298 PRICES 



varies with the supply of each season, it is impossible 

 to conceive that the silver equivalent of that value 

 should have remained constant. From these tables it 

 is clear that custom did not regulate the price of agri- 

 cultural produce in the nineteenth century, and we 

 may legitimately infer that such never was the case 

 when we observe that the further they were removed 

 from the great markets of the world and the con- 

 ditions of modern commerce, the more did prices 

 vary. I do not know that anybody in India has main- 

 tained that prices were ever regulated by custom ; 

 but as the belief exists in Europe, it is, perhaps, 

 worth pointing out that there is no evidence to 

 support such an opinion. 



These figures throw doubt upon another theory, 

 which has found its way into some economic litera- 

 ture. That theory is that the experience of India 

 demonstrates that silver is a more stable measure 

 of value than gold. This theory is based upon the 

 fact that the prices of certain selected exports have 

 varied but little since 1873. It has already been 

 pointed out by Mr. F. J. Atkinson* that certain of 

 these exports, such as tea, opium, and indigo, are 

 articles of little or no importance in the inland trade 

 of the country, which is the trade by which silver 

 prices are determined, and that, therefore, an index 

 number based upon the value of exports is not trust- 

 worthy. This defective index number, however, has 

 found its way into many Government publications, 

 and is used, for instance, in the Statistical Atlas pub- 

 lished by the Director-General of Statistics. Upon 

 the basis of those figures it is contended that rupee 

 prices in 1894 had only risen about 12 per cent, in 

 comparison with the prices for 1873. This constitutes 

 the evidence for the theory that silver is a more stable 

 measure of value than gold. The dispute is, there- 



* ' Silver Prices in India.' Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 

 March, 1897. 



