticable, to promote temperance.
The result is an almost unanimous conclusion upon the part of
those who have given the subject study that the most effective
means of preventing intemperance and promoting discipline and
morals are the soldiers' institutes and clubs, in which liquor
is sold in small quantities under strict regulations enforced by
the enlisted men themselves. In other words, they have stopped
trying to prohibit drinking because they found it was impossible,
and are now trying to reduce it to the minimum. The placing of
the regulation of the liquor traffic very largely with the men
themselves, and removing the semblance of official interference of
authority, is said to be one of the most effective arrangements,
and the very fact that drinking is not forbidden and that liquor
can be obtained at any moment within a few steps of the barracks
is of itself a most wholesome influence, because it takes away
the desire, and all the spirit of adventure and risk. As long
as human nature is stubborn and contrary, men will do out of
pure mischief what they are told must not be done. These matters
have a deep interest for the viceroy, Lord Kitchener, the
commander-in-chief, and other prominent officials of the army
in India. Lord Kitchener takes an active part in the temperance
work and in the administration of the soldiers' institutes, and
has had an officer detailed to look after their arrangement and
management. Not long ago the viceroy traveled seven hundred miles
to deliver an address at an anniversary of the Army Temperance
Association.

Colonel De Barthe, secretary of military affairs in the cabinet
of the viceroy, to whom I was sent for information on this subject,
said: "The lives of the British soldiers in India are very tedious
and trying, especially during the hot summers, which, in the
greater part of the empire, last for several months. The climate
is enervating and is apt to reduce moral as well as physical
vitality. There are few diversions. The native quarters of the
large cities are dreadful places, especially for young foreigners.
I cannot conceive of worse, from both a sanitary and a moral point
of view. But they have a certain novelty; they are picturesque
and oftentimes attractive and entertaining to homesick soldiers,
who, as is natural, yield easily to temptations to dissipation.

"And the best remedy is to furnish counter attractions and give
the men resorts that are comfortable and attractive, where they
will not be subject to the restraint of authority or come in
contact with their officers too often. The government, as well
as philanthropic societies, is doing everything that it can to
provide such places, to protect the enlisted man as far as possible
from the temptations to which he is subjected, and to furnish
him a loafing place where he will feel at home, where he may do
as he likes to all reasonable limits, and where he can obtain a
moderate amount of pure liquor without feeling that he is violating
regulations and subjecting himself to punishment.

"We formerly had bars at which soldiers could buy pure liquor,
instead of the poisonous stuff that is sold them in the native
quartets of Indian cities, but we soon concluded that they defeated
their own purposes. Being situated at convenient locations, soldiers
would patronize them for the love of liquor, and induce others
to do the same for the sake of companionship. This promoted
intemperance, because the soldiers went to the bar only to drink,
and for no other reason. There were no reading-rooms or loafing
places or attractive surroundings, and they were not permitted
to remain at the bar after they had been served with one drink.

"Those bars have been abolished, and, under the present system, an
effort is being made to furnish homelike, attractive club-houses,
where the enlisted men may pass their leisure time in comfortable
chairs, with pleasant surroundings, games, newspapers, magazines,
books, writing materials and a well-filled library. We give them
a lunch-room and a bar which are much more attractive than any of
the native bazaars can offer. They are allowed to drink liquor on
the premises in moderation, and the regulations of the institute
are enforced by a committee of the men themselves, which appeals
to their honor, their pride and their love for their profession.
A drunken enlisted man is quite as much of a humiliation to his
comrades as a drunken officer would be to his associates, and
the men feel quite as much responsibility in restraining each
other and in preventing their comrades from getting into trouble
as their officers--perhaps more. To this spirit, this esprit de
corps, we appeal, and find after several years of experience
that the institutes promote temperance, health, discipline and
contentment among the men.

"The surgeons of the service will tell you, and their reports
contain the details, that the largest amount of disease and the
worst cases are due to contact with natives in the bazaars of the
cities near which our barracks are located. It is impossible to
keep the men out of them, and their visits can only be lessened
by furnishing counter attractions. The soldiers' institutes have
proved to be the strongest ever devised. Anyone who knows India
can tell instantly where soldiers' institutes have not been
established by examining the sick reports of the officers of the
medical corps.

"You cannot prevent men from drinking any more than you can prevent
them from swearing or indulging in any other vice," continued
Colonel De Barthe, "but you can diminish the amount of vice by
judicious measures, and that we believe is being done by our
institutes, with their libraries, reading-rooms, lunch-rooms,
cafes, amusement-rooms, bars, theaters for concerts, lectures
and amateur dramatic performances. The government does not put in
billiard tables or any other kind of games. We allow the men to
do that for themselves, and they pay for them out of the profits
of the bar. Nor do we furnish newspapers. We require the soldiers
to subscribe for themselves. There is a good reason for this
which should be obvious to everyone who has ever had experience
in such matters. We furnish the building, provide the furniture,
fuel, lights, fill the shelves of the library with excellent
standard books of history, travels, biography, fiction and
miscellaneous works, and have a way of shifting the books between
stations occasionally, so that the men will not always have the
same titles before their eyes. We furnish a piano for the amusement
hall, and all of the permanent fixtures of the place, but the
men are required to do their share, which gives them personal
interest in the institute, increases their responsibility and
takes away much of the official atmosphere. If we should provide
magazines and newspapers they would not be so well satisfied
with them. There would always be more or less grumbling and
criticism. Hence it is better for them to make their own choice. If
we should provide crockery and glassware for the refreshment-rooms
it would be more frequently broken. The same rule prevails in other
matters, and, what is still more important, we want to remove as
much of the official relation as possible. The management of
the institute is in the hands of soldiers, under the supervision
of officers, who simply act as checks or as inspectors to see
that things go straight.

"We encourage the men to organize singing clubs, amateur theatricals
and other entertainments in which they take a great interest
and considerable talent is sometimes developed. They have their
own committees looking after these things, which is a healthful
diversion; and the institute is the headquarters of all their
sporting organizations and committees. The officers of the barracks
never go there unless they are invited, but when the men give an
entertainment every officer and his family attend and furnish
as much assistance as possible."

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