Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-12-11
INDIA, COVETED JEWEL OF THE EAST
Renewal of Struggle of Three Centuries Ago for Possession of
This Oriental Treasure House-"Inda" Said Peter the
Great, Means Supremacy in Europe"

vast amount of interesting information con-
cerning the absorption of treasure by this
great country. India Is what two different
writer's have called respectively "the great
sink of precious metals" and the money
graveyard of the world" For twenty-five
centuries there has been a constant flow of
gold and silver into India from the Western
nations. 1t has been one of the unchanging
economic conditions of the world and one
which rulers of different lands depleted for
it, have tried in vain to stop.
Complaints OF India's appetite for gold
began in the time of the Carthagenians who
in the fourth century II. c. disposed of gold
they procured from Spain to that country.
Pliny tells of unavailing protests made in
the first year of the Christian era of eXpor-
tatons of the precious metal from the Ro-
man Empire, nearly $500 900 of it being
sent annually to India Queen Elizabeth, in
1900, tried in vain to counteract the flow of
gold from her country TO India.
Small inroads into this enormous hoard of
treasure have been made unwillingly in
times of famine, hut as long ago as 1864
writer estimated that the precious metals
locked up in India, in trinIets alone,
amounted to S2.OOOOOO 900. Gold has been
used through the centuries by India as other
peoples have used gems and paintings and
objects of art for the gorgeous ornamental
tion of public buildings and palaces. Gold
is locked up in the treasure chambers of the
princes, 1t is used as n basis of credit for
merchants and traders, and the poor people,
who have secreted it in nooks and crannes,
as well as in the earth, have sometimes died
of starvation rather than part with it.
One of the most important Maharajas of
India has cannon of solid gold that precede
him when he goes about, He has chairs,
tables and bed, we'll as water jugs of
silver and gold. 1t is said that London bull
lion dealers have eXqusitely polished bars
OF gold TO supply the wants OF Indian
princes. All classes in India are affected by
this spirit of boarding They prefer to put
their savings in gold to anything else. Coins
are converted into necklaces, bracelets and
anklets,
Fortunes in Jewels
Immense fortunes in India are in Jewels
but thcre is no authoritative method OF COM
putatlon of the extent of this form of wealth
The Imperial Gazetteer of India described
fifty years ago a shawl OF pearls, with an
arabesque border OF diamonds, rubies. sap
phres, and emerads. valued at s5,OOO,OOO
There are tales of carpets of pearls and great
diamonds which have become world-famous.
Estimates and statistics which show in
detail how this vast amount of treasure has
reached India interesting. by sthe au-
thentic records kept by the British Govern
ment since 1885 1t is shown that $1,000, 600 900
more of gold has gone into India than has
come out In less than a century s3,OOO.O .OOO.-
600 Of the two precious metals has been alb
sorbed, and these figures show only n con-
tnuation of a movement going on since the
days OF the Phoenlcians.
The Prize of the World was sought from
~. 8 mi
Of Holland Portugal and France in the
period just preceding the modern age, to Sc
cure the largest share Of India's trade, form
an important chapter in the history OF the
world. The desire TO find a short route
thther by furnished much OF the impetus
Riven to exploration during the fifteenth
century and led to the achievement of Vasco
da Cana. The conquest of ConstantInople
by the Turks had laid a heavy obstacle in
the path of the overland traders. Columbus
sought the Orient and found the Western
Hemisphere. In the seventeenth century the
famous East India Company Joined in the
rivalry for the trade OF India and opened the
way for the extension of English influence
and power over the whole country. Then
came that remarkable experiment of gov
ernment by commercial corporation. and
il was not until the middle of the nineteenth
century that this control was finally and
fully transferred to the British Crown and
not till then that welfare work" for the
people of India began TO make substantial
progress.
India probably, has never been we'll un-
derstood by Occidental peoples British ex-
ploitation and philanthropy present a story
mixed I'm reasons for praise and blame Ger
tain Il Is that in India may be found the
most heterogeneous aggregate Of peoples in
the world Mongols. Atyans Persians.
Greeks, SeythiaRs. Huns. Arabs Afghans.
Turks and Moguls Rave passed into this vast
region. founding kingdoms and empires. mix