The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1914-06-25
Commission Fails to Solve MyS-
terry of Hoarded Gold.
What Becomes of the Precious Metal
Poured Into India Remains Puz-
extraordinarily Flowing Into
That Country.

The report of the British royal com
mission on Indian finance and cur
rency, which has just been issued
settles some controversies and starts
others, but it does not clear up the
mystery of the boarded gold Of India
From time immemorial India has
absorbed gold as a sponge absorbs
water. The flow of gold to India has
always continued. In the last IL years
she has received G136,000,000 in gold
partly in sovereigns and partly In bull
lion, in addition to enormous quaint
ties of silver. It all goes into the
country, but very little ever comes
out. Lord Rothschild observed some
years ago that he had noticed that
none of the smooth gold bars sent to
India from this country ever came
back. What happens to this great
stream of precious metal, which con-
t1nuously disappears like those rivers
in desert lands which lose themselves
underground?
The testimony of experts is most
conflicting. Some say it is boarded,
while few are ready to prove by a
formidable array of statistics that 1t
cannot be extensively boarded. Those
who believe that India possesses a
vast store of boarded treasure make
the widest guesses at it's probable to-
tai. The most popular estimate of
the boarded wealth of India puts the
total at 9300,0O0,OOO, which would
amout to 81 per head of the popula-
ton; but some credible estimates are
far higher. The experts quarrel,
again, about the probable effect of
midas absorption of gold upon the
worlds money markets and the prices
of commodities. Some say that all
gold-using countries benefit thereby,
while others, such as Sir Edward Hol-
den, appear to hold that tine drain
of gold to India" is a potential men
ace. The commission, while declining
to indorse either of these mutually de-
structive contentious, has declared in
effect that an increased use of gold in
India should not in future be encour-
aged by the government, but India
already seems disposed to resent this
recommendation
Whether gold is boarded in India is
really question of terms. All ma
lions hoard gold upon occasion. If
England were threatened with a great
war tomorrow we may depend upon it
that there would be a rush for gold
on the part of those people who pos
sessed both foresight and a balance at
the bank It is estimated that during
the Balkan crisis the peoples OF CEN
trail Europe obtained and hogyded
G60,000,000 in gold. India has heen
subjected to repeated invasioRy and
innumerable internal wars, af8t her
people have never lost their Eeiedi-
tary sense of insecurity. Banking IA
cilities are still sparse, and it would
be surprising if Indians did not hourd
But boarding does not necessarily
mean burying in the ground or con-
cealment in the roofs of houses,
though those practises are doubtless
extensive. Mr.. J. M. Keynes, meth
Der of the commission, tells a story
of Brahman in eastern Bengal who
even boards currency notes in his
roof. Once a week he retires privily
and spreads them out in the sun to
remove the damp. A very large pro-
portion of the boarded wealth Of In
dia is, however, in the form Of gold
and silver ornaments. 1t is into these
ornaments that the bulk of the bulncn
and sovereigns, as well as much ut
the silver, disappears.