La Junta tribune., 1898-01-22


Iintemperate and hostile and sonewhaf
brutal utterances OF the London pgeaa
respecting the proposals Of the Freach
and American representatives TAe
| NEWSPAPERS Of London. like the neWS-
papers Of many Of the capitals oe the
/ world" he went on. '.are dominated
by and allied with the banking e3e-
| pient and reflect their views and often
their expressions. The business OF
money loaning IL mn engrosstng pur-
suit, not always lending to the cuittvn-
ton OF the amenities OF life. and q n
not to be wondered Mt thnt the Lon
don newspapers. volcing that inoustry.
should. In their hostility to policy OF
which they tlixnpproved. forget for the
moment that courtesy which In due to
the stranger within the gntes. especial
Iy when he eomes upon invitation. and
that they should be led 10 character
ixe proposals as 'Impertinent' which
were made only upon the request OF
fheir own government.
| 1t wns perfectly realized from the
beginning" he said. that biinetnlltSm
| for England was out OF the question
India was the vital point Of all the me-
gotiations with England. and all other
proposals were insignificant In COM
| partson with that respecting the re-
opening OF the mints OF India to the
unlimited coinage OF silver, and the
repeal Of the order permitting gold TO
he paid for government dues and to be
exchanged for government rupeeS.'
| Mr.. Wolcott spoke at some length
upon the conditions In India. explain
| ing the value OF the rupee since the
closing Of the mints To silver In 1853.
| The closing Of the inInts had. he said,
| created wide dissatisfaction and there
! WINS general impression that the In
dian government would bc glad TO re-
! trnce Its steps.
MANY English monometallists Of
wide influence believe the policy to i,e
a mistaken one." he said. "nnd would
| be glad TO see the Indian mlnta re-
opened. IL Il could be done without
stimulating the cause Of bimetailism
and ns a separate and distinct action.
There was general opinion not
limited TO England that the Indian
government would te quick to avail
itself OF an opportunity to reopen it's
mInts and would welcome nnother In
ternationai attempt towards bimetai-
lism that would raise the whine OF sill
yer. aud would be glad to cooperate
with us In such an attempt. This be-
| lief found expression In the speech Of
the chancellor Of the exchequer OF
March 18th. and am sure that vio-
late no confidence when ! say the an
swer Of the Indian government pro-
testing against reopening the Indian
mints was as much surprise to the
| English ministry as II was q diaap-
pOintment to us. While the protest
was not final, and while the English
government In London could have
overruled the objection from India.
yet such action would have been CON
trary to all precedent. AZ matter Of
fact, the home government. II II said.
unanimously upheld the report.
Frequent statements In our papers
assert that the answer Of India was
dictated from London. II mny be that
| the blind and unreasoning fury Of the
city OF London directed agninst my
suggestion OF contributions or c0nces-
| sions to any international settlssnent
OF the currency question which would
recognize silver. and which threatened
la panic and the overthrow of any min
istry which attempted II. may have
rendered the reply Of the Indian gov
eminent not wholly unwelcOme; but
the policy outlined In the letter OF
September 18th signed by the vicerOy
md his associates must stand as the
deliberate and uninnuenced judgment
| OF that government.
ITO u.s." Mr.. Wolcott continued. 1.-The
India situation Is inexplicable. NIL
lions of people. most OF them ex-
tremely poor. have for years invested
all their savings IN silver. These ac-
cumulations few years ago were
worth u thousand millions Of dollars
or more. To-day they are worth less
than hnlf that sum. BY the closing Of
the Indian mintx and the artificial gold
| value given to silver. India In at great
disadvantage with the neiRhbortng
countries the exports OF which are
stimulated by the higher premium on
gold. and they nre robbing India Of
much Of her manufacturing and export
trade. The present policy infiicts upon
India as well MS the evils Of an unsuf-
ficient and steadily lessening currency.
evils which the vissitudes Of that de-
pendcncy during the past twelve
months have served to emphasize.
.'The world has heard much of the
famine I'm India and OF the great funds
subscribed for its victims. 1t has mot
been. however so generally known
that the famine was one OF money
rather than food; that the confribu-
tions We're 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
were starving and Its price was hut q
trifie over a cent a pound. less than the
price Of wheat In England. For all
these evils. the loss In value of the
savings OF the people. the disadvan-
tage OF a different purchasing yaIue
for silver In India from that which pre-
vailed In China. the evils Of an insufII-
Client volume OF money and the en0F-
nous injury which commerce suffered
through violent fluctuations in the rAte
OF exchange we offered what we b.
lieved to he n remedy.
Our offer was refused and the ~
fusal must be considered as final until
the failure OF the experiment apon
which the India government has enter
ed shall be demonstrated.
| t>Thprp UNA 0rlsa OypruiOhf In S,<.>SS.