From the Archives (July 30, 1921): The Mail’s comment.

Commenting on our article on the Madras Corporation and the Mill Strike and with special reference to our statement that “the (Labour) Union has accepted the Corporation Committee’s offer of mediation” and that “if the employers refuse they will put themselves in the wrong in the eyes of the general public,” the Mail writes: “In these two sentences we have the genesis of the movement for the formation of the Committee. It was a move, not to secure a fair hearing for both sides and an equitable settlement, but to force the employers into a false position.” In making the absurd suggestion that it is “political extremists” that dominate the counsels of the Corporation and that it is their influence that is responsible for the appointment of the Committee, the Mail has over-reached itself. For one thing, it is poor compliment to the Non-Brahmin majority in the Corporation, which we suppose the Mail is not bent upon discrediting, to say that it has been hypnotised by extremists into taking the step it took in the matter. For another, the initiative was taken by a European missionary, the Rev. Mr. Leith, who it was that moved for the appointment of the Committee.