People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-01-13
The Romance of Rupees.

and timely article on the silver ques-
tiOn:
Editor Championship. MOretOn
Freeman has published an article very
lucidly presenting the India side of
the silver question. HeiS an English
man and prominent representative
Of the bi-metalliC party which is
daily gaining recruits from the masses
Of the English people. He says that
no unprejudiCed person, of fair intel
ligence, who will take the trouble to
go to the bottom of the facts" can
fail to become convinced that the fall
in the price of silver represented in
the rupees, the standard of value in
India, on the London Exchange, is
the hammer which is beating down
the price of staples, such as wheat
and cotton. in the European markets.
''He alleges that India has borrowed
an immense amount of English Capi-
tai for the construction of her rail-
ways. frontier defenceS, etc, and that
the interest on this debt. amounting
to $l6,OOO,OOO annually, is payable in
gold in London. The revenues of In
dia are collected entirely in silver
rupees, mined from under the hearth
stones of the novels in India inhabit-
ed by 2S0,OOO,00O pOyerty-stricken
peasants. To meet this annual inter
est charge of $3O,OOO,OOO the silver ru-
must be sold and the gold bought.
This exchange is accomplished by
a weekly sale in the Bank of England
under the supervision of Her Majesty's
Secretary of State The sale is made
to the highest bidder, not of the ac-
tual rupees, but orders for rupees,
known as India council drafts
European merchants, who import
the products of India, desire these
drafts t, pay for their purchases, and
employ a broker, who buys for all,
thus fOreStalling competition, and
who, naturally, in the interest of his
employers, buys as cheaply as posi-
BILE. Should the Secretary deem the
bids too low and refuse to accept. the
merchant can quote the low market
price in London and threaten to buy
the silver in bulk, ship it to India and
have it coined at the mintS there.
"On the other hand, the Treasuser
Of the United States of America. in
making his monthly purchases of sill
YER quotes the market price in Lon
don and pays accordingly. Thus the
two great silver markets of the world
are constantly bearing silver: the
one waiting upon the other.
"Mr. Freeman asserts that the evil
dence collected by two royal cOmihis-
SionS in England, confirmed by indie
pendent inquirerS in India, demon
Strates the fact, that for the last
fifteen years, the value of the rupee
at its home in India has not dimin-
lShed; that an ounce of silyer-three
rupees-will buy as much produce or
labor IN all the up-country markets of
India as it ever did.
The India farmer is now getting
the equivalent of one ounce of silver
for buShel of wheat in the London
market, and, as the purchasing power
OF the rupees in his home market has
not diminished, he is able to make a
living profit, while his American COM
petltOr, the farmer in Kansas or Min
heSota, must sell at the same rate or
cease to export his wheat.
"Mr. Freeman calls attention TO the
most important and significant fact
that this awful competition fostered
by London spectators in silver ever
cheaper and cheaper, has DESTROYED
the landed interests in England since
the monetary revolution of 1915, and
has gone far to strangle the farming
industries in America by the gold
standard for payment of mortgages
and all deferred money payments.
"ContirmatOry of Mr.. Freeman's
conclusions, statistics show that ow-
ing to the rapid development of the
lndla railway systems, built by Eng
liSh capital, for which nearly s16OO
VOO Is paid annually in interest by the
people of India, America, in 1891.
SOLD In the English market, bushel for
oushel of wheat with India, while in
IoSO we sold there eighteen bushels TO
IhulaS one, the value of our wheat
exports falling during the four wears
named from sl9O,OOO,OOO to $4,000. 600,
Inese facts ought to awaken in.
Quiry."
Mr. Bottoms letter Strengthens the
position of the Champion, that Amer.
lean financial policy ought to be an in.
dependent one. The United States
OF America playing second fiddle to
the silver spectators of London and
the gold syndicate of the Bank of
England
That about expresses the dimension