Silver In India

Mr. I. L. Hauser, the "writer of the following article, is a native American citizen. He first went to India thirtyfive years ago. líe is in business in India and this country, speaks Ilindustaui and is well acquainted with the peopie in all the Indian proVÍBCes. He was in that country at the time of the elosing of the miuts to the coinage of silver and during the agítation for a gold standard, and knows whereof he w rites. Befora the Muhumddan eonquest of India gold was the Standard inouey, with copper for chango. Sher Sha coined the first silver rupee in 1542 and on account of the abundanee of silver it gradually became the standard in Northern, while gold Standard continued until .1812 the money of Southern India. During the latter year the East India company coined its first silver rupee. There was a multitude of native princes eacji having his own poins (iiffei'ing in weight and purity from those of his noighbors, bt called by the saine ñames. Mïiny of those princcs Used the ancient as wpll as modern trick of diminisliing the weight and debasiug the purity to increase their amount of money. The result was that throughout India there were 224 kinds of native gold and 59 kinds of foreign gold coins; 556 kinds of silver rupees ana 155 kinds of foreign silver coins in circulatkm. There waa no end of confusión and fraud, to the great advantage of money brokers and of immense, loss to the ignurant and helpless poople. The Ea.st India company, realizing tlie disastrous effect oí sueh a multiplioity of coins of unequal valué, attempted to establlsh bitaetallism with a legal ratio between gold and silver, but as thc raines of the two metáis n tlie coins COnstantly varied, Hiere ivas no stability, the loss valualile eoin driving tlie other out of the niarket, and it was found impossible to preserve the ratio and keep both gold and silver in ejrculation. A'arious attempts were made by altering the weights of the coins, but without sueeess. In a "minute," Issued by the goyernment of India in 18(K!, it admitted the statement of Lord Liverpool that "money or coin whioh is to be the principa.! mensure of property ougbt to be of oue metal only." It stated that "coins of gold gftnd silver oannót circuíalo as legal tendor without great loss: this loss is oceaaioned by the ñuctuatiiu; valtie of the metala of whioh the coips aro formed, as it is impossilile tö prevent the fluctwatlon in the valúe ai the nietala, só it is oqually impracticable to prevent the consecfuenoes tliereof i:i the t-oins mado frora these metáis." The government then recommended that silvor coin only shonhl ha tho measure w value aml that gold should be left to tínd its owa lcvel, accordiügto the inarUet value of the metal. Nothing iurther was áone ííom 180(5 to 1818, wheu thé governnient made anpthei atteoapt t equalize values by makmg the ratio of pold to silver as 1 to 15. Nol1 was this satisfacory. but it contiiiued nul il 1835 and the aorernment ceaeed its eli'oi-ls to establish liimetallism. In 1852 Lord Dalhonsie. the governorgeneval, alartaed at the increaaed produotion of gold, snddenly issned a notiücation that no more gold was to he reeeived aftèr .Tannary 1, 1853. By this act gold was demonetized, m the real sonso of tliat word. in India, and L120,000,000 of gold coin imrnediately disappeared. The effect was most disástrous and an atteiapt was made to restore the gold coinage, but the same oíd diüiculty aróse of nut betng ablé to fix the ratio between the twó metáis, nothing was done and silvcr liecame the standard of India. Probably no act of any one man ever produced sneh. important consequences. ïhe banishnieht of the goM was feit to be a nalional ealamifcy, but the baneful results of the net were not fully realized until silver began to deprecíate. The financial condition has been growing worse year by yoar and goveniment bankruptcy is threatened. ïhe estflblishIng of silver as the unit of valué has had a ruinous offeet upon all forms of property, and ns all the foreign indebtodness of India is payable in gold there is an immense loss to the govornment; a great loss of rovenue especially in the provinees where i permanent settloment of land tnxatinn had been estflblrshedj and it was iinposs'ilile to increase assessmëntfi to koop pace with the of the rupeèj lossea ia exehange. . iosses in the salarios of government ofiicors, the nncertainty of prices. a total demoralization everywhere froin the highest department of government down to the smallest transaetions in village bazaars. The government, in order to raise i-evenue to meet its expenses, has been obliged to put a tax on everything and to increase the oid laxes whure it was possible. trom a plantatioiidown to a grain Öf i-alt. Every reeeipt above a small amouiit. every cheque if only for a nipee. every bill of sale, every agreement and lelilí paper, the application for the arrest of a thief, all must have government stampa upon tbein. The people are stninped to death, beginning with the infant at its birth and ending only with oíd age in the gravet There is a continual prohibition and compulsión, not to do this and to do tlvat. A poor old wi) h oL a gypsy woman living on the srusluire cannot boil a little salt water to ïningle with her dinner of rice without being arrested and fined because there is a tax on salt. There is also an income tax, to colleel whicii n goverinnent ofiiee:1 cun invade a heuse, arrest tiie proprletor, seize his books and letters, examine him under oath and (hen malee him pay what he thinks proper without regard to evidence. The enforeement of this law is the cause of unlimited lying, deceptiön and perjury. There is probably not a native in all India subject to the income tax but will Ho like as Ananias to save a few rupees. If eternal salvatiou depended on paying the proper incorae tax then Heaven would contain no native of India. The goyernrnent of India is in such sore straits occasioned by the fall of fhc rupee t.hat the linance minister is eontiuuously looking for somethin new nu whieh to place a tax. The fnll of silver has demoralized business. The exporten and importer are both at sea as to what priees to offer in India or the Enropean market. The first thing looked at in the morning papers is the telegrama from London as to the value of the rupee for the day as this is determined by the price of bullion. When the unlimited coinage of silvêr occiirs it will be very interesting to see a boasting American looking for the daily telegram trom London to know what his jumping-jaok dollar is worth. The merchants in Calcutta as in other cities have frequently issued notices in the daily papers announeing tbat after a certaln date the priees ou their goods wmilil be advaneed 10 per cent. owing to tlie fall of exchang. There is a ludicrous side wheu a native in a bazaar raises the prioe of his potatoes and gjvcs as his reason "exehange." It also has its serious aspect. Generations ago the salarles of all government offieers in India vvere fixed at eertain rates in rupees when the rupee was valued at 2s 4d or 58 cents. Men who went to India as mere boys and have served there for forty or fifty years, ever indulging the hope that sorae day they might retire on their pensions and spend their few last years in comfort "at home," find that not only their salaries but their pensions have diminished by one-half and that thev are reduced to poverty. All their remittancos to England for f lic education of their ehildren, for the parchase of noeessary articles, have been affected by this fall of exchange. So great has been this loss that many have had to forego their urloughs and boen obliged to remain In India for years without seeing their families. Mauy on retiring froui tho service are compelled to voyage as second-class passengers and to lndgings in some out-of-the-way place in England. In 1893 the government of India foreseeing wliat would inevitably occtir from the decreased value of silver, owing to iho ncreft&ed production of that metal and the ejnpected repeal of the Shefman law, closed the mints to the coiimge of silver in order to prevent a deluge of that metal into India and the further accumulation of money of uncertain value. This was a most judicious act and none ever called it a demonetization of silver. It was then proposed to establish a gold standard. Petitions were sent to the üDvernraent by bankers' associations, boards of trade, inerehants, guilds, manufacturera and private individuáis. Meetings were held at all the large cilies. The papers were full of reports óf meetings, articles and letters. It was stated that only L00,000,000 was neeessary to miiintain a gold standard; that when gold was demonetlzed in 1S53 L120,000,000 had disappeared to be hoardad, as tlie gold mniiors were never eeen anywhere, and further that from 1835 to 1890 L131,000.000 of gold had been exportcd. It was esüruated that witli the .'iild remaining in tho country it would be easy to establish a gold tiindard. The great majority of the people were in favor of this proposal. A bout the only exception in favor of silvor were the planters. They employ ignorant laborera who have for generadons boen ftccustomed to receive a eertain number of rupees per month and are satisfled to get what their forefathers received and do not Uuow auy. more a bout the fall of exchange or the depreciatlon of silver than they do of the course of an eclipse. When these people iind the price of food apparently rising in their deprecia! ed currency they attribute it to Khuda Ki marze, Qöa's will. The planters are most happy in paying their laborera in the depreciated rupees at the old scale of wages. . The money question could not be settled in India, as it was a matter of legislation for the home government. The petitions, with a recommendation from tlu viceroy, were sent there, were suhmitted to a committee appoiuted by l'ailiarnent, which refused to recommend the change from silver to gold and India was left to struggle for her life in the financial maelstrom. A writer of high authority makes this statement: "AH those attempts to give India a sound curreruy have been steadiastly overruled by the authorities at home. The home government has boen in the habit of passing the India pro-, posal.s to the consideration of cominittecs consistiftg of irro.sponsible thcoi-izers or men under Dondon monetai'y and stock exchange üufiueDces. Tbc ftxed i'li'a of the Iatter is Ihiit tbc United Kingdom is rcally the only country that should have a gold standard, and that silver is good enough for tbc rest of the world. They tried hard, but in vain, in .1872, to prevent Gerni.iiiy from introdiu-ing the gold standard, and FraiWirom dlscardlng bimetallism. Bvlt although the Londou financial "octopi" were uiuible to stop the aetion of France and Gtermany in the rlght direotion, most unfortunátely India, through thp statesmen in Downing street, ultimately responsible for the dlrectlon of her affairs, has been within her power and intiuence. Tip till now they have persisted in mainining a state of thingsja wJijoh gojd,(is_liejd Jobe % right standard for ourselves, but the discarded and depreciated silver of the rest of the world is good enough for our great dependency. The committee reforrod to did not as a rule contain a single bankei', a single merchant, a single manufacturer connecttd with the Indiiui trade, or anyone really representativc of the India people, or anyone with sufficient practical knowledge to enablo him to guido the npplication of sound currency principies to the special circumstances of the case, yet the home govornment sheltered themselves behind their opinions, refusing to sanction the change reeommended. The eorrespoudence of the Times of May, 1894, says: "Thfi opinión in India is freely expresgod that the secretary of state has allowed himself to be made the tooi of persons who sought from the first to thwart the measures adojpted last June. The situatjon is most critical A bittti' feeling is universal that ihe India office (in London) has betrayed t? trust, and, by subservience to the selfish interests of Lombard strect and ManehestSer has done more to shake thE British empire in India than anything wlm-h has bappeaed in this century." Those who favor a gold standard in India blame Lombard street for tbwartiny their p'urppse, while the silverites in the United States denounce Lombard for trying to díctate a gold standard in this country. Who is more likely to be vight? India was most anxious to adopt a gold standard, but England rffused permission. Enghind. as oue writer says, would be intensely pleased to have every other country adopt a silver standard. Sho i would then. remain tho great clearing I house of the world. She is now the great exchange mart because she ha3 a gold Standard and every draft that goes through her banks leaves some gold dust on the hands of her brokers and merchants. India wants to adopt the gold sovereigns, half sovereignts and quarter soveretgns of England as her mouey. But where thon would be the prolit in exchangeV ïhis would not snit the bankers and brokers of Lombard and Downing streets. How these same brokers must chuckle with delight when they sec the silverites of tho United States playing right into their hands! As an instance of the profits of exchange two American ladie, connected wilh the W. C. T. U. of Chicago, were to go on a trip to Australia, South África, China and India froia London. Before leaving the latter place they purchased a L100 draft on London to be sent to a bank in Calcutta to await them there. After a year they riyiched Calcutta iind nooding tü use the money asked for their L100 draft to carry home with them. The manager of the bank replied that the aiiioiint had been entered on the books of the bank on its arrival and as since then there had heen a fall of oxchange and he could only payt hem L94. They explaloed that it was a gold draft and had nothing to do with the fall of silver, hut he was immovable and they got only the L04 while the bank had the use of the L100 for over a year. It is nnruajng to read daily the defiant threats of tm silverites against England. Some even declare that the goldites are aided with English mouey to sustain a gold standara. Anyone who knows anything about English financial affairs knows this to be just opposite the truth and absurd enoiigh to make even adult Englishinen laugh. It would be more orèdlble if it was stated that the silver party were subsidizcd by English gold to make the United States a silver country. Let our brethren, the silver men, be as wild as they choose about home affairs, but they should not be so outrageously absurd about foreign matter that an American nhroad cannot make up some kind of a decent apology for them. Nerthing would suit Great Britain better than Üiat the United States should become a silver country. She would then have not only all the gold but all the foreign exchnuge business of the United States and would teil us every morning what our dollar was wortb. The EnRlish stockholders of silver mines csrtajnly would favor the free ooinage of silver. A few English holders of United States securities may be somcwliaf afruid that their investments might be paid in depreciated money, but the great mass of them have such faith in ttte hynesty and upri;htness of the American people that they do not e:itertain for a moment a thpught of such Infamous fraud and treacheo'i and the silver advocates should scorn to even hint at the possibility of a foreign investor being paid iu auy other than what was invested, good solid gold dollars. If silver monometallism (as there could be no bimetallism with free coinag ■ of silver) should prevalí in the tnlted States and the foreign creditor be paid in depreciated money, every American travehng in Europe or Asia woulq be .ieered and hooted at as he would deiftrve to be. There has already been inli.iitely too nnich trickery. I know a professor in the Oalcutta university whiö iurested ali liis wcnlHi in Ori stueks. That road was sold mider" mJl't"S5'in3 the old gentleman has nothing left1 but curses for Yankee raseality. A nation should preserve its honijr if its citizens are to be respected.