The long-expected decision of the Indian Government on the Silver
question has at last appeared. It is almost start. lingly bold. Pressed by the yearly increasing losses by ex- change, by the discontent of all its Services, and by fears as to American action, the Government has resolved to introduce a gold standard, and on June 26th the financial Member intro- duced, andthe Legislative Council passed, at Simla, a law closing the mints to the coinage of silver, except when the rupees are purchased with gold at the fixed price of I. 4d. the rupee, or 15 rupees to the pound sterling. A gold currency is not yet introduced, but gold will be received in payment of all Govern- ment demands; and although rupees are still legal tender to any amount, the rupees become of course, in effect, token- money. The measure has been received in India with enthu- siasm, and Government Bonds have risen rapidly ; but the blow to the silver-market is severe, the metal having been sold on Friday at less than 2s. 6d. an ounce. This is less than half its normal price, and as the Sherman Act is sure to be repealed, holders expect a still farther fall. They are wise. There is nothing now except the cost of production to keep-np silver, and science will yet reduce that cost beyond all precedent. The idea that silver cannot be extracted to pay a profit at 2s. an ounce—that is over 23,580 a ton—is an illusion. Copper does not cost 250.
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