The cotton strike

THE cotton textile industry of Bombay is passing through a most serious crisis. According to latest reports, 65 mills have closed down and about 1,35,000 men are idle. No industry in India has ever been faced by a situation of such extraordinary gravity. The worst feature of the situation is, however, not the unprecedented magnitude of the strike but the causes that have led to it. To all impartial observers of recent events, it is apparent that the strike is not the result of the rapacity or perversity of the mill owners or of any misunderstanding between them and the workmen. The real responsibility for the strike and the consequent dislocation of the industry rests on the Government, which has not only done nothing substantial to help the industry out of the present crisis but which, in spite of its repeated pledges, has refused to withdraw or even temporarily suspend the iniquitous tax imposed on the products of indigenous mills. The reply which the Viceroy gave to the mill owners’ deputation that recently waited on him at Simla in effect and in substance amounted to this: “The Government sympathises with you in your difficulties; but we cannot help you just now. The excise duty will no doubt someday be remitted, but the time for that is not yet. The two crores of rupees, which it brings to the Government, cannot be sacrificed. Besides, you need not mind the duty. What you should set about doing is to reform the administration of your mills and produce less cloth. While, therefore, the Government cannot remit the tax on production, you may ask for protection against foreign competition, and that question can be examined by the Tariff Board.”