| editor

“ The best of us has need to keep a tight hold on himself. That eternal vigilance is the price of liberty is much more than a political catchword. We hope that Mr. Gandhi will not profess to be gratified by our criticism, because we are not. We have written under a painful sense of duty and because we feel that he has of late been less careful of his steps than usual.
Gandhiji takes Rabindranath Tagore to be only a poet that, too, and of a particular variety. ”

“ A responsible publicist has only two ways of dealing with a rumour of this type. In fact, this is not rumour but opinion, which no one is obliged to notice unless he thinks it is serious enough to merit criticism. If a publicist believes in it, he should take the full responsibility upon himself and bare his back to the avenging rod, should one descend upon it. ”

“ Gandhiji is right in asking to public to understand that “the Poet does not deny, its [the Charkha’s] economic value” and that there is no bitterness “about the Poet’s criticism”. He then devotes thirty lines and a half to proving the baselessness of Dame Rumour’s whisper “that jealousy is the root of all that criticism”.
It is curious that the Poet was not suspected by Dame Rumour of being jealous during the years when Gandhism was at its height, but is suspected when it is on the wane! As Dame Rumour has no bodily existence, she speaks through human mouthpieces. ”