The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-15
FREWEN STANDS
BY WHITE METAL
Letter Written by the Eminent
FinanCier and Economist to
Former Premier BaIfour.
SILVER RUPEE IN AFRICA
KEEN ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF
PROPOSITION.


en-, the noted English economist and
close student of international finances,
has written a clever letter to Lord
Balfour of Great Britain on the intro
ductiOn of silver money into Great
Britain colonies in Africa. Mr.. Frew-
en- has always been an advocate OF
silver. and is today it's stauncnest
friend.
Mr.. Frewen was at one time resi-
dent of Wyoming, and is well known
in this city. where he visits frequently.
His home is in London.
London, July u, 1907.
My Dear Mr. Balfour: Your con-
stituents are greatly interested in
South African finances, and 1 nave an
idea in my mind for the past year, the
value of which your knowledge of cur
rency matters will enable you to con-
slider. In the compass of a letter, l
cannot do more than outline the pro-
posai very briefly:
''Tha government of India the past
year has minted apparently not much
less than 250, 600 rupees; the profit
of which Mr.. Morley stated last week
was e4,O9c 900. The index numbers of
the government of India SHOW that in
India prices are not rising; so that
these huge coinages are not excessive
indeed, far from il. Gold prices here
since 1896 have risen So per cent; rupee
prices since 1888, when the miats were
closed, have not risen at all. Mr. Nor
ley added that half the profit on
seigniorage would in future be spent
on building railways in India.
IF India, saturated during 100 years
with currency, can take more than
a nj 70 In, IL
yet show no evidence of imitation, At
RIGA, where the rupee has just got its
footing in a virgin soil. might, Ii would
seem, build all her railroads out of the
profit on the rupee. l inquired, when
in Mombasa, at the National bank of
India; that branch bank had imported
100000 rupees between 1896 end 1902,
and the profit TO the government Of
India on this parcel must have been
over e200 900.
Just as the coin is boarded in In
dia, so also in Africa of the millions
imported, it would be impossible to
find today more than an insignificant
fraction. Nairobi, the capital of our
East African prOtectorate, enjoys a
chronic money famine. Thus, the rail-
ways built largely out of the profits
on the rupee, would open up fresh ma
tive tribes whose boarding and alb
sOrption of these coins would be a
great source of revenue. The more
railroad mileage there, the larger the
African exports, and thus a more ia
vorable balance of trade which would
guarantee the exchange-guarantee
the cOnvertibility of the rupees. with
out throwing them back on India. You
may recall also what WoloWski said
of mOney-'of all human machinery
money is that which costs least when
you consider the work III performs
The rupee, regarded as a machine, is
perhaps not less valuable than the
railway; 1t teaches the natives elemen-
tary arithmetic; it closes the era of
barter; it opens an era of trade and
commerce; it opens up 100 unexpected
sources of trade. I must not digress
too much-enough to say, cannot the
government of India do a great work
for civilization in Africa while appro-
priating to secure convertibility
suitable proportion of the seigniorage?
Just a word as TO the rupees on
the Randi. If native wages were paid
in rupees, and not, as now, in sterling,
might not an important economy re-
suit in the cost of production of gold ?
Today the black man or yellow man
produces sovereign's worth of gold,
and his wage is say, one-half of it.
Why not give him seven and one-half
rupees (say eight shillings silver? Be
cause the seven and one-half rupees
are convertible into the half-soVereign,
therefore, he will never want to con-
vert them. He will take them home
to his village north of Zambesi, where
these coins are coming south from
Uganda, are now well known; he will
say to those he meets: AT Johannes
burg I get Is (eD of these for a !
months work; you men only get for
q months work on the Victoria Nyan-
"a thus, the rupee should assist both
the migration of labor and the travel
on the railways. True, If all Africa
should come upon a rupee basis Ca
silver currency and a gold standardO,
silver would rise in price, and carry
the bullion value of the rupee to 16
pence; the government of India might
then advance exchange to one and six
or one and eight.
We can. however, cross the bridge
and others when we get there.
There are some great new silver
fields discovered in Canada, and a bet
ter gold price for the metal is for
many reasons desirable. Believe me.
yours sincerely,
MORETON FREWEN."
The Right Honorable A. ]. Balfour, NJ. |