HEEGSTRA, H. WALTER

[Mr. Heegstra, a businessman, visited Gandhiji in India and later wrote to him.]

Letter, April 5, 192471

Post Andheri,
April 5, 1924

Dear Mr. Heegstra,
I thank you for your letter.
This is my reply to the first question: My platform is India. My goal is to attain self-government for India. The means adopted to attain the end are Non-violence and Truth. Therefore, Indian self-government not only means no menace to the world, but will be of the greatest benefit to humanity if she attains her end through those means and those means alone. The spinning-wheel is the external symbol of internal reform, and its universal re-adoption in India ensures her economic salvation and frees millions of Indian peasants from growing pauperism. My message to the businessmen of America is: Understand the inner meaning of the message of the spinning-wheel and you will probably find the solution for the World Peace which I know so many Americans sincerely desire.
I am sorry I have to disappoint you about my portrait because, as I told you, I do not possess a single portrait or print.
I thank you for the book you have sent me, and in accordance with your suggestion, I am keeping it.
Pray give my regards to Mrs. Heegstra and accept same for yourself.

Yours sincerely,

H. Walter Heegstra, Esq.
Shepherd's Hotel
Cairo (Egypt)

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