The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-09-03

taxation.'
Lieut. Gen. S,rachey-"Do you re-
member at ALL don't know whether
you 90 back far enough to remember
the time when the rupee was changed
when the Queens head was put upon
the rupee2'
"When was that2 must hive been
in India, think. | was in India
when the Queen assumed the direc.
government.
Lieut.. Gen. Strachey-"But what |
meant was this, that there is an i'm
preston left in my mind that when
that change was made, there was some
agitation said to be caused by the fact
that the Kings head which used to be
on the rupee had been changed to the
Queens, and the people did not like
it?"
"Oh, yes; it is quite possible. do
not remember the fact"
II should like to ask you whether
you do not think, so long as the ma
terial rupee, which is the actual coin
in use, is not changed outwardly, peo-
pie would not he all likely to aprreci-
ate tha! any change in the system
under which money was brought into
use had taken placer"
"No; the mass of the people would
not, the peasanty and all those people,
the politically important people would
not. The bankers and people of that
sort would be able to understand it to
a certain extent"
Mr.. Courtney-"And what do the
people do (in times of famine and
high prices)? Would they starve?"
"They were very nearly starving
lot of people in the Punjab in the last
two or three years, and there was
very nasty feeling; indeed, l should
have been extremely afraid of the re-
suit, but for the fact that the politically
important people in the Punjab, who
are the peasant proprietors, who fill
our police, and who would hold the
country if We walked out of it (he
other people are altogether insigni6
cant and of no comparative political
importance whatever) benefit by it as
landlords and as tenants, Out chiefly as
landlords"
"But they would be very dangerous
people to effect prejudicially by Gov
ernment acti i)n?'
ayes; and l say if you enhance the
land revenue even higher than we have
been enhancing it you will incur this
danger"
Mr.. Currie-'Do you think that
the peasants of the Punjab are at all
aware of the system under which silver
is coined in India, that they value the
privilege of what is called free mint
agel"
"No; l do not think that they do"
"Or that they consider it natural
righ,a'
"No; l do not think that they do.
The native governments behave in the
most arbitrary manner in these sort Of
things. The Amir OF Cabul used to
call in the rupees frequently and de-
base them and Civ them back at the
same value"
Mr.. Courtney But they know like
other people when times are hard3"
eyes"
"The Irish peasant may feel his rent
is more oppressive than it was without
being able to trace the cause Of i.?"
"Yes."
And the witness withdrew.
This is not all the Lyall testimony,
but the sum and substance of it, and
it is important because the English
and India Governments followed out
its suggestions. The India mints were
closed, and the fixed price Of the rupee
was made one and four pence, about
81 cents, which he believed to be the
limit of safety. The peasants of India
have not yet discovered the change,
and there is consequently no trouble
to the government about it. Now what
the Journal asks of Congressman By
mum is to tell the people whether, in
his judgment, this English system of
finance is really the advance agent Of
a nobler civilization than that estab-
lished by the founders Of the Ameri
can republic. Is i, designed to bene-
fit all minkind. or is it but the inter
national usurv Of brood of expe-
rienced shylocks9 Is it, in his opinion,
safe for the American people to open
their mouths and shut their eyes and
accept whatever in the way Of coin
age system these English philanthro
pists see fit t. dole out? As the Con-
gresham and his associates advocat,
the adoption of the policy of the Eng
lish creditors Of the United States, a
they are its sponsors. apostles, advo
Gates and agents, let them stand fortl
like men and answer. Let them tel
their Peoria hearers how much longe
the American people can be fooled
blinded and robbed by the Engiis
creditor system, as the wretched ryo,
of India, and the groveling peasantr
of Ireland are. The facts are there
They cannot be denied. Let Con
gresham Bynum and his associates in
terpret them.
Ask why God made the gem so small.
nd why 81 huQp the granite.