QUESTION MARK

The application of ornithological precepts to the realties of a big game hunt is at best a futile, at worst a fatal procedure. In India, Ghandi has salted the lion's tall and has been rewarded with a growl which bodes ill for the experiment. At the outset the novelty of his methods so perplexed an administration habituated to gestures of a more conventional nature that the situation developed into a diplomatic sparring match of considerable entertainment to spectators with a taste for intrigue of a musical comedy variety.

Recent developments indicate, however, that Indian enthusiasm for rebellion when once aroused, shows an alarming tendency to transcend the pacific limitations imposed by Ghandi's program. The situation in India today can well be viewed with alarm by British officials. It has become necessary to remove all women and children from the vicinity of Peshawar where violence is at fever heat. At Chittagong an attempt to cut off all communications resulted in an indiscriminate massacre of Europeans and natives. At Simla some fifty casualties have been reported.

In the background stands the Mashatma, an almost pathetic figure as he watches his own sincere efforts to elevate the Indian people transformed to an excuse for lawless excesses. Nevertheless, his influence is great. It is possible that he will, as he did in 1876, sacrifice his life-long struggle for a free India to the ideals of his benign Buddha and check the simmering of Indian nationalism before it comes to a boil. Eyes are turned to the East where a lion raises a questioning eyebrow at a Saint.