That progress of trade depends on stability is a truism which seldom comes home until it is denied in fact. It is difficult to appreciate its importance to healthy enterprise when government is stable, credit secure, and conditions are uniform. And yet so great is the handicap of instability that everywhere business men have been led by a variety of devices to produce stability in domains enveloped by uncertainty. Everywhere there have grown up business barometers forewarning business men of impending changes and so enabling them to forearm against them by timely [pg 115] TABLE XXII _Fluctuations of Exchange and Fluctuations in the Rupee Cost of Gold Payments_¹⁹⁴ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Estimated Rate of Changes in the Rupee Rate of Exchange Cost of Sterling Exchange on actually Payments consequent Financial which the realized on upon Changes between Year. Budget of the the Average the Estimated and the Year was during the Realized rates of framed. Year. Exchange. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── s. d. s. d. Rs. Rs. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1874–75 1 10·375 1 10·156 15,91,764 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1875–76 1 9·875 1 9·626 19,57,917 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1876–77 1 8·5 1 8·508 — 76,736 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1877–78 1 9·23 1 8·791 38,43,050 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1878–79 1 8·4 1 7·794 56,87,129 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1879–80 1 7 1 7·961 — 84,40,737 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1880–81 1 8 1 7·956 4,24,722 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1881–82 1 8 1 7·895 10,17,482 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1882–83 1 8 1 7·525 37,46,890 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1883–84 1 7·5 1 7·536 — 3,62,902 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1884–85 1 7·5 1 7·308 18,97,307 — ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1885–86 1 7 1 6·254 56,82,638 —