Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-01-17

tiations with England, and all other pro-
posals were Insignificant in comparison
with that respecting the reopening of the
mints Of India to the unlimited coinage of
ting gold to be paid toy government dues
and to be exchanged for government ru-
pees." IIIsi f
Mr.. Wolcott spoke at some length upon
the conditions in India, explaining the value
of the rupee since the closing of the minis
to silver in 1893. Thei closing of the mir. s
had, he said, created wide dissatisfaction,
and there was a GENERAL impression that
the Indian government, would be glad to
retrace its steps.
Many English monometallists of wide in
fiuence believe the policy to be a mistaken
one" he said. and would be glad to see
done without stimulating the cause Of BIZ
metallism, and as q separate and distinct
action. There was "a general opinion. not
limited to England, thab the India govern
ment would be quick to avail itself of an
opportunity to reopen its mnts. and would
welcome any International attempt toward
b.metallism that would raise the value of
silver, and would be glad to cooperate in
India Governments Protest.
This belief found expression in the
speech of the chancellor of the exchequer
of March II. and am sure that l violate
no confidence when 1 say that the answer
reopening India mints was as much q sur
prise to the English ministry as it was a
disappointment to us. While the protest
was not final, and while the English gov
eminent in London could have overruled
the objections from India, yet such action
would have been contrary to all precedent.
AS matter of fact, the home government,
1t Is said, unanimously upheld the report.
Frequent statements in our papers assert
that the answer of India was dictated
fr<Sy,N I ma ha "a he ind md
unreason.ng fury Of the city of London di-
rected against any suggestion of contrbu-
tfOns or concessions to an international
settlement Of the currency question which
should recognize silver, and which threat
ened q panic and the overthrow of any min
tstry which attempted 1T. may have render
ed the reply Of the Indian government not
wholly unwelcome: but the policy outlined
in the letter Of September 16, signed py the
viceroy and his associates, must stand as
the deliberate and uninf1uenced judgment of
that government"
ITO u.s. Mr.. Wolcott continued, 1.-The
India situation IS inexplicable. Millions of
people, most of them extremely poor, have
for years invested all their savings in sill
yer. These accumulations a few years ago
were worth thousand millions of dollars,
and more Today they are worth less than
half the sum-"
Why India Suffers.
by the closing of the India minis and
,
India is at a great disadvantage with the
reighboring countries, the exports of which
are stimulated by the higher premium on
gold, and they are robhing India of much
of her manufacturing and export trade
The present policy infiicts upon India as
well the evils of an insufficient and steadily
lessening currency, evils which the vicissi-
tudes of that dependency during the past
twelve months have served to emphasize
The world has heard much of The famine in
India and of the great funds subscribed for
its victims. 1t has not been, however, so
generally known that the famine was one
of money rather than food; that the con-
tributions were chiefly forwarded to India
in the form of money and not grain, and
that during the whole period of the famine
rice was abundant where men We're starry
ing. and 1T; price Was but trifie over a
cent pound less than rhe price of wheat
in England For all these evils, the loss in
the value OF the saSings''of the people, the
disadvantage of a different purchasing val
ue for silver in India from that which pre-
vailed In China. the evils of an insufficient
volume Of TGLey ana the enormous injury
which commerce suffers through violent
fluctuations in the rate of exchange, We
offered what we believed. to be a remedy.
Our offer was refused. and the refusal
must be cor sidered as final until the fall
ure of the experiment upon which the India
government has entered shall be demon
strated. There was ,one oversight in COM
municating the socalfed proposals to the
India government. was distinctly under
stood at all our interviews to be condition
of the assent of anypcouptry TO agreement
that it should be eptrelX satisfied that the
Plan proposed. because Of the adhesion Of
a sufficient number Of other nations. or
otherwise. would secure the maintenance
of the parity proposed. Had this been fully
understood, it is possible. though not prob
able, that somewhat different answer
would have been returned from, India
Mr.. Wolcott next enumerated the obsta-
Giles with wi ich the commission had had to
contend, in which he included the remark
able drop in the price Of silver, the coinci-
dent tariff legislation in the United States
and the statements of New York bankers
in England no. he said, sought access to
English officials and assured them that
any sentiment which had formerly existed
in the United States in favor of bmetallism
was dead. Other statements made by the
bankers according to Mr.. Wolcott, were
the following: That the mission was sent
solely as d. sop to a few far western re-
publicans: that the country generally IA
vored the gold standard. and that the Pres
ident of the United States shared this view.
Pretended Statements of Secretary
Gage.
1.-The statements ere," Mr.. Wolcott said
"of course untrue, but in support of them
these people assumed to present interviews
and statements Of the director Of the mint
a hold-over from the last administra ton;
the late controller of the currency, an
equally precious legacy. now out of the
public service and translated to Chicago
bank, and pretended statements in letters
and interviews from the Secretary of the
Treasury to the effect that there was no
chance for International or other bimetal-
lism. and favoring the permanent adoption
Of the gold standard. Nobody in Europe
cared a rap what the two minor prophets
thought or said, as nobody in this country
cares, but the alleged statements of the
Secretary of the Treasury were different
matter. We insisted that the letters must
be forgeries, and the interviews fictitious
and I trust they were, for 1t was incon-
ceivable that member of the cabinet
would seek to undermine the efforts of a
mission appointed by the President, and
whose efforts he was cordially and jealous