Mohave County miner., 1894-02-03
fHDiA'S FATAL ERROR,
Her Great Mistake m Stopping free Coinage.

The London Statist recently in az
article on silver says: Six month.
have now elapsed since the closing o
the Indian mints, and the course o
the silver market during that tims
strikingly illustrates the infnencs
which opinion has in regulating value
India, from time immemorial, has ab
sorbed silver in immense quantities
indeed, the absorbent power OF India
was almost beyond calculation. For a
whole generation she has taken and
kept nearly seven millions erling
worth every year. And one would
have supposed that the closing Of the
Indian mints would have caused some
thing like catastrophe, but there
would have been not merely pane
fall, but that the price would have
gone 80 low that the value OF silver
would have been determined almost
entirely by the use Of the metal in the
arts.
As matter Of fact, the iall has oeen
quite trifiing. Just before the mints
were closed the price OF silver was
somewhat over 35l per ounce. II fell
Immediately, after the mints were
closed TO sod per ounce. bounded up
ward again to about 35 !, has been
slowly declining once more, and now,
six months after the decision 10 close
the mints was taken, the price is about
32d per ounce, roughly, that is to say,
there has been a fall OF 81 per ounce
In the course OF six months after the
mints have been closed, and America
has ceased absolutely either to buy or
to coin silver. The fall is 80 irifiing
in comparison with the falling of IN
what is called the dem and, that il APP
pears strikingly to confirm the view
put forward Ia recent articles in this
journal, that value il function OF
opinion.
There has been no very great clos.
ing OF mines. No one who has closely
watched events will maintain for
moment that the falling off in the sup
ply has been at all commensurate with
the falling off in the demand. When
it is borne in mind that the Unl.ed
States alone Was buying very nearly
ma 1f hA TOT t.l
world, 1t will he seen how trfiing il
the falling off in the supply compared
with that in the demand. Furthermore
it seems TO follow that the price of sil.
yer is not likely to go very much lower
that, indeed, rise is more probable |
than material fall just now. OF
course the Indian government may i'm |
pose heavy duty upon silver, and !
may succeed in preventing smuggling.
That it can succeed is doubtful. And |
If 1t imposes very heavy duty, and
succeeds in preventing smuggling; IL
may cut off so much Of the Indian de-
mand as will cause further fall. Bot
assuming for the purposes Of argu-
ment, that the government does not
impose heavy duty, or that it can
not prevent smuggling upon large
scale, then it seems to follow that
much further fall in silver is no,
likely
Bot il that be the case the Indian
IN closing the mints made
even greater mistake than has gen.
orally been supposed. Hitherto il was
thought that when the Sherman act
VAS repealed silver would de ,recia,s
more add more until It would become
a mere common metal, would ce ,se
altogether, that is to say, to be what
is called precious metal. Bat nov
i looks as il the depreciation OF silver
had gone very nearly as far as il il likely
TO go.
II that he the truth then, the Indian
put off acting until all
the injury bad been done to its own
finances which the appreciation Of
silver was capable Of doing and It took
action just at the moment when, II il had
dept quiet. natural causes were about to
.rres, the downward movement and even
Z would seem, were about TO lead To some
recovery.
The I. M. company, still ships its
average amount Of 300 tons OF ore per
month, notwithstanding the low price of