however difficult of observance that pledge may be, some day or other there is no escape from it, if we want our country to rise to its full height. And we shall then accomplish the vow when we shall deem it a religious duty to use only that cloth which is entirely produced in the country and refrain from using any another.
A HASTY GENERALISATION
Friends tell me that at the present moment we have not enough Swadeshi cloth to supply our wants and that the existing mills are too few for the purpose. This appears to me to be a hasty generalisation. We can hardly expect such good fortune as to have thirty crores of covenanters for Swadeshi. A hardened optimist dare not expect more than a few lakhs and I anticipate no difficulty in providing them with Swadeshi cloth, but where there is a question of religion there is no room for thoughts of difficulties. The general climate of India is such that we require very little clothing. It is no exaggeration to say that three-fourths of the middle class population use much unnecessary clothing. Moreover when many men take the vow there would be set up many spinning wheels and hand looms. India can produce innumerable weavers. They are merely awaiting encouragement. Mainly two things are needful, viz., self-denial and honesty. It is self-evident that the covenanter must possess these two qualities, but in order to enable people to observe such a great vow comparatively easily, our merchants also will need to be blessed with these qualities. An honest and self-denying merchant will spin his yarn only from Indian cotton and confine weaving only to such cotton. He will only use those dyes which are made in India. When a man desires to do a thing, he cultivates the necessary ability to remove difficulties in his path.
DESTROY ALL FOREIGN CLOTHING
It is not enough that we manage if necessary with as little clothing as possible, but for a full observance it is further necessary to destroy all foreign clothing, in our possession. If we are satisfied that we erred in making use of foreign cloth, that we have done an immense injury to India, that we have all but destroyed the race of weavers, cloth stained with such sin is only fit to be destroyed. In this connection it is necessary to understand the distinction between Swadeshi and Boycott. Swadeshi is a religious conception. It is the natural duty imposed upon every man. The wellbeing of people depends upon it and the Swadeshi vow cannot be taken in a punitive or revengeful spirit. The Swadeshi vow is not derived from any extraneous happening, whereas Boycott is a purely worldly and political weapon. It is rooted in ill-will and a desire for punishment; and I can see nothing but harm in the end for a nation that resorts to boycott. One who wishes to be a Satyagraha for ever cannot participate in any Boycott movement and a perpetual Satyagraha is impossible without Swadeshi. This is the meaning I have understood to be given to boycott. It has
