27 JUNE 1931, Page 17

MR. GANDHI'S ECONOMICS

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

Stn,—I have always thought that the cult of the spinning- wheel was the best part of Mr. Gandhi's campaign. However small the remuneration to each spinner may be, it has the immense advantage of providing work for everyone," and in the case of many millions it may easily double their income in time, if not immediately. It is also a more wholesome kind of work than falls to the lot of a factory hand who must almost always live in a filthy slum when th machinery depends on coal for its power. No doubt the mills may provide cheaper and finer clothes, but, as the " Protectionists " always say, " cheapness is not everything," and cheapness with unemploy- ment for half the year is not good economy at all. The spinning-wheel helps the poor to help themselves and does something towards making their own clothes, as they grow

their owl food.—I am, Sir, &c., J. B. PENNINGTON. Uplyme, High Wycombe.