The Siege Of Krishnapur - pg. 48

"It's only in practical matters that one may look for signs of progress. Ideas are always changing, certainly, but who's to say that one is better than another? It is in material things that progress can be clearly seen. I hope you'll forgive me if I mention opium but really one has to go nno farther to find progress exemplified. Opium, even, more than salt, is a great source of revenue of our own creation and is now more productive than any except the land revenue. And who pays it? Why, John Chinaman .... who prefers our opium to any other. That's what I call progress."