"Wages and prices have gone up under British rule. The best class of
laborers get four _annas_ a day, and others not more than two,--six to
twelve cents a day. Grain for food is a penny for two pounds,--a cent a
pound. Women and children earn small wages. The clothing of the poor is
scanty and cheap; fuel costs nothing; and rent for dwellings is hardly
known. The masses in the country, not laborers, live on the land as owners
or lessees. There has never been anything like a poor-law, and ordinarily
there is no need of such.
"It would be quite impossible for me to give the history of India in detail
in the limited time at my command, especially as we are now approaching the
land. Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese navigator, was the first to reach the
East Indies, in 1498; but his countrymen never did much trading here, being
more intent upon securing the rich treasures of the Indies. As early as
1600 the English turned their attention in this direction. Companies were
formed; but being driven by the Dutch from the islands which they still
hold, they began to make settlements on the coast of this peninsula. Madras
dates from 1639, Bombay from 1686, Calcutta from 1686. The Company said,
'Let us make a nation in India;' and they went to work at once to do it.
They accomplished their purpose, fostered by the government, raised and
borrowed money, and in the course of time had an army and a navy, and ruled
the country.
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