Iron County register., 1899-03-09
A WELSHMAN'S ADVICE.
Writing from Perithon, Wales, He
Shows the Situation In India-A
Lesson for America.


running into debt. Now, common
| sense tells us that this cannot last for
| ever. When the monetary conference
at Brussels separated in December,
1892, I wrote at once to the Indian gov
| ernment and suggested the following:
-"Shut the mints of India to the pub
lie and prohibit the import of silver
either as coins or as bullion into India
by anyone except the Indian govern
| ment." But 1 also added: LET the
government buy silver, bring it into
India, and coin it into rupees to the
same extent as it had been doing for
! the previous six or seven years, and
pay out these rupees for the expenses
of government" If that had been done,
India would have been much better than
she is to-day. In the five years. 1883 to
1898, the Indian mints coined 712 ,000.-
600 of rupees or more than 100000
yearly average. If she had bought sill
yer in Australia and New York and
paid for it with Indian tea she would
have increased her exports and the
government would have made a great
profit by coming 100,00O,OOO rupees
every year. Instead of that. she left
her ports open to silver, and "other
people" (not the government) import
ed" silver in 1898, 1894. 1895, 1896. 1897,
equal 10 $50 ,997.74O rupees, and she
only "eXported" silver equal to 99, 4S9,
070 rupees. Therefore she "abSOrbed'
in those five years 453,OOS.670 rupees
weight of silver. The profits on that
silver went into the pockets OF
ho P,f loI
been followed the profits would
have gone into the treasury. The
silver would have cost 35d.. 29d.,
30Hd. and 271sd.. or an average of less
than 30A d., while India would have
coined it into rupees for God. per ounce.
Whatever profit the treasury made
would have gone to reduce the loss On
government remittances to England,
which amount to from 6 $4,000. 900 to
6 16,000,0Q0 sterling every year. But
aanother leakage would have been
stopped; that is, secret coinage in
India. which there is no doubt has been
very largely done since the shutting of
the mints. Indian rupees are not
first class" and there are lots OF tray-
cling silversmiths who know how to
work silver and make coins. But even
that is not needed. for if the people
could buy silver bullion imported into
Bombay or Calcutta every man who
had rupees hoarded-there are millions
upon millions of them hoarded-the
man who had hoard could hoard sill
Yer bullion instead of his rupees and
give the rupees in payment for it.
There is not shadow of doubt that
the whole management of Indian mon
ey since the closing of the mints has
been, in plain English. ga botched job"
If what l suggested had been done |
doubt very much if the price of silver
would have fallen lower than 35d.. its
1888 price. But whatever might have
been the price. the Indian government
would have had a large margin of
profit. which would have gone very
long way towards paying the Indian
governments loss on the G 1000 600
which it must pay to the imperial gov
ernment in London in gold
In view of the foregoing, which is
simply a statement of historic facts
that everyone is familiar with, the
policy of our government in legislat-
ing against silver is incomprehensible
to thoughtful Europeans. We can view
the matter in only one of two lights:
1. Your statesmen must be wholly ig-
norant of the science of political econ
omy: or, 9. There was sinister mo-
tive back of your anti-silver legislation.
You may complain that this is strong
language for a foreigner to use, but
the facts are so patent that no other
construction can be put upon them. I
simply state a primary truth, as Newton
did when he proclaimed natures law
of gravitation.
The United States produce, l pre-
sumo, about three-fourths of the worlds
silver. At any rate, your production of
that metal is so much in excess of all
other nations combined that you could
easily control its market value on the
commodity basis alone. Why, then,
could you not command the old gold
par or premium rate that prevailed for
so many centuries before demonetiza-
ton, by adding your fiat" to the COM
mercial value? Certainly no one will
dispute this proposition, unless he is
utterly without knowledge in political
economy or personally interested in sus-
tanning existing conditions. Some
years ago, in the city of Brussels. [ had |
a very pleasant interview with your dis |
tinguished Senator John p. Jones, who |
was one of the ''forty-niners" of the old |
California period. He related to me |
how individual ''diggers' ''panned out"
until, with their accumulations, they |
were able to go back to the land of civ |
ilization, and how. in this way, to quote |
the senator's own graphic phrase. this |
widely diffused golden shower made the |
western wilderness blossom as the |
rose" This golden shower" not only /
benefited the individual miners and |
the western wilderness" but it extend |
ed over every part of your great coun- |
try. and even brought new life and |
yigor across the Atlantic ocean to the |
older countries of Europe. to such an
extent that the money lenders of the |
became alarmed for the fu- |
ture of their occupation and forced |
their government to demonetiZe the I
yellow metal.
Now you have the same opportunity |
to bring prosperity and happiness, not |
only to your own people, but to the |
whole world. by opening the closed |
treasures of your western silver mines |
and sending forth "silver showers" to |
make the earth blossom as the rose"
Why is it that you do not pursue this /
plain, common sense and humanitarian |
policy? Why should you depreciate the /
value of your own great product, and |
thereby enable Ind;s ard other
foreign countries to buy your sill