St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-08-07
The Silver Question.

DEAR EDITOR: / am not politician.
am missionary and have lived outside
of America for nearly forty years. But
as a missionary in India | have had ex'
perience in this SILVER matter that / can
feel and understand. India is silver
country. Note, therefore, a few facts that
have come to me in my experience as
treasurer Of our mission in India. Our
secretary at the office in New York draws
a cheque on his bank for $1,000, gold. He
sends this cheque to me in Lucknow, India.
| take it to a European bank to have it
cashed in rupees, the silver currency OF
India, should get, if had to pay no
discount and got no premium, 200 ru-
PEGS, or to be very definite, POS rupees.
But my banker naturally charges me
something for cashing as he must send
the chcque back through his bank in
England and thence to America, so that
it will be five weeks before he gets his
money. Hence he deducts a sum for ex-
change Then he calculates the value OF
silver and adds to my cheque, being gold,
the silver depreciation, and then hands
me over 365 rupees for cheque, the
face of which, after deducting exchange,
was 200 rupees, a gain of 165 rupees on
$1OO. This amount varies, Of course,
but the sum given above was the average
for 1895. sold as high as 395 rupees
at one time. Now note the other side.
| wish to send a little money to America
for books and periodicals.. / have to pay
this same 165 rupees extra with the ex-
change added so that at times | have to
pay as high as 375 rupees for bill of
500 in America, when formerly, 80 years
ago, paid only 205 rupees. This is my
experience on this most important ques-
ton to the prosperity OF this land.
Consider for moment the condition
of trade under such a condition of things.
Everything that India sells must be
sold at silver prices which must be very
low in gold to allow the people in the
country to live. This the purchaser sells
in gold in another country and thus
doubles his profits in the gold sale. In
the same way, whatever India buys she
pays for in gold which makes it cost her
in silver almost twice it's value. Hence
she sells at great disadvantage, getting
little more than half value, and buys at
the same disadvantage, paying almost
twice the real value. The silver man
asks me "Why don't India put up the
price of her grain, ETC., for foreigners and
so get the real gold value?" Simply be-
cause raising the price for the foreigner
raises it for every man, woman and child
in India and thus brings ruin. So which
ever way you turn it means grinding
India for the profit of other lands and
opens the widest door possible for specu-
lators and exchange brokers.
uSsS etiS HOl SpSSuldllollS Jul idSIs
that exist, and such facts as America has
no use for. Could the nations agree
upon money value for silver and all use
it at that standard it would be WE'LL l
believe.
1t seems to an observer that the United
States needs two things: First, money
that can be relied upon as permanent
and settled, and good round the world;
second, fixed tariff that can also be
relied upon, so that business men can
know what they are doing. What a
pity that these cannot be settled outside
of politics by the wisest men Of the land
and age.
A candid observer must note one other
thing: If two men are put forward for
the office of chief ruler OF the nation, one
an inexperienced young man and the
other a man of great experience, who
has studied and worked for years to
make himself an able statesman, it would
seem that it would not take wise men
very long to choose between the men.
REV. E. W. PARKER.