The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-10-23

suggestion, that among contributions b
thought Great Britain should open the In
l dian mints and also agree to purchase an
nually R1000O,000 sterliio Of silver for
series Of years.
Senator wolcott accepted this PROPOSE
| tlon.
Since this conference the British gov
ernment has been considering the pr0poealI
| and finally made the reply handed Il
the United States ambassador yesterda,
and cabled exclusively 70 the Associated
Press.
The reply Of the government Of India
upon which Lord Salisbury based his de-
cision is a long document. giving an en-
phatic negative to the proposal to reopen
the Indian mlnts. 1t sage:
The first result OF the suggested meas
porarly In their object, would be an
intense disturbance Of India trade and
industry. There would be a sudden rise
In exchange, which, II the ratio OF ISM
TO / were adopted, would be enough to
kill our export trade for time at least
unless the public was convinced that the
arrangement would be permanent and have
tho effect intended.
The paralysis OF trade and industry would
be prolonged and would he accompanied
by acute individual suffering. None Of
the advantages expected would be at
tained and the country would pass through
critical period which would retard ito
progress for years. The exchange value
OF the rupee having risen suddenly would
fall equally suddenly to point far lower
than the present level. probably to pence
and even lower. Such a fall, apart from
other disastrous results, would necessitate
additional taxation.
The reply says that the effect OF the
ndOptiOn Of tho apbeptn m ha
an Increase In prices in >Trance and the
states would contemplate with equanlmity.
change which France and tho United
states would contemplate with euu1nlmity.
but which would be manifestly impossible
to India.
Then follows the opinion that India Is OF,
the point Of securing q stable exchange OF
l6 pence per rupee and II would be ex-
cecdingly foolish to throw away the posi-
tlon already attained by an acceptance OF
proposals which. II they failed OF their In
tended object would place India perman-
emily under the silver standard with HI its
admitted disadvantages. Nothing but as
cured success could Justify India in Joining
in the experiment and our belief is that
the proposals will fail to secure a per-
manent ratio OF 15M to /. One reason for
this conclusion is that the arrangement
would rest on too narrow a basis The,
q
is q very different thing from the
international union OF a majority CT the
important countries of the world gdyo-
Gated by the Indian government In dis.
patches forwarded Ia March and Jrhe,
1892, and in February and September, 1886.
We doubt whether any two or three nations
In the world unless one OF them we're
Great Britain, could establish the required
stability. II is certain that France. the
United States and India could not.
The reply then proceeds to discuss vari
GUS reasons why the experiment would not
|. France and the United States. seeing
tho prospect of a total Disappearance OF
gold coinage before the price OF silver lad
been raised to the intended ratio. might
take measures to prevent the export Of
gold
2. Either country might be reduced to a
,npcr currency, In which case the agree
nent would cease to operate
}. three-sided agreement would be
'pen TO greater risk Of termination by one
n two parties than many sided inter-
rational agreement. besides which. either |
GRANGE or the United States might some |
lay think some other nation benei,ing az |
is expense and this would lead to Discus
ions as 10 the expedlency of terminating |
he agreements, discussions only lees geri-
us than actual termination