70 
The Indian Wlieat Trade. 
sucli fall does operate as a bonus to tlie local (Indian) wlieat 
exporter, and this is borne out by tlie impetus given to tlie 
Indian wheat trade during the period coincident with the de- 
cline of the rupee." As to the evidence given before the Royal 
Commission on Gold and Silver, it would be easy to double the 
length of this article by giving in full the statements of wit- 
nesses — many of them strong Monometallists — to the same 
effect as the views just stated. Indeed, nearly all the authori- | 
ties on Indian affairs examined before the Commission supported 
these three positions : (1) That the rupee price of wheat has | 
not fallen in India in recent years ; (2) that the purchasing ■ 
power of the rupee for all that the ryot needs has not fallen ; . 
and (-3) that the fall in the gold value of the rupee has stimu- 
lated the export of wheat from India. 
Those who take an opposite view of this question appear to | 
ignore the fact that the rupee has not declined in value in India j 
for anything that the wheat-grower pays for. If it had declined 
in value as a standard coin in India, as it has in exchange for ' 
the standard coinaoje of Enofland, there would have been no 
bonus on the export of Indian wheat. As to that, an objector 
has said, silver buys as much as formerly in England as well as 
in India. Perhaps so ; but I fail to see how that affects the ' 
question at issue. The Indian ryot gets as much for a quarter 
of wheat as he obtained in 1872. He gets as many rupees, and 
his rupees are worth as much to him. Can the same be said of 
the English farmer, who obtained ^7s. a quai'ter for his wheat in 
1872, as compared with a few pence over 30*-. now? The pre- ' 
sent price in India represents as much, if not more, of the I 
world's goods to the ryot as the price in 1872. Does the price 
in England enable the farmer to pay the rent he paid in 1872, 
and live as he lived then ? 
AgaiiT, it is contended that if India gets more, rupees in 
exchange for wheat than she would obtain if no fall in exchange j 
had taken place, she receives proportionately less of our manu- i 
factured goods in return than would otherwise be supplied. That j 
is true, no doubt ; but again I fail to see how it affects the ques- 
tion at issue, which is not whether India is benefited by the fall 
in exchange, but whether that fall stimulates the export of wheat 
from India. The English shipper of Indian wheat does not 
send out manufactured goods with which to buy his grain. He 
buys rupees with gold, or its representative in paper, and hands 
over the rupees to the native dealer in exchange for wheat. The I 
transaction is complete in itself, and the amount of goods 
shipped to India lias not the slightest effect upon it. As for 
the ryot, ho does not spend ten rupees a year on English manu- 
factures ; and as the goods are cheaper than ever before, it does ' 
