i8o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in consequence of the " dislocation " of the money of England's Indian 

 customers. But the facts do not bear out such statements. Taking 

 the number 100 as representing the condition of the cotton-fabric ex- 

 port trade of England with India in 1874, the numbers for 1876 were, 

 respectively, 134 for quantity and 90 for value ; and this change in 

 value, as was testiticd to before the Gold and Silver Commission, has 

 " occurred since 1883 " ; or was coincident with a recognized increase 

 at that date in the manufacturing capacity of the cotton-factories of 

 Europe and the United States, greatly in excess of any current market 

 demand for consumption.* 



In like manner the otlicial returns also show that while India during 

 recent years has largely increased her exports of domestic cotton fabrics 

 — cloth and yarn — to China and Java, the exports of like products from 

 England to these same countries from 1875 to 1884-'85 — the period 

 covering the greatest decline in the price of silver (or of the fall . in 

 exchange) — also continually increased ; or for 1884 were 14 per cent 

 in the case of piece goods, and 32 per cent in yarn, greater in the ag- 

 gregate than they were in 1875. Since 1884-'85 the condition of the 

 British export trade to China is reported to have been less favorable. 



It might also seem that the Government of India, in selling its re- 

 mittances in silver — India Council bills — to cover its liabilities in Eng- 

 land, for a less price in gold than formerly, constantly experiences a 

 loss ; but, on the other hand, it is well established that the increase in 

 the revenues of India, since the decline in silver began, owing to the 

 increased prosperity of the country and the increased receipts of the 

 government railways, fully counterbalances any loss they may have 

 incurred in remitting silver against their gold liabilities. 



Another pertinent example, and one not in any way connected with 

 the trade of Europe or India, is afforded by the recent trade experi- 

 * ences of Mexico. This country has almost exclusively a silver cur- 

 rency ; and the fluctuations in the price of silver since 1873 — Mexican 

 exchange having varied in New York in recent years from 114 to 140 f 

 — would seem necessarily to have been a disturbing factor of no little 

 importance in the trade between the United States and Mexico. But 



* In 1870 the British export of cotton piece-goods to India was returned at 923,000,- 

 000 yards, representing 284 per cent of the entire trade of the United Kingdom with 

 India. In 1884 the export of tliese same goods was 1,791,000,000 yards, or 40-0 per cent 

 of the entire trade. In respect to cotton yarns the British exports to India for 1870 were 

 31,000,000 pounds, or 16-5 per cent of the total exports ; and in 1884, 49,000,000 pounds, 

 or 18"1 per cent of the total exports. The bulk of the trade of Great Britain is with 

 gold-using countries ; and yet, while the trade of India with Great Britain was 83 per 

 cent of the whole trade of the kingdom in 1870, it constituted in 1883 as much as 9'9 

 per cent of the whole trade. — Testimovi/ before tlic Gold and Silver Commission of Mr. 

 IIe-NHY Wateiifield, Financial Secretary of the India (^(ce, London. (See First Report 

 of Commis.sion, pp. 122, 123.) 



f That is, one hundred and forty Mexican dollars to one hundred dollars of the United 

 States gold standard. 



