THE INCOME OF .THE INDUSTRIAL WORKER. 207
the interest on debts is excluded and in Sholapur it is stated that the in:
formation is only approximately correct. In the reports of both en-
quiries it is stated that families either did not remember or did not like
to disclose what they spent on liquor. There is reported to be less con-
sumption of liquor by the workers in Sholapur than by those in Ahmed-
abad, although the amount shown in the budgets is greater. Both these
examples are taken from the Bombay Presidency, where wages are on the
whole higher than in other provinces except Burma. One enquiry re-
lated entirely to cotton mill workers and the other mainly to this class,
which is better paid than most industrial workers. The statistics, there-
fore, refer to groups of workers who are by comparison favourably situat-
ed, and to our mind the striking feature of the budgets is the large pro-
portion expended on the primary necessities of life. It will be observed
that, if the debt charges are excluded, food, fuel and lighting, cloth-
ing and house rent account for over 82% of the total expenditure
in Sholapur and for 85% in Ahmedabad. In addition to these pri-
mary needs there are other necessities to be met. Even the poorest
worker must incur some expenditure on washing and nearly all must
spend something on the barber. Some household utensils are necessity
and, in referring to rent, furniture is not included. As g matter of
fact, furniture is at a minimum in the workers’ houses ; even a bed is not
always possible. In addition there is the bigger occasional expenditure
which sickness entails ; and the events of life, births, marriages and
deaths, involve an outlay which is unavoidable, apart from the compul-
sion exercised by custom or religion. Finally, most industrial workers
have to spend something on travelling to and from their villages. The
percentages given in, this respect for Sholapur and Ahmedabad are pro-
bably smaller than the average, as both cities recruit largely from the
surrounding areas, and the number of workers permanently resident is
larger than elsewhere. On the margin that remains after all these neces-
sities have been met, there is one charge of great importance, the obli-
gations arising from indebtedness—a subject which is reserved for further
treatment in another chapter. The remainder, if any, can be devoted
50 the few pleasures that are open to the illiterate.
The Outlook.
These facts are best left to speak for themselves, ang
it is unnecessary to emphasise the general poverty they disclose. Some
observers prefer to dwell on the mitigations of the situation, on a com-
parison of the worker’s existing privations with the hardships which
forced him into industria] life, on his scanty knowledge of better things,
on the endurance ang courage which enable him to tolerate his Present
sondition and, indeed, to extract some pleasure from it, and even on his
general inertia and lack of desire for Improvement. These also are
facts and must be faced, but it is mainly ignorance of his own relative
position and lack of belief in the possibility of bettering it which
Ie responsible for his apathy. We rejoice at the evident signs
if the awakening of the general conscience which greater knowledge
