The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-08-03
ENGLAND AND SILVER,

ENGLAND AND SILVER,
England is willing to join n The
international remonetiEation Of silver
to the extent of ''reopening the min,s Of
India" the news from London is, Ex-
Senator John B. Henderson would put 4,
in different form.
English statesmen" he said, ARE too
adroit ever to accept free coinage for
themselves. But to our rowing free silver
commission the temptations OF self-in-
terest. it seems. have suggested that,
while England is not yet prepared to
accept. she may possibly use her bea
offices to induce India to join the United
States in the astounding scheme Of self
destruction
From the comments made in the pa
pers about England's proposed contribu-
ton to international bimetallism it is
evident that much misinformation exists
about the Indian mints.
In lS57.' said Gen. Henderson, the
silver rupee was worth two shillings. say
50 cents in gold This rupee had been
made silver tender, not by the English
parliament. but by the Indian council,
possessing full legislative powers in that
behalf for India. About that time silver
commenced to decline. II continued 10
depreciate until July. 1SSs when its In
trinsic value was only half what it had
been sixteen years before. During all
this time India had defantly maintained
its legal tender laws. attempting as We
did in the United States TO create values
by legislative action. For sixteen years
her people received only partial pay
for the products OF their labor. By al
lowing more for silver than other ma
.tions, they got less in return for their
exports. until the silver panic OF 1893
disclosed the startling fact that the re-
turns from the skill and patient labor
Of great nation for half lifetime
had lost more than half their value In
all this there was nothing new. It was
but universal neutrality-suspicious. con-
densed into a single sentence by Mr..
Hamilton, when he said: 1t IS evident
that as often as a country which over
rates either Of the metals receives a
payment in that metal it gets less
actual quantity than it ought TO do or
less than it would if the rate were a
just one
England" continued Gen. Henderson,
paid India for wheat and other pro-
ducts in silver bullion. and the Indian
merchant receiving it hoped to reimburse /
himself by coming this bullion into rI-
pees, and then forcing it under legal
tender laws upon the farmer and man
ufacturer at double its intrinsic value
When the impoverished people came to
realize this startling fact in 1893, they
demanded that free coinage be stopped. /
They did not go 10 parliament The .
English parliament had nothing TO do .
with it. Under the system Of govern
ment devised for India, this power, with |
all other municipal powers, was vested /
in a council chiefly composed OF native /
Indians. Action, prompt and decisive, |
was necessary TO save the nation from |
lrretrievable ruin. For sixteen years En- /
gland reaped a rich harvest from India's
folly. 1t brought great wealth to English
merchants, but it carried poverty and
ruin to India India is just now recov-
ering from her wild delirium. II En-
gland is willing TO cast aside all sense Of
justice to the people Of a most valuable |
part Of the English empire. If she IS
willing to abandon all pretensions 10
honesty and good government, and 10
enter upon the most selfish and disrepu-
table scheme to rob India for the benefit |
OF England, then, and only then, will the |
government encourage a renewal Of free |
coinage in India"