BY
MAGANLAL K.GANDHI

---

I
A MODEL WEAVING-SCHOOL

All the external activities of Satyagrahashram in connection with Swadeshi have for some time now been taken over by the Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee. People, who are in need of or wish to know anything about ginning-wheels, spinning-wheels, looms and Khadi, are requested to correspond with the Secretary of the Khadi department of that Committee. The Ashram now only conducts a weaving-school, which teaches all the processes from ginning right up to weaving. The boys of the Ashram school are at present taking the full course of instruction here, and we have not the room to take up students from outside. Some description of the work done is given here in the hope, that it may perhaps furnish suggestions to outside students and to schools desirous of having spinning-classes attached to them.

Forty-nine spinning wheels are here regularly at work, over and above twenty-five others which are reserved for beginners. All these are worked three to six hours per day. Some are worked for even seven or eight hours. After a month's training, a friend worked twelve to fourteen hours daily for a number of days and thus proved the possibility of earning three annas a day. Another, a sister, spun nine to ten hours daily for some days after finishing her round of domestic business. In a month and a half, she had spun enough to get sadlas and other cloth woven out of yarn spun by herself, and actually began wearing these things. She is now-a-days spinning at the rate of eight hours a day. One day there was something wrong with this lady's rentia. She referred the matter to the present writer who set it right. But she was not satisfied. She complained again, and again was the rentia operated upon. But the wheel apparently suffered from some occult malady, which she was at a loss to diagnose. Every time its spinning power would get enfeebled. At last the poor lady lost all patience and was almost ready to weep. This was reported to me, and this time I examined the wheel very critically and effected a perfect cure. It now moved merrily, and merrily did the sister proceed with her work. It is very desirable that all the wheels in a spinning-class be kept in a perfect condition. When that is the case, the spinner does not tire and works cheerfully and speedily. Our class is attended by five ladies, who spin five or six hours every day, and by twenty-three students of the Ashram school, of whom eighteen are boys and five are girls. The conduct of this class is not an easy job. Their spirits are in continual need of cheering. Some of them spin very rapidly. But sometimes there is a grievous attack of head-ache, at other times the still more grievous attack of idleness. Sometimes the hand is fatigued, at other times the wheel gets out of repair.

We are now replacing the thick by a thin spindle. It is true that with the slightest interference or rough handling, this thin spindle bends and begins to wobble. But it makes the movement of the wheel very smooth and easy, and also adds to its speed, as the revolutions are doubled from the fifty of the thick spindle to a hundred in the thin spindle following from one revolution of the large wheel. The doubling of revolutions does not mean a double output, but there is certainly a considerable increase. With the thick spindle, the wheel must go through 8 or 10 revolutions for the drawing and winding of one length of yarn; with the thin spindle, the revolutions of the wheel needed for that purpose are reduced to 4 or 5. Hence with the thin spindle, there is an economy of labour. The speed of drawing the yarn by the hand is clearly limited, so that 200 or 300 revolutions of the spindle instead of 100 would not double or treble the speed or the output. Advanced students draw and wind two feet to two feet and a half of yarn every five seconds. This comes to 8 to 10 yards a minute. If the sliver is good and the student in a spinning-mood, there is less breakage of yarn. Even considering the time lost on account of breakage and joining, some students are easily able to spin 400 to 500 yards of yarn of about 12 counts, fit for warp. This approximates to the speed of a mill spindle, and is therefore quite satisfactory. When the work is over, the student removes the spindle from the wheel and keeps it in good preservation. Yet accidents do occur. The class master must know how to repair a spindle which has thus gone wrong. He must also know how to put the wheel in good working order. The string which makes the spindle revolve often breaks, but if it is well-twisted, treated with wax, and then rubbed well with a piece of cloth, it becomes more durable and lasts for a number of days.

The students generally like to work on the rentia. But the moment it gets a little wrong and cannot be soon corrected, they rise and flee. Not only the beginners but even advanced scholars are sometimes confused, when called upon to set right such a simple machine as the spinning-wheel. A veteran leader who set the non-co-operating students of engineering at work upon the spinning-wheel, made the remark that English education has incapacitated our young men. It was with great pain that he said this. And it is the simple truth of the matter. We can clearly see, that as a result of this education, we have not only lost the power of our hands and feet, but we also lack in patience and perseverance. We cannot bear to take the trouble of correcting anything that is wrong. Newspaper leader-writers question the educative value of spinning and doubt its efficacy in driving away poverty from our midst. Their doubts would vanish if ever they tried and saw for themselves what children gain from the spinning-wheel. But these writers are themselves the product of English education. To expect them to be patient, is to forget the character of the discipline to which they have been subject. There is no better test than the spinning-wheel, if we wish to ascertain whether our children are educated in the real and the proper sense of that term.

Many people still question the economic value of hand spinning. But I believe that the results of our experiments may perhaps lead them to reconsider their views. I will here put down the statistics of our own class. Among our students there are five playful children, who spin only when the spirit possesses them. But all of them spin good yarn fit for warp. Hardly any spin yarn below 10 counts. Many spin yarn of about 15 counts. Now-a-days the boys are giving four hours to spinning. Formerly they used to work six hours daily, but then there was a tendency to occasional slackness. Now we have ruled that when once a student has spun a length of 1000 yards, he may be allowed to leave the spinning class, and learn carding etc. This arrangement has had excellent efforts. All spin without losing a moment and spin 1000 yards in two to four hours according to the skill acquired. And the yarn thus produced is pretty uniform, well twisted, and fit for warp. We have fixed a round wire frame on the axle of the wheel just near the handle, with a circumference of 4 feet. This frame is used for opening the cone into a hank. 750 revolutions of this mean a thousand yards of yarn. Most students count the revolutions, while they are moving the frame, and hence do not take much additional time for calculations. Some are not able to practice this, and they count the length after they have prepared the hank.

1000 yards of yarn of six counts weigh 8 tolas. (840 yards make a hank. If six such hanks weigh a pound, the yarn is of 6 counts. Hence 840 yards of six count of yarn weigh 6? tolas.) 4 annas is a quite proper wage for spinning one pound of six-count yarn of a standard quality. This means a wage of nine pies and a half for spinning 8 tolas. But most of our students spin yarn of 12 to 15 counts, and even finer. And this is quite good and fit for weaving. The wage for a thousand yards of finer yarn must be proportionately higher; as the finer the yarn, the greater the number of twists to be given to it. Twelve-count yarn requires nearly half as much twisting again as six-count yarn. Hence the wage of a thousand yards of twelve-count yarn must be half as much again as that of the same length of six-count yarn. But this proportionately higher wage makes the hand-spun yarn much dearer than the mill-made yarn of the same count. If we take 8 and 12 annas to be the wage for spinning a pound of yarn of 12 and 16 counts respectively, the wage for spinning a length of 1000 yards of the same counts will be 10 or 11 pies. One student spins this amount in 2 hours, several in 3 hours and the rest in 4.

On the last Amavasya it was twenty two days since the students set regularly to work after the vaishaka vacation. Deducting three holidays on Sundays and three half-holidays on Wednesdays, we get seventeen and a half working days. There was an average attendance of twenty two students out of twenty three. Twenty two students spun in seventeen days and a half twenty four shers and a half of yarn of about fourteen counts. If we take ten annas to be the average wage for spinning a sher, this comes to fifteen rupees and four annas. This is exclusive of Rs.1–11–0 which is the wage of 18 pounds of cotton carded and made into slivers by one student in 12 days, calculated at an anna and a half per pound. It is also exclusive of the extra work put in by students on five or six days after finishing their daily quota of 1000 yds. of yarn by way of carding and opening yarn for weaving tapes and carpets. These students gave some of their private time also to this work.

There is no doubt, that the figures will mount higher when the students acquire the habit of methodical work. But whatever the pecuniary value of their work might be, method in work itself will be an acquisition beyond all price.

So much for the spinning department. I hope to be able to deal with the weaving department on another occasion.

Y. I.—21st July 1921.

---

SPINNING DEPARTMENT

I should like to add a few more facts about the spinning department, before I come to weaving.

In Ashadha the students were more energetic than before. The number of regular students was 21, and these in 23 working days (there being six holidays in the month) spun 30 pounds and 24 tolas of yarn of about 12 counts on the average, fit for warp. At ten annas a pound, this means a wage of Rs.19–2–0. The total number of hours of spinning was 1337. At 4 hours a day it should have been 1932 (23 number of days × 21 number of students × 4). This deficiency is not due to idleness, nor to headache. Complaints of idleness have now quite ceased. And students now understand that headache may prevent one from reading or working sums but not from spinning. They have also realised that if the arms are fatigued by fetching water or swimming, there is nothing like spinning for removing the fatigue. The thing is that those students who have mastered spinning were engaged in carding and other process. If full time had been given to spinning, we would have turned out a proportionately bigger quantity of yarn.

The spinning power of the students is increasing every day. The student who spun 7 tolas an hour during the Satyagraha week is now no longer a prodigy and others are fast overtaking him. One day a girl spun 9 tolas of uniform and well-twisted 12-count yarn in 6 hours. At the above rate this means a wage of 2 annas 3 pies. For 8 hours therefore the wage would be 3 annas, for 12 hours 4 annas 6 pies, for 14 hours 5 annas 3 pies. But it is hardly necessary to emphasise the pecuniary value of the work, so far as schools are concerned. The point is that by constituting spinning as a permanent part of our school curricula we provide manual training of the highest kind and at the same time prepare for the re-advent of a day when spinning will be as much a part of our domestic economy as say cooking.

Y. I.—11th Aug. '21.

---

THE ADVANTAGE OF THE THIN SPINDLE

Since we introduced the thin Spindle, we have been keeping a number of them in reserve. When a student has his spindle bent, it is not corrected there and then but he is at once given one of the spare good ones, so there is no delay. Afterwards all the spindles that have gone wrong are collected and corrected together.

The sadi, i.e. the wrapping on the spindle which serves as a pulley, is often cut by itself and has sometimes to be cut off in order to correct the spindle. A new sadi has to be wrapped and for this a bottle of thick gum is kept ready at hand. It must be made of fine strong yarn, and be wrapped very tight. If it is loose, the string which revolves the spindle (mala) sinks in it and cuts it asunder, and at once the spindle stops. If the sadi is made of coarse yarn, it becomes rough, and so the mala does not run smoothly, and the spindle throbs and causes breakage of the yarn while it is being spun.

Pairs of chamarakhan (leather-bearing) also are kept in reserve. When these become too soft by an excess of oiling or by rough handling, they must be changed. Now-a-days we make them from raw hides and not from leather or bamboo, and so they keep longer.

Formerly a round piece of wood or cardboard used to serve as a rest for winding the cone. But now we have substituted a piece of horn which is more durable. Wax is kept in stock for treating the mala. Besides these things we have a small oil-can, a pen-knife, a hammer, a chisel, and a small anvil.

The students bring the hank twisted hard in the shape of a stick. The hank weighs two tolas, which is the standard weight of the sliver provided. A bigger hank causes trouble while we open it, and the yarn is spoilt. The yarn spun by each student is kept separate with his name upon a wooden tag attached to it. Every student is asked to stick to one particular count all along till he has spun out enough for a length of warp; and then the yarn is sent to the weaving department. Every one is anxious to see when his yarn is sent out for weaving. Three such lengths of warp are being woven at present. About seven are ready waiting to be woven. An eleven year old girl will soon get a piece 20 yards long and 42 inches wide out of yarn spun by herself in the course of three months. This will provide her with two suits of clothing of two small sadis, 2 blouses and 2 petticoats. Her father had put in a pound of yarn spun by himself, to finish up the piece, and in return for this, she is going to spare a dhoti for him too. She is as much pleased to see the cloth woven from her own yarn as most girls would be to see brocade. Two other girls have combined their stock of yarn and are daily asking for it to be woven. Those students who have passed out from the spinning class are engaged in other departments, and have not much time to spare for spinning; so they work on holidays and prepare woof for their own warps, which are waiting to be woven. So in the second month, the spinning department is in full swing.

Y. I.—18th Aug. 1921.

---

The working of the spinning class having been fully described in the first two articles, the process next to be taken up is carding; but having received a number of queries as to the working of hand-looms, I propose to deal with this before going into intermediate processes.

Questions are asked as to which will be the most useful loom for weaving hand-spun yarn. Some want our opinion about the automatic looms; others insist upon the necessity of inventing a new swift-working machine, while still others ask for monetary help to prepare such after their own designs.

My humble but firm opinion is that the old pit-loom is the best, especially for weaving hand-spun yarn. No doubt it is the slowest working instrument but is the surest of all, and just as our old spinning-wheel in spite of its being the slowest instrument is absolutely capable of spinning out all the cotton that India produces to-day, so the old pit-loom is perfectly capable of weaving out all the yarn that India can produce by means of the spinning wheels and the mills.

This is not the time to enter into the figures in support of my statement. I shall only try to show the usefulness of the pit-loom. The fly-shuttle loom has its place in the sphere of home industry as well as of the factory, but the automatic looms have no room in this industry. Its drawbacks can only be realized by a study of the facts and figures regarding concerns which employ such looms. People who newly take up this industry should beware of flashy advertisements. They should not be misled by professed calculations of the working of such looms.

The fly-shuttle looms have varying adjustments. In the Muzzaffarpur spinning and weaving exhibition held in May last, a party from this school was present with its wheel and loom. Of all the fly-shuttle looms exhibited, the one from this school was selected as the simplest and lightest of all. It is all made of wood, with the exception of nails and screws required for joining. The pickers are also made entirely of wood. The shuttle and perns are home-made. Other looms had iron bars in their boxes, were operated with foreign shuttles, and their perns were unwieldy. Our loom is modelled upon a type of looms working in thousands in the Madras Presidency. The whole loom with a wooden frame to fit on a pit, with the exception of the shields and reed costs Rs. 45. These latter things are not supplied, as there is no fixed standard of the yarn to be used on it.

I wish some public spirited person or firm will come forward in Madras or elsewhere in that presidency and undertake to supply the fly-shuttle loom as described above promptly and at reasonable rates. Any one desirous of taking up this work may correspond with the head of the Khadi Department, Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee Ahmedabad.Thus far as regards the fly-shuttle looms. I suggest to new manufacturers that they cannot do better than start with the old fashioned pit-looms. It is our experience that on account of less breakage of yarn, especially hand-spun yarn, the output of a pit-loom almost equals and in some cases even exceeds that of the fly-shuttle loom. In weaving broader width, however, the fly-shuttle is certainly more convenient. And when the hand-spun yarn is of good test, it enjoys a decided advantage over the old loom in point of swiftness. But we have to remember that we have got to deal with hand-spun yarn which is not likely to have a good test for some time to come. It is therefore that the old loom is the safest and surest weaving instrument to go on with for the present.

Y. I.—25th Aug. 1921.

---

WHAT KIND OF LOOM?

Questions are asked as to the production of cloths in an old-fashioned loom from handspun yarn. The experience in our school is, that a well-practised worker weaves on a pit-loom one yard cloth of 30 inches width and of fairly thick texture in one hour. Cloth of greater or smaller width varies in proportion. Our fly-shuttle pit-loom has not exceeded this figure in handspun yarn so far. When formerly we used mill-made yarn, it yielded about half as much cloth again as the old pit-loom. However in weaving dhotiyans and sadis from handspun as well as mill-made yarn the flyshuttle is very handy.

Then there is a question as to the necessity of beaming the yarn. We believe, that where there is no question of room, beaming should be dispensed with. Hand-loom weaving factories situated in thickly populated towns where rates of house-rent are very high, have reason to resort to beaming; but where space allows stretching of the yarn as practised by the professional weavers, it is a time-saving method and is artistic as well. There is an argument in favour of beaming that it allows of the handling of warp as long as 200 or even 300 yards. But if such length of handspun yarn can be prepared, it is equally easy, if not easier, to stretch it in the old style.

---

SIZING HANDSPUN YARN

It is said, that the difficulty of sizing handspun yarn is a serious handicap from which the movement suffers. As a matter of fact, the method of sizing it should be no different from that of sizing mill-made yarn. It is slipshod spinning which is at the bottom of this difficulty. The best way out of it is to organise and improve the production of handspun yarn. It is superstition to say that the yarn spun on the charkha cannot be strong and even. Where proper care is taken, it does improve and even surpass mill-made yarn in some respects. Punjab and Marwad, where spinning has been carried on from past times, have also to improve their yarn. Not that the spinners there do not know their work, but they as well as the merchants who purchase their yarn are careless about the quality of the yarn turned out. Unless this work is taken up by men imbued with the true Swadeshi spirit, the condition is not likely to improve. The spinners should be visited at their work from time to time, and proper instructions as to the required twist and test to be given to the yarn should be imparted to them. The payment of a reasonably higher wage than the present is another way of improving the yarn. The wages we have arranged for our guidance are given below in the form of a table. Where living is cheaper than in Gujarat, they can be adjusted accordingly. The yarn having improved, the difficulty of sizing will disappear.

When a country weaver shows inability to weave hand-spun yarn, it means that he cannot weave it in the same reed space as he uses for the mill-made yarn. This is quite evident. The hand-spun yarn not being even, it requires wider reed space. The table given below also shows the number of ends of different counts to be drawn in an inch of a reed. Then if the cloth to be woven is meant for shirting or coating and not for dhotiyan or sadi, and if the yarn has a good test, two to four ends can be added to the number denoted in the table.

Count.	Test.	Wage per pound.	Approximate twist per inch.	Rounds on 4 feet hank frame.	Number of ends in an inch of reed.	Number of double ends in an inch.	Rates of weaving per square yard. Rs.A.P.
6	Warp	040	10	96	24 to 28	18 to 22	040
6	Weft	030	8	"	...	...	...
9	Warp	060	12	144	26 to 32	20 to 24	046
9	Weft	046	10	"	...	...	...
12	Warp	0100	14	192	30 to 34	22 to 26	050
12	Weft	080	12	"	...	...	...
16	Warp	0120	16	256	34 to 38	24 to 28	056
16	Weft	0100	13	"	...	...	...
20	Warp	100	18	320	40 to 44	28 to 32	060
20	Weft	0130	15	"	...	...	...

If the yarn is very weak and uneven, it should be woven with two ends in warp as well as in weft. This will give a strong texture to the cloth, making the process of weaving easy at the same time. The proportion in this case of ends to be drawn in an inch of the reed space is also given in the above table. If this course is adopted, heaps of handspun yarn that have accumulated all over the country can be woven out without much difficulty.

As a fact, the method of sizing traditionally followed by the weavers cannot be improved upon. Their selection of the sizing material is appropriate to the climate, season and circumstances. For the most part they use the staple corn. Jawari and maize being the cheapest are used in many parts. In the rainy season, however, they use wheat flour as a stronger sizing material to counteract the over-softening influence of the moisture present in the air. In the Madras Presidency, a cereal called ragi with a yellowish flour is used for coarse counts, while rice is used for finer counts. Rice and wheat are the best ingredients for sizing. The proportion used is from 10 per cent required for fine yarn to 20 per cent for coarse yarn.

Different preparations of various sizing materials are as follow:—

Wheat: Weigh the warp first. Then according to its fineness or coarseness, take fine wheat flour or Menda from 10 to 20 per cent of its weight, knead it well with water to form a thin paste, taking care that no lump remains. Boil some water just enough to soak the warp, then add the paste previously prepared and keep on stirring till the granules are well-cooked and the whole substance is reduced to the form of thin gruel. To every such preparation of one pound of flour, one ounce of sesamum or sweet oil should be added. This will give softness and smoothness to the threads of the warp and keep them from sticking to one another. Cocoanut or castor oil is also used as a lubricant. Any of these is good, except only that the castor oil will give a bad odour and a dull colour to the warp. The size thus prepared is then slowly poured on to the warp, which is kept folded on a gunny cloth or a clean slab. The warp is beaten with both the hands, while the process of pouring is going on, and when it is thoroughly saturated all over, it is spread out in the open and brushed repeatedly in one direction, often bringing the down side up till it gets dried. One or two or more persons according to the length of the warp are engaged in brushing, while several others are joining broken threads and shifting the sticks in the warp from one lease to another.

This is the most thorough of all the methods of sizing. The ends of fibres lying loose on every thread of the warp are straightened, and stuck fast round the thread by the process of brushing. The thread is rendered smooth and strong like wire, and the work of weaving is made all the easier by it. Thus swiftness in weaving is ensured. To master this requires long practice but it is worth the while of every student to do so. For an energetic youth about three hours' work under an expert every morning for two months or so is sufficient. With two assistants or more he will then be able to manage the brush-sizing himself without the aid of an expert. A less active person will take four or six months' practice.

The preparation of size from jawari and maize flour is just the same as from wheat flour, except that the flour of these cereals not being so fine as wheat flour, a larger quantity is required in their case.

Some people advise that wheat flour should be soaked for at least two days before it is boiled with water. It is said that the adherent quality of the flour is enhanced by this process.

Rice. The preparation from rice is simpler still. The required quantity of rice is boiled well with a quantity of water larger than that used for ordinary cooking and is allowed to remain for 12 to 24 hours. It is then strained through a piece of cloth tied over or into the mouth of a large vessel, more water being added as required in the process of straining. The strained matter is then reduced to consistent thinness; then oil is added to it in proportion as described above.Rice is sometimes preferred to wheat, as it gives besides strength a fine gloss to the warp.

The thing to be borne in mind is that the yarn meant for preparing warp must be made thoroughly absorbent beforehand. For this, all the hanks must be connected in the form of one chain. It is then folded together, placed into a big vessel, whether of earth or metal, containing water enough to soak the yarn and then well pressed with both the feet for some time. It is left in this condition for two or three days, during which period it is beaten with a wooden club on a slab twice every day. It should be remembered that, unless it is beaten, it does not soak through for days. If it is not soaked well, it is incapable of absorbing the sizing material, and is imperfectly sized. The cotton fibre has a natural oily coating on it, which is removed by soaking it as described before or by boiling it for some time. It does not become thoroughly absorbent, till it is treated in this manner. After two or three days, when the yarn is well soaked, the chain is opened out and dried in shade, every hank being hung separately on a bamboo. Before it gets completely dried, it is well shaken with both the hands twice or thrice, so that the threads do not stick to one another. The Madrasi weavers are used to pouring rice water (generally thrown away when the rice is boiled) on the yarn, before it is dried out in the manner described above. This gives greater strength to the yarn, and causes less breakage in the process of winding and preparing it into warp.

The other method of sizing resorted to by the weavers is called hank-sizing. It is an easy process, and though not so efficient as brush-sizing, it answers well if carefully performed. In this case the yarn, before it is made up into a warp, is soaked, hank by hank, into the size prepared from wheat or rice as described above, and after pressing off the size a little from the hank with the thumb and a finger, the hank, wet as it is, is wound up on a bobbin. The warp is prepared immediately while the bobbin is wet, each thread drying on the warping sticks as soon as another is drawn out. The warp thus prepared is fit for weaving.

We have tried hank-sizing in a weak solution of ordinary gum. It works well in dry season, but makes the yarn moist in wet season on account of its absorbent quality.

---

II
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Mr. Gandhi during his visit to Assam and Eastern Bengal has observed, that the type of charkha in use in those parts is deficient in many ways. The same is perhaps the case in other provinces. As we believe that the charkha in the Satyagrahashram is a model of its kind, we give below a diagram with measurements of all its parts with an explanation of their relative functions.