New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-14


The cornerstone on which is based MI argu-
ment that the fall in silver dcprcsscs the prices
of wheat and cotton in this country IS the per-
pctually reiterated faschood that the silver rupee
buys Just as much wheat or cotton in India as
ever Hence men assert, gold pays FOR ABOUT
twice rs much wheat or cotton in India rs it for
mcrly did. and hence Liverpool markets ana all
others dependent upon Liverpool are depressed.
That the assertion mt the bottom of this reason
ing Is false has repeatedly been stated. but to-
day are printed for the first time in this collii-
try official records which prove It's falsity be-
yond question. These are the records Of prices
of food grains and salt gathered by the Govern
ment of India from all parts of the country. ana
published in "Thc Official Gazette" from which
averages for each year are compiled and are
published in the official document entitled sta
tislcal Abstract. Relating to British India. The
mass Of figures as printed has no meaning for
most Americans. because they give, afier the
fashion of recording prices in India. the number
Of seers (2057 pounds purchased with the silver
rupee in each of great number of towns ana
districts. Variations are very wide each year.
in 1893. FOR example the rupee would buy only
6.ji seers at Tanjorc, in Madras, but lN''i seefS
Mt Raipur in the Central Provinces. Failure of
with difference in means of transportation to
ports. caused most of these differences. But the
record covers the same towns or districts for
each year. and establishes beyond reasonable
question the course Of prices.
An abstract Of these records shows not only the
prices of wheat, but also prices Of other food
grains rice jow ar or great miilet, bajra or spiked
milet grain and barley and also Of salt since
1857. In order to make the test simple the guam
titles of wheat and Of the other grains taken TO-
gethcr which the rupee would buy each year arc
stated in percentages, 1872 being taken as the
basis because it was the year before the de-
monetization of silver. and the year before its
decline in price began. The same number of
rupees which would buy 100 bushels of wheat
in that year would buy only 1I.2 bushels in 1871.
and the same number of rupees which would buy
100 portions of other grains taken together in
1872 would buy only lbs in 1891. But the
quantity of gold which the silver i'll standard
dollar would buy was 1882 cents in ISL ana
7G4 cents in 1891. The remarkably close corre-
spondcnce is doubtless partly accidental. But in
1892 the value Of the silver in gold fell TO Ga
cents and the bushels of wheat it would buy in
retail markets of India fell to Gs.I instead OF
100 bushels while the quantity Of other food
grains fell TO only 74.12 instead Of 100 bushels.
With abundant crops in 1S93-of wheat 2GS,339,-
900 bushels, against 2O6,G40.000 in 1S92-and
small export demand, the price in India fell 50
that the same quantity of silver would buy 7S2
bushels of wheat and S1.l0 portions Of other
grains taken together. But that this was due TO
Indian crops and not to gain in the buying
power of silver is shown by the record OF salt,
which advanced in price still further so that i'll
stead of s13O bushels in 1892 the same silver
would buy only 1892 bushels in 1893 The rec
ords for the later years. in which silver fell be-
low 30 cents in gold value and then recovered
little are not yet atainabe. 4 mass of tcSti-
mony also shows that wages advanced very
little compared with prices, and that poverty is
increasing; 'thc mass of the people are so poor
that they are on the verge Of the absolute want
"of the common neceSSaries of life.
Ii makes not the slightest difference what rea-
sons may be imagined for the change in prices
Of grain in India. The main fact is that they
have actually risen. that the rupee does not
buy the same quantity Of wheat that it formerly
bought in the many country markets, and there
fore the whole argument of the silver men is
based on an untrulh. The buying power Of sill
yer. alike in wheat and other grain and salt in the
interior markets of India. has during the last
twenty years or more decreased in wonderfully
close correspondence with its value in gold at
London. 1t is therefore nothing but an npudent
fraud to pretend that the Unchanged cost Of
wheat in silver has dSaSrouSly affected the
price mt Liverpool or in this country. or that the
silver coins in silvcr-uSng countries have not
deprecated in purchasing power.