,000
labourers. Three million tons of coal are annually mined, and gold mines
yield L1,000,000 sterling every year. It may, indeed, be said that India
has now, for the first time in its history, taken a place as a land of
manufactures, trade and commerce.

4. Social Life.

The contrast between the social life of the East and that of the West is
marked. Problems that today stir this land to its depth have no existence
in India. The conservatism of India is proverbial. The Hindu people have
been kept back from all progress, so that questions arising about human
rights and liberty have not begun to be mooted there. The thousand
problems of our land are the direct result of the emphasis which our
civilization has given to human rights and individual freedom and the
equality of men. India has thus far denied to the individual those rights
and liberties which are deemed elementary and fundamental in the West. Its
emphasis has always been upon the rights and privileges of Society as a
corporate body. It has ignored entirely the claims of the individual and
has prevented him from enjoying his inalienable rights in any division of
society. This may be seen in the two great departments of life in that
land.

(_a_) The Family.

The family systems of the East and of the West are essentially different.
In India the Joint Family System prevails. According to this system
members of a family for three generations live together and have all
things in common. No member of the family can claim anything as his own.
It is the old patriarchal system and emphasizes the rights of the family
as a whole, and denies to any individual member separate possession or
privileges. This system has had a long day in India; but, as western ideas
are spreading, dissatisfaction is manifestly increasing, especially among
the educated classes. The recent introduction to the Madras Legislature of
the so-called "Gains of Learning Bill" is the first serious attack made
upon that system. By means of this bill, which was introduced by an
orthodox Hindu, but which is not yet passed, an educated man could claim
exclusive right to ownership of all properties acquired by him through his
education. Thus, for the first time in India an individual might claim,
apart from the family, that wealth which was acquired by himself. This
bill has brought opposition from the public, because it conflicts with the
rights of the joint family, and is a serious blow