POVERTY IN INDIA | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 9, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 28.

POVERTY IN INDIA.

THE annual report of the Madura Mission of the American Board gives these facts relative to the poverty of the people of India and the narrowness of their lives:—

The extreme poverty of the poorer classes of India makes conditions which are altogether extraordinary. Life is the narrowest and hardest conceivable, with no earthly prospect of any improvement; the necessities of life have been so cut down on every hand that to a Western man, even tho familiar with the poverty of the West, it never ceases to be a wonder how such a delicate and complex organism as that upon which human life is physically dependent can be kept running on the scanty supply afforded. For a family of, say, six persons, there is many an outfit which, including house, utensils, furniture, clothing and all, is worth less than $10. The average income for such a family will not exceed fifty cents per head per month, and will more frequently be found to be very little over one half of that. It may therefore be surmised that not much of this income is spent upon the cultivation of the mind, sanitation, or the appearance of the dwelling and surroundings.

Even the luxury of a bit of soap, some clean water, and a towel are, on the cheapest possible scale, far beyond their means, as soap and towel would take, if regularly used, about ten per cent of the entire income, while as to clean water it can not be afforded even for cooking and drinking. . . . It is this condition of affairs which brings the material condition of the people within the sphere of legitimate missionary activity, and makes any success attained more important than the mere addition of names to the rolls.

"Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people," the Bible tells us. Righteousness makes for prosperity and happiness also, while sin tends to poverty and degradation. It is among the peoples where God is least known and honored that want and misery hold high carnival.