The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-11-13

lallOn IN saying lndl II rance duu
the United States and India could
not. The intended ratio assigns
TO coined silver a much higher
value than the present market
value of silver. and the market
value could only be raised by
transferring the demand for coin
age from gold to silver. But
France. the United States and
India all possess q very large
stock of silver coin. and IL is
doubtful whether there is much
room in them for large increase
in The silver coinage except by
the displacement in France and
the United States of the existing
gold coins II is quite possible
that the whole of the gold
coinage of both France and the
United States might disappear
and be replaced by silver coins
before the market value OF silver
was raised TO the intended ratio
with gold.
A further doubt occurs TO us
in the possibility that either
France or the United States may,
for reasons which will suggest
themselves to your lordship, be
reduced for a time TO n paper
currency In that case the
agreement would cease to- oper-
ate for an indefinite period under
the stress of circumstances.
This possibility, though of no
importance i'm the case of union
comprising all the important
countries of the world, cannot be
disregarded when two or three
countries only form the union.
All Of these objections, it will
be seen. are independent of any
objection based upon the ratio
proposed. As "A few of those
we clip the following:
Pressed rs We have been for
many years by the difficulty OF
finding the continually increaE
ing number Of rupees requisite
TO discharge our sterling liabili-
ties, We are apt TO leok too OK
clusively at the effect which
rise OF exchange would have ina
d Minishing tho burdes OF that
demand upon MS. We do not
deny that large Surplus OF
revenue will arise from SO great
an Improvement in the exchange;
but il is not to be forgotten that
there are many respectsin when
our revenue account must direct
ly suffer by a rise in the eI
change value of the rupee, and
that these conditions ought to
greatly influence our estimate of
our reveauc account which is
almost the sole advantage which,
as "a government, we can expect
TO obtain from the proposed
measures.
The anticipated fall in prices
is one that will adversely effect
both our revenues and the gen
eral condition of the agricultural
classes in the country 70 take
the case OF our land revenue. a
very large portion OF the country
has passed under the land
revenue settlement during the
last ten or fifteen years. One of
the factors in fixing the demand
of the government for revenue is
the price of agricultural produce;
if that price falls away material
~. the relation between the price
that the ryot can obtain for his
produce and the assessment he
has to meet may be SO seriously
altered rs TO effect the agricul-
tural prosperity of large tracts
of the country The work Of
resettlcmcnt is n tedious one; il
cannot bo effected in all proba
bility for some years, and when
il is effected il will PRO TANTo
dissipate much of the advantage
which the rise OF the exchange
would bring to the government
account
And SO India, the country
from which our silver friends
expected SO much, refuses per
emptorily TO enter upon any
agreement. In this decision she
has been influenced by the eX-
pericnce Of the past. her standard
being a silver one from which
she is now swinging. and her
objection ought surely 10 have
more weight than the mere spec
ulations Of few theorists.
Whether the commission did
what was for the best or not is
another question but they Ger.
tainly did what seems to have