"Just now he is Reggie Burke, keener on polo than on anything else, but if you
go to the Sind and Sialkote Bank tomorrow you would find Mr. Reginald Burke a
very capable man of business, known and liked by an immense constituency North
and South of this."
"Do you think he is right about the Government's want of enterprise?"
"I should hesitate to say. Better consult the merchants and chambers of
commerce in Cawnpore, Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. But though these bodies
would like, as Reggie puts it, to make Government sit up, it is an elementary
consideration in governing a country like India, which must be administered
for the benefit of the people at large, that the counsels of those who resort
to it for the sake of making money should be judiciously weighed and not
allowed to overpower the rest. They are welcome guests here, as a matter of
course, but it has been found best to restrain their influence. Thus the
rights of plantation laborers, factory operatives, and the like, have been
protected, and the capitalist, eager to get on, has not always regarded
Government action with favor. It is quite conceivable that under an elective
system the commercial communities of the great towns might find means to
secure majorities on labor questions and on financial matters.
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