Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1937, Page 15

One of the rare interviews granted by Mahatma Gandhi is presented here, in the first of two articles, by a nationally known New York advertising man who was re- cently appointed vice president of the University of Chicago. Mr. Benton, nmow on a tour of the Orient, takes up his duties at the university in October. BY WILLIAM B. BENTON. SEGAON, India (N.AN.A).—The mahatma reached over his legs, crossed before him on the floor. He grasped my hand firmly, like any good Tammany politician. *“You'd better sit over there,” he said, motioning to a varnished box about half the size of an orange crate, six feet directly in front of him. This box was the only article of furniture in the room. As an American advertising man traveling with press credentials, Ma- hatma Gandhi had granted me an interview. Mahadev Desai, for 20 years his secretary, told me it was the first interview this year given any writer or press representative. The mahatma is partial to Americans. He cannot get a direct hearing in the English press. His only chance to reach the English is at rare intervals through Americ He once called Americans broth: Segaon is a thatch-roofed Indian village of 75 or 100 mud houses. Most of Segaon's 500 inhabitants are “‘un- touchable: They are of India' de- pressed class, those the mahatma calls “Harijan” or “man of God.” You reach Segaon by ain from Ihi—after 26 hours. I had ar- rived the evening before at hotelless Wardha, the nearest railroad station and five miles distant. After a sleep- mosquito-ridden night on a h in the station I had hired a vheeled cart and had driven across a plain, as flat and scorching as Kansas at its worst, to the ma- hatma’s ashram. Ashram, a famous word in Hindustani, means the rest- ing place or hermitage of the holy man, Windows Are Small. Gandhiji—the * is a mark of respect—received me in his mud plas- ter one-st would be a more accurate name for it. A #mall room is tacked on to a room, perhaps 15 by 25 feet crude bamboo g napk vy feet to the rear cf the hatma’s hut is anot about half as large, with two closet-sized rooms opening on a narrow porch. There & 6-year-old, Gandhi's grandson, stands and bawls for 10 minutes, re- fusing to be comforted by a black- bearded Indian who stops his work to kneel before the boy. This hut is & separate home for Mrs. Gandhi, mother of four sons. The Mahatma once advocated abstinense to Mrs. Margaret Sanger as the only accept- able method of birth control. Mis eldest son, a a few months hed to Mohammedanism, then back to Ifinduism again likes the softer, He is not t other three s re sympathetic with the Mahatma's movement, but do not seem to be activelv of it. Little is heard of them in India. Miss Siade Lives Near. Further on to the rear, behind Mra. Gandhi’s hut, is a third dun-colored structure, about twice the size of a double bed. Here lives Miss Madeleine 8lade. The daughter of an English admiral, Miss Slade for 15 years has been a follower of Gandhi. Potent today in the movement to improve the lot of the Indian ryot farmer, she is perhaps second only to the Mahatma as a leader of Indian women of all races and creeds. On the near side of Miss Slade's eabin two spinning wheels are mold- ed cameolike on the mud wall. The spinning wheel is a symbol of Gan- dh It of the all-India dhi’s nationalist political organiza- tion, which recently won an over- whelming victory in the first election under the new India constitution, In this primitive setting in the heart of India, Gandhi has lived for a year. Here may he live for years to come. To plumbe: wardha the working committee of the Congress party migrates for crucial meetings. Here Gandhi maintains his spiritual overlordship while he delegates active political leadership to others. Today he is avoiding the direct £potlight, gathering strength in repose for his next rhythmic attack on the English raj. Yet his hold on poli- ticians remains as strong as ever. His magnetic power over the masses is un- dimmed. His closest associates do not know his next move. All agree, however, that where he leads, tens of millions of Indians follow Blood Pressure Treatment. As I settle myself on my box, I notice that the Mahatma's knee-length dhoti, usually his only article of ap- parel, is supplemented by a white head bandage fastened in front by a single safety pin. Gandhi's secretary later told me that this turban contains ordinary dirt, carefully sifted through & clean white cloth and kept well moistened. This treatment, plus gar- lie, Mr. Mahadev said, has brought the Mahatma's high blood pressure of 8 year ago down to normal. The secre- tary credits the cure to a German doctor, a Dr. Jost, and assures me that mother earth has remedial pow- ers unrecognized by Western science. The Mahatma's eyes flash and sub- tide behind his spectacles as he waits for me to begin. I hesitate. He gives me no lead or encouragement. He sits cross-legged on the floor in a narrow recess formed on two sides by a corner of the room and on the third by a shoulder-high pile of books and boxes. Shadow light drifts through the doors and the small bamboo grills. This is conscious staging, a simple illustration of Gandhi's gift for the theatrical. Here the Mahatma be- nignly reigns like the idol in its way- side temple, gathering unto himself the traditions and powers of the 5,000-year-old Hindu gods. I ask him some questions about In- dian politics, about the victorious Con- gress party's policies. (The Congress party, while accept- ing office under the new constitution, continues its fight for India's com- plete independence.) “This isn't the time for such ques- tions. I have work to do here. I can't take myself from it to answer them,” he snaps a little testily. “You should ask these questions of the political leaders.” A Contemplative “Recluse.” My surprised look at the Mahatma's assumption that I would agree to ex- clude him from political leadership makes him add hurriedly, “Of course, I wouldn't say that I don’s know any- thing about politics. But I have no time for such questions now.” Gandhi's gress pa main | or village | Mahatma Gandhi at work favorite pastimes. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, Gandhi, in Recluse Role, Still India’s Idol Interviewer Finds Him Wary of Political Queries—Denies Dangers if English Lose Power. on spinning wheel, one of his —A. P. Photo. pose today recluse psychology that of the contemplative is well keyed to Indian Although he cannot deny his leadership, in his public relations he does his best to sidestep admission of active political domination. Yet this is as real as it ever was. “Many feel that any form of co- operation is a mistake,” the Mahatma went on. “Others disagree, feeling that perhaps our objectives can best be achieved by giving ground now and then. Both groups are sincere. “We have just won a great victory and this brings us a big responsibility. We had Lterally no opposition. This {is what counts. This result didn't surprise me, but it is & fine thing for ! others to see. It shows the world our strength.” | | We talk then about American pub- lic opinion, its attitude toward India. “American opinion is of great impor- | nece to us” admits the Mabauma, | | “and by our deeds we hope to win it.” | Gandhi agrees that British foreign policy is ofws nfluenced by Ameri- can opinion. He is aware that Eng- land tries in many devious way to mold it. He remarks, “We cannot compete for American attention on the same terms with the English. We do not try. Our methods must be different methods. We make no conscious effort to influence American opinion. I be- lieve that America is emotionally sym- pathetic with our cause, but it is pro- | foundly ignorant of the real facts and | of our real problem. When the time | is right, America will learn the truth by what we do.” His voice trails off. Denies Danger Without British. “Its a prevalent idea in America,” I comment, “that India requires Eng- land for defense. Without the Eng- lish, would there be civil and re- ligious disturbances? As the Con- gress party is successful in driving the English out of power in India, will India fall a prey to some one else? Or, for that matter, how will Congress deal with the native princes right here at home?” “These are gross superstitions,” he replies, now at his gentlest and soft- {est. “They have been propagated for | years. Stories and statements of such | dangers are hopelessly exaggerated. I know that m English people sin- ce! believe them: there you have the power of such ideas oft repeated.” “As to the native states,” he cone tinues, “they’ll fall in line when India | comes into her own.” Littl ed in America is the feudal and almost absolute power of | some of these native rulers. They | are feared and hated by the Con- ess party perhaps as much as the British (Copyright, 1037, by the North American Newspaper Aliiance, Inc.) ’Quake in Scotland. Beds were rocked and crockery shaken off shelves by an earthquake in Inverness, Scotland, recently. %&u s 4 IN GROCERIES With each purchase of an Electric ELECTRIC A. F. L. REPORTS GAIN 3,106,439 Members Claimed, an Increase of 666,363. The American Federation of Labor said yesterday the membership of un- ions affiliated with it totaled 3.106.439 on July 20, a gain of 666,363 since August 31, 1936. Frank Morrison, secretary-treasurer, said this total did not include the membership of the 10 unions suspend- ed last year for supporting John L. Lewis' Committee for Industrial Or- ganization. The New GONFESSED DEATH 1S PROBED AGAIN Inquiry to Be Made Despite Story of Brother That He Killed Sister, 11. By the Assoclated Press. MADISON, Wis, July 24.—Craw- ford County authorities opened a new inquiry tonight into the mysterious killing of Mildred Best, 11-year-old Soldiers Grove girl, whose death her brother, Harold, 15, twice confessed. ‘Two official reports sent to Juvenile Judge Jeremiah O'Neill of Prairie du Chien expressed the belief Harold, | held in jail without charge, was in- | nocent and was shielding some one, | and that the death of their uncle, Orla L. Shaw, with whom the chil- | dren lived, was caused by poisoning. Shaw died two weeks after he and his wife, returning to their farm home the night of June 4, found Mildred sprawled across her bed with a bullet through the head and Har- old fast asleep in a room nearby. Shaw's death had been attributed to a nervous breakdown caused by a | kidney disorder. District Attorney James P. Cullen of Crawford County declined to comment on the develop- | ments, but the boy's attorney, Carl | N. Hill of Madison, if Cullen | did not order a post-mortem on Shaw's body he would ask the Circuit Court to instruct him to do so. Bec; he made two confessions | and retracted one of them, Harold was subjected to a truth-serum and lie- detector test by Dr. William F. Lo- renz, University of Wisconsin patholo- gist, and Prof. J. H. Mathews, crim- inologist. They said the result of their tests strongly indicated Harold did not shoot his sister and that he was attempting to shield either the actual slayer or some one who has guilty knowledge of the crime. | They told Judge O'Neill further in- vestigation was necessary in the in- | terest of justice. The boy is held in | Crawford County Jail without charge. | Orgatron An Instrument That Looks, Plays and Sounds Like a Pipe Organ THIS new portable organ-like instrument con- " forms to the standards and recommendations of the American Guild of Organists as adopted in May, 1933. Its tones are natural and normally produced. Organ literature con be played as written. The model pictured is a five-stop, single- expression, duplexed, two-manual and full 32- note pedal clavier instrument, and looks, sounds and plays like a pipe organ! 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In moving out to his new home near Olney, Md., Secretary Ickes has “no intention of changing his legal residence.” “I am a citizen and voter of the sovereign State of Illinois,” Ickes said. born on & OFFICIAL PIANO of the METROPOLITAN OPERA 1937—PART ONE. farm, the cabinet officer sald that in moving to the nearby Maryland farm he is “merely reverting to type.” He says that he has not decided just what crops he will raise, but indicated he may raise cattle. The “Naval Hospital air” is respon- sible for his return to health, Ickes told his interviewers, who had asked if the farm air had aided in his recent recovery from iliness, Brussels Fair Crowds Increase. Attendance at the 1937 Interna- tional Fair in Brussels, Belgium, was nearly 50 per cent above that of last year. Those fortunate enough to own one re- gard it with pride and affection. Its glorious TONE is the result of painstaking craftsman- ship. 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