Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-12

and hundred otner commouisieS "htOu
Gon, Ens1nd 80 itiQl
Efoas or ds1i6 "e"o"o vi
the Esst.
In England we are at last awakened to
the great importance Of the question,
and the royal commission now sitting
in London has traced the present de-
preston Of trade in q great measure to
the violent fluctuations in the Eastern
exchanges-that is, in the value of the
silver rupee, which is the legal-tender
coin Of India. And as you in this coun-
try are just as intimately concerned as
we are in the value Of the rupee, it
seems to me that England and the
United States had better put their heads
together without delay and effect set
Element.
Question-What do you think should
be done?
think you should coin not less, but
a great deal more silver than you do.
The fault of the Bland bill was and is
that it does not make sufficient use Of
silver. Why is the Bland dollar worth
less than in bullion than the gold dol
lar? Because the present coinage de-
mand for silver in the world is not suf-
ficient to give employment to silver.
What makes the price Of anything!
A demand for beef raises the
price of beef, and in the same way
silver Is cheap at present because the
coinage demand for it is insufficient to
keep its price steady. Germany has
been the great offender in this respect.
BY changing her silver to gold in 1873
she created an immensely increased
demand for gold, and by throwing
$3.50, 100000 worth of silver into the
worlds market she broke the price Of
that metal. But the United States
above all countries is the most con-
cerned to appreciate silver, and
you can do this only by
coming more of it. You
are concersed for this reason: AS long
as the price of silver falls, so long will
prices Of wheat and cotton, your two
chief exports, fall. The price Of wheat
is absolutely dependent upon the price
of silver, raising as silver raises and
falling as silver falls. The farmer dele
gates recently in session here ought to
haves considered this question, as it is
resisy a farmers question of the great
est gravity.
Q.-What is the connection between
the price Of silver and tho price Of
wheat?
1t is this: The money Of the Asiatic
nations, the Indian and the Chinaman,
is silver; it depends upon how many
rupees he gets for it whether the
Indian ryot can afford or not to export
wheat to Europe; you see he sells his
wheat in London for gold and with
that gold he buys silver, which he takes
into the Government minis in India to
be coined into rupees; now, before the
fall in the price of silver, the English
sovereign only bought for him ten
rupees, now it buys sixteen he is
therefore able to sell wheat thirty-fve
per cent. cheaper and still get as many
rupees as before.
Quite so, Mr.. Frewen, but
surely the rupee must have lost its
value in India by reason Of the fall in
the price of the bullion that it is made
of; that is to say, surely the Indian,
when he has got his rupees, has to give
more rupees fer land, labor, and every
thing in India that he buys?
Your argument is a most natural
one, but such, however, is not the case
the rupee in India to-day is worth
more to buy everything Indian than it
was when it was composed of the same
amount Of silver, which silver was worth
at the rate of Sky pence per ounce.
The evidence before the royal CON-
mission shows that prices in India have
even fallen Notwithstanding the
fall in the price Of silver, and,
this being the case, exports Of
wheat and cotton from India are enor-
mously stimulated with each successive
fall in the price Of silver. Prices in
India are the same, but the Indian who
used to get % rupees per quarter for
wheat in England, when the rupee was
worth 2 shillings, now also gets % ru-
PEGS per quarter-rupees which cost him
only l6 pence each. And this is why
| say this silver question is pre-eminent-
ly farmers question. Wheat, maize,
and hides and many other products will
continue to fall lower and lower with
each fresh fall in the price Of silver.
and silver will continue to fall
until you support its price by q
coinage demand for it here. Since 1879
silver has been falling steadily, drag
ging wheat down with it; the exports
from the United States ia 1879 were
l25, 100000 bushels ; last year they fell
off to 100000 bushels. India, on
the other hand, exported in 1879 only
1000, 900 bushels, and last year over
100000. Your currency legisla.
ton which refuses free coinage to sill
YER is running the farmer Of Dakota
and Minnesota in order to bring about
the agricultural prosperity Of Bengal
and the Punjaub.
OIL see you wish to leave the
whole burden Of coming silver on our
shoulders. Your farmers in England
are as much concerned as ours are.
Why not do your share in this matter (?
hope we shall, and / think you rnay
count upon our cooperation but re-
member our agricultural production has
q value Of only $500, 900, 900 q year,
whereas your agricultural production
has an annual value OF nearly or quite
10000, 100000. And at present Eng
land within the bounds Of her empire is
doing as much for silver in the way OF
coinsge as you are. You coin about
s24, 900, 900 year, which is about the
amount Eogland annually coins in
India. Some years our coinage in India
has risen to the large amount Of 49,
100000.
The Three-Mife Limit.