Vol. 6 · pages 441–445

426 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES including the hardware manufactures of Birmingham and Sheffield, the sugar-refining of Greenock, Liverpool, and London, the manufactures of earthenware, glass, leather, paper, and a multitude of minor industries.* The depression in English agriculture was so widespread that the Commissioners of 1892 were “ unable to point to any part of the country in which [the effects of the depression] can be said to be entirely absent,” and this notwithstanding the fact that the seasons since 1882 “were on the whole satisfactory from an agricultural point of view.”† Just the reverse was the case with Indian trade and industry. The foreign trade of the country, which had bounced up during the American Civil War, showed greater buoyancy after 1870, and continued to grow throughout the period of the falling exchange at a rapid pace. During the short space of twenty years the total imports and exports of the country more than doubled in their magnitude, as is shown by Table XIV. TABLE XIV IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (BOTH MERCHANDIZE AND TREASURE)§ Year Exports R. Imports Year Exports R. Imports 1870-71 57,556,951 39,913,942 1881-82 83,068,198 60,436,155 1871-72 64,685,376 43,665,663 1882-83 84,527,182 65,548,868 1872-73 56,548,842 36,431,210 1883-84 89,186,397 68,157,311 1873-74 56,910,081 39,612,362 1884-85 85,225,922 69,591,269 1874-75 57,984,549 44,363,160 1885-86 84,989,502 71,133,666 1875-76 60,291,731 44,192,378 1886-87 90,190,633 72,830,670 1876-87 65,043,789 48,876,751 1887-88 92,148,279 78,830,468 1877-78 67,433,324 58,819,644 1888-89 98,833,879 83,285,427 1878-79 64,919,741 44,857,343 1889-90 105,366,720 86,656,990 1879-80 69,247,511 52,821,398 1890-91 102,350,526 93,909,856 1880-81 76,021,043 62,104,984 1891-92 111,460,278 84,155,045 § From Appendix II (Nos. 1 and 2) to the Report of the Indian Currency Committee of 1898. * Report by Dunraven, Farrer, Muntz, and Lubbock in the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Depression of Trade and Industry, par., 54, C. 4893. † Final Report of the Royal Commission on Agricultural Depression in England, C 8540 of 1897, par. 28.

427 THE SILVER STANDARD AND THE EVILS OF ITS INSTABILITY TABLE XV. N ATURE OF INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS IN ENGLAND AND INDIA * Distribution of Indian Exports exclusive of Treasure. Distribution of English Exports exclusive of Treasure. Manufactured Articles. Raw Materials. Food Articles. Unclassified Articles. Total. Manufactured Articles. Raw Materials. Food Articles. Unclassified Articles. Total. 1857 11 34 22 23 100 90.9 4 4.9 .2 100 1858 6 35 26 33 100 91.4 3.4 5.1 .1 100 1859 6.5 40 15.5 38 100 91.5 3.8 4.6 .1 100 1860 5.7 43.6 17.7 33 100 91.9 3.6 4.4 .3 100 1861 5.8 46.5 15.3 32.4 100 90.4 4.8 4.8 — 100 1862 5 52 16 27 100 90.3 4 4.8 .9 100 1863 3.7 58.7 10.6 27 100 91.0 4 4 1.0 100 1864 4 69.2 9.3 17.5 100 92.5 3.7 3.7 .1 100 1865 3.5 68 12 16.6 100 92.1 3.6 3.6 .7 100 1866 4.2 67.2 10.3 18.3 100 92 3.7 3.7 .4 100 1867 4 58 11 27 100 92.2 3.8 3.7 .3 100 1868 4 58.5 11.5 26 100 92 4.4 3.4 .2 100 1869 4.8 60.5 14 20.7 100 92 4.2 31 .7 100 1870 4.4 63.6 9 23 100 91 4 4 1.0 100 1871 3.7 65.3 11 20 100 90 4.4 4.9 .7 100 1872 3.3 61.4 13.5 21.8 100 91.2 5.4 3.5 .9 100 * The figures for India are calculated from the Statistical Abstract for British India, Second Number (1857-866), Table No. 34, and the Eighth Number (1864-1873), Table No. 24. Figures for England are taken from Appendix C (Statement 6) to the First Report of the Royal Commission of the Depression of Trade and Industry, 1885, with this alteration—that the separate figures in the original under “Manufactured” and “Partially Manufactured” are here grouped under “Manufactured.” The “Unclassified Articles” under Indian Exp orts are for the most part “Jewellery.”

428 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES TABLE XVI CHANGES IN INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS OF INDIA* Years Imports Exports Manufactured Raw Manufactured Raw Rs. Rs. Rs. Rs. 1879 25,98,65,827 13,75,55,837 5,27,80,340 59,67,27,991 1892 36,22,31,872 26,38,18,431 16,42,47,566 85,52,09,499 Percentage of increase 39 91 211 43 Total Annual 2.8 6.5 15 3 Not only had the trade of India been increasing, but the nature of her industries was also at the same time undergoing a profound change. Prior to 1870, India and England were, so to say, non-competing groups. Owing to the protectionist policy of the Navigation Laws, and owing also to the substitution of man by machinery in the field of production, India had become exclusively an agricultural and a raw-materialproducing country, while England had transformed herself into a country which devoted all her energy and her resources to the manufacturing of raw materials imported from abroad into finished goods. How marked was the contrast in the industrial pursuits in the two countries is well revealed by the analysis of their respective exports in Table XV. After 1870, the distribution of their industrial pursuits was greatly altered, and India once again began to assume the role of a manufacturing country. Analysing the figures for Indian imports and exports for the twenty years succeeding 1870, (see Table XVI) we find that the progress in the direction of manufactures formed one of the most significant features of the period. This change in the industrial evolution was marked by the growth of two principal manufactures. One of them was the * From Ranade’s Essays on Indian Economics, p. 104.

429 THE SILVER STANDARD AND THE EVILS OF ITS INSTABILITY manufacture of cotton. The cotton industry was one of the oldest industries of India, but during 100 years between 1750 and 1850 it had failed into a complete state of decrepitude. Attempts were made to resuscitate the industry on a capitalistic basis in the sixties of the ninetenth century and soon showed signs of rapid advance. The story of its progress is graphically illustrated in the following summary in Table XVII:— TABLE XVII THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN COTTON TRADE AND INDUSTRY Growth of Trade (Average Annual Quantities in each Quinquennium) 1870-71 to 1874-75 1875-76 to 1879-80 1880-81 to 1884-85 1885-86 to 1889-90 1890-91 to 1894-95 Imports of raw cotton— thousands or cwts. 23 52 51 74 89 Exports of raw cotton— thousands of cwts. 5,236 3,988 5,477 5,330 4,660 Imports of twist and yarn 33.55 33.55 44.34 49.09 44.79 Growth of Industry (at end of each fifth year) Number of mills 48 58 81 114 143 Number of spindles—000— omitted 1,000 1,471 2,037 2,935 3,712 Number of looms—000— omitted 10 13 16 22 34 Number of persons employed ... 39,537 61,836 99,224 ... Another industry which figured largely in this expansion of Indian manufactures was jute. Unlike the cotton industry of India, the jute industry was of a comparatively recent origin. Its growth, different from that of the cotton industry, was fostered by the application of European capital, European management, and European skill, and it soon took as deep roots as the cotton industry and flourished as well as the latter did, if not better. Its history was one of continued progress as will be seen from Table XVIII. This increasing trend towards manufactures was not without its indirect effects on the course of Indian agriculture. Prior to 1870 the Indian farmer, it may be said, had no commercial outlook. He cultivated not so much for profit as for individual self-sufficiency. After 1870 farming tended to become a business and crops came more and more to be determined by the course of market prices than by the household needs of the farmer. This is well illustrated by figures in Table XIX.

430 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Such was the contrast in the economic conditions prevalent in the two countries. This peculiar phenomenon of a silverstandard country steadily progressing, and a gold-standard country tending to a standstill, exercised the minds of many of TABLE XVIII DEVELOPMENT OF JUTE INDUSTRY AND TRADE Average Annual of each Quinquennium Growth 1870-71 to 1874-75 1875-76 to 1879-80 1880-81 to 1884-85 1885-86 to 1889-90 1890-91 to 1894-95 ExportsRaw, million cwt. 5.72 5.58 7.81 9.31 10.54 Gunny bags, millions 6.44 35.96 60.32 79.98 120.74 Cloth, million yds. ... 4.71 6.44 19.79 54.20 Growth of Industry Number of— Mills ... 21 21 24 26 Looms, 000 omitted ... 5.5 5.5 7 8.3 Spindles, 000 omitted ... 88 88 138.4 172.4 Persons employed, in thousands ... 38.8 38.8 52.7 64.3 its observers. The chief cause was said to be the inability of the English manufacturers to hold out in international competition. This inability to compete with the European rivals was attributed to the prevalence of protective tariffs and subsidies which formed an essential part of the industrial and commercial code of the European countries. Nothing of the kind then existed TABLE XIX GROWTH OF AGRICULTURAL EXPORTS OF INDIA 1868-69 1873-74 1877-78 1882-83 1887-88 1891-92 Wheat 100 637.41 2,313.47 5,152.36 4,914.37 11,001.44 Opium 100 118.38 123.83 122.47 120.20 116.82 Seeds 100 111.26 305.87 239.97 403.60 480.99 Rice 100 131.66 119.84 203.28 185.55 220.36 Indigo 100 116.91 121.57 142.17 140.76 126.33 Tea 100 169.35 293.17 507.25 775.09 1,075.75 Cofee 100 86.04 69.98 85.31 64.59 74.11