The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-08
The Atlanta consti,utlon.s Rupee.

r..''AlA .lNf. ODD ..NtI NN..a.
about the Indian rupee, 81 which jhe At
. lauH Constitution tells it's readers once
iu while. 10 is q very remarkable rupee,
81 what the Constitution SAYS Of il is true.
Perhaps the Constitution win quote some
authority for It's statements in respect
. t0it.
Recently, in an article telling business
men they should take a deeper interest in
f th, silver question, because, as 10 asserts,
. our farmers are being robbed by means Of
the Indian rupee, and hence business men
are suffering a great loss Of business, the
Constitution said:
the reason that the farmers Of the
south ana west are paying a bounty TO
Indian producers is this: The Indian
rupee has never deprecated. Mr.. Glad
stone calls il the persistent rupee
Z Whether ii is upheld and made valuable
by the law or by providence, the fact re
mains. TO is as good as gold. The English
/ traders can purchase ga cents worth of
silver, and with this buy 81 worth of ru-
! pee paper, which will buy 81 worth of In
dian cotton. The "a cents worth of sill
yer, sent to India, is coined into rupees,
worth something more than 81, for the
coinage ratio is - to !, In other words,
the Indian producer gets an equivalent Of
more than 81 IN gold for the commodity
that the American producer is compelled
to sell for "a cents. We place these facts
before the merchants and business men
of the south for Their careful considera-
tion.
According to the foregoing, Indian pro-
ducers occupy a very fortunate position
from a financial standpoint, and the En-
glish who trade with them occupy an
equally fortunate position. There ought
therefore, to be nobody in either England
or India who desires the gold standard.
But what are the facts2 If we are not
mistaken the Constitution no later than
last Sunday, called attention to the report
that Gladstone is preparing to put India
on a gold basis, and, as matter of fact,
such a statement has been widely circu-
lated. But why should Gladstone want
to put India on a gold basis if what the
Constitution says about the Indian rupee
is correct} The people of England are
satisfied and the people Of India are, or
ought to be, if their rupee has never de-
preciated, and if the Indian producer
''gets an. equivalentof more than. a dollar
in gold for what the American producer
has to sell for GA cehts.f1 There must be
a mistake somewhere, or else there exists
in India the most remarkable condition
of affairs the world has ever seen.
. Perhaps the reason business men are
not aroused by She Constitutions state
ments in respect to silver is that they are
not yet satisfied that those statements
are altogether correct-particularly those
relating to the Indian rupee 1t must
seem strange to them that the Indian
merchants, who are about the sharpest
traders in the world, do not buy silver
at its present low price, have it
coined into rupees, which, the Constitu-
ton says, have not deprecated, and thus
grow enormously rich
From the best information we can OBJ
tain, and it is excellent, the face value of
a rupee in our money is about As cents,
and its purchasing power and its power
to pay debts is between 80 and SO cents.
This is very different from the Constitu-
tion's statement, If we are wrong the
Constitution will, of course, set us right
by presenting unqUestionable authority for
its statement. There is another statement
of the Constitution that is worth noticing.
It is that English traders can get 81
worth of Indian cotton for GA cents
worth of silver. Does the Constitution
mean cotton worth 81 in depreci-
ated rupees, or in gold2 The in
ference is that it means gold. If it does
not mean that there is no point in its
statement But is the Constitution sure
that GA cents in silver will buy gold
dollars worth of cotton in India2 Per-
haps, on second thought, it will not be
quite so sure.
The truth is, taking into account the
grades and qualities of the Indian product
the same prices are paid for Indian cot
ton as for cotton grown in this country.
The prices are made in Europe on a gold
basis. Silver cuts very little, if any,
figure in; the transaction. The C6nstitu-
ton says that 1.-THE south is paying a
bounty to Indian producers" If that is
so it can be shown to be so. 1t would be
interesting to have it shown.
But if silver standard is such a good
thing for India, why is it that all India is
clamoring for the gold standard, and if
England is'protiting so greatly by it why
is it that Gladstone is preparing to give
India gold standards As a matter Of
fact the silver standard has brought
India to the verge of bankruptcy, and
that is why India wants to get rid of its
dcbased silver currency, its deprecated
rupees.