The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-05-24

or the prospects OF SILVER IN view W
the scarcity of gold by reason of the
tremendous absorption Of gold by In
dia He gives the statement of the
gold and the silver absorbed by India
in the past four years, reducing the
same to L. s. currency, as follows:
Fiscal Net Imports
Year. Gold. silver.
1910 1919 .......... ....... 7S,sSsI5s so,sss.ss5
1912 ............ 22.49o,6os 17.167.42s
1t appears from the above that In the
four years named India absorbed near
ly $2S6,000,000 in gold, and little
moro than $110,o0o,000 in silver II is
evident that India has had some years
of very great prosperity, this by reason
of the better irrigation introduced by
the British engineers, and the eXten-
sive railroad building which has devel~
oped the country to state of prosper
ity never before dreamed Of.
From the above table it appears that
the net imports of silver into India
have decreased very largely In 1912
the silver imports wero less than half
of those Of 1909; proportionately com"
pared with gold, the difference was
enormous. And it is explained by an
other writer that the addition to In
dia s silver coinage amounted during
last year to no more than the legti-
mate needs (without any silver hoard
ing as in the past) of the Indian peo-
pie for coinage. land that any argu-
ment hasing rise in the price of com
modities upon this fact has the element
of fallacy at it's root. Z"
This second writer explains that the
net silver imports into India, which he
puts at s7,o60,000. affords a consider
able margin to add to the gold stand
ard reserve in London. The S7,06o,000
of net silver imports into India were
coined, as he explains, into Sl0,OOO,OOO
in rupees. The coinage profit Of near"
ly s3,000,000 is placed in the gold
standard reserve in London IN the form
of gold coins. That is, instead OF this
s3,00O,o00 entering into circulation in
the form of currency, it remains stored,
"and no more extends the world s cur
rency than if it had never left the
ground whence it came"
AS to the addition to the currency
thereby being but f7,o6o,o0o in silver
rupees instead Of the s10,000,000 that
are coined, the writer explains that the
process by which this result is reached
is by the transfer of S10, 100000 in sill
yer rupees to the note reserve in ex-
change for s10,000,000 in sovereigns,
and from this sum of gold, using ST.
060 900 for the purchase Of silver the
about f3,000,000, is paid
into the Indian gold reserve in Lon
don.
It is clear, therefore, that India g
net imports of gold are boarded by the
Indian people, and that even the silver
imported is made to contribute to this
gold reserve. And the writer contin.
ues:
It is OF course, extremely difficult 10
Judge how much the Indian peasant
perfectly well known. During the last
hve years OF marked prosperity 1t would
not be unreasonab Bile to assume that two
thirds OF this fresh addition of e7,O6o,0 900
TO Indias currency has only replaced
coins withdrawn from circula ton and
retained by the peasant in the form OF
savings. This e4.706, 900 in silver coin.
spread over hve years. works out at
G94I 900 a year, about IA. 600 900 rupees
or only LEND. OF a rupee per head OF
The population of that country; thus
about Io.0o0ooo rupees are probably ac
counted for.
Taking the annual increase in the
number OF the inhabitants OF India at
third OF 10, 600 rupees, or, to be exact,
3 100 600 rupees are needed annually
to cope with the currency requirements
Of the ReoRSe Pie Tss yHry RE b 3d
during the last quinquennium may be
considered to Justify the doubling OF this
amount, and thus a total Of 1850. 900 ru-
70. 900 900 rupees allowed for boarding |
about 102 600. 600 rupees as the fair sd-
lition necessary 10 meet the demand for
n which no fresh mintage OF silver had |
taken place.
Of these figures the writer concludes
that the purchase of s7,060,000 of sill |
yer by the Indian Government in 1912, |
- did not more than meet the legiti.
mate needs Of the Indian people. Ac-
,ordingly India, while absorbing large |
quantities Of gold for boarding pur-
poses, is not now boarding silver at all, !
but gold, and India takes no more sill.
yer than ii needs in its actual coinage.
The reason for this is plain. The fuc-
-uations in silver involve heavy losses
10 the Indian people whenever the
price falls, and added to this, when
ever there is a purchase of silver by
-he Indian government for coinage pur-
poses, there is loss 20 the Indian
people of about one-third in the coin
age, this by reason of the fact that the
difference between the market price
and the coinage price is transmitted in.
TO gold by the India Office and is de-
posted in the gold reserve held in
London. These items Of loss to the
Indian people are heavy, and IT is no