The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1894-02-01
india and SILVER
The Single Gold Standard
Will Not Work.
THEY MUST FAVE FREE B-COINAGE
Late 4AAvices From London show the
Utter Collapse of the scheme TO
Sustain an Artificial Gold Price
for the Silver Rupee-The
Plan Must BE Abandoned.

London advices clearly Indicate the
final failure Of the scheme of the govern
ment of India, acting with the sanction
Of the British home government, to sus-
tain an artificial gold price for the silver
rupee. 1t will be remembered that the
plan adopted was to close the mints of
India to the free coinage Of silver for
private account, and to declare that for
revenue purposes pound sterling should
be equal to fifteen rupees; in other words,
that a rupee should be valued in gold at
Is. i'd. This amounted to an attempt to
Tx exchange atthat rate. But the Indian
government, having immense remittances
to make to England, was unable to sell
it's bills at that price, and things went
from bad to worse until the break came
On Wednesday India council drafts to
the amount Of fifty lacs of rupees, five
millions, we're offered IN open market in
London, for which bids were received at
prices ranging a little above Is. Cd. The
value of the rupee in American money is
48 cents. The price fixed by the India
council was, therefore, rate Of about
72115 cents per ounce, But the offer of
Is. 3D. and a fraction accepted for 1926, 900
was equivalent to less than SO cent, and
shows, as we say, that the scheme has
been abandoned.
The entire revenues Of the Indian GOV
ernment are paid in silver, the only coin
with which the teeming millions of that
country are familiar; the only coin, in
fact, which, in their dense conservatism,
they are willing to recognize. But the
constant fall Of the gold price Of silver
since the mints were closed, which oc-
CURED just before President Cleveland
convened congress for the purpose Of fur
ther discred1ting silver in this, country,
made it impossible for the council to OBJ
tain exchange at the rate fixed, and the
council, with the authority of the home
government, was forced to resort to the
expedient of selling bonds But this did
not avail to relieve the situation nor TO
restore confidence. Business has been
paralyzed not only IN india. but in Hong
kong and Shanghai which have COM
mercial relatious with India. And now
that the attempt to sustain fixed gold
price for rupees without free coinage has
failed, the whole commercial and fnanci-
al world will look with the greatest in
terest and anxiety for the next step.
What will the Indain government do?
That there will be no further attempt
made to sustain an artificial price Of the
rupee is almost certain. Will they again
open the mints to free silver coinage and
attempt alone to MAINTAIN bi-metalllc
currency? Probably not. With England
demanding her pounds of gold there
would be no relief while all the rest of
the world continued to discriminate
against the white metal. An attempt to
adopt the system now prevailing in the
United States and France would render
it necessary for the Indian government
to enter the scramble for gold in order to
create reserve; or, at least, this would
be considered necessary according to the
accepted notions among gold mono-met-s
allists. And practically, of course, il
India could accumulate enough gold to
redeem her token silver money, the rupee
could be kept at par. But that is out of
the question. The Indian government
has no resources, and it is hardly proba-
BILE that the home government would au-
thorize loan for that purpose.
In fact, there are indications in the re-
cent financial discussions in England
that the one thing that England most
breads now is drain of gold. If India
should be empowered to undertake the
accumulation of a gold reserve England
would have to furnish the coin. Bal
anc OF trade is always against England. !
She has heretofore maintained her fnan-
clal and commercial ascendency because
she has been the creditor of all other ma
tlons-the money-lender of the world at
large But universal depression has
the power of the commercial
and financial world to continue this trih-
ute. The flow of the golden stream to
England has been greatly lessened |
Therefore England has no gold to part
with. The bank Of England stands by
ready to raise the rate Of discount the
the export Of gold begins.
The responsibility for the failure Of the
Indian experiment will fall upon the
Gladstone government It is not impos-
sible that the conservative leaders, among
whom are many strong bi-metallists,
may make the Indian financial fasco
rallylng cry, and the liberals may go out
Of power upon some proposition arising
out of the despised silver question.