In other words, what must be said to be essential for the safety of a gold standard is a provision against over-issue of rupees. But, as we saw, neither the plan of 1878 nor the present one can be said to be free from that danger. Consequently we must conclude that, being essentially alike, the arguments that are valid against the former are also valid against the latter. But the Chamberlain Commission will not allow that the exchange standard is a resuscitation of a condemned plan. On the other hand, it has sought to inspire confidence in that standard by holding out²⁸⁹ [pg 172] ²⁸⁹ Report, par. 46. “that the present Indian system has close affinities with other currency systems in some of the great European countries and elsewhere. …” To get an idea as to what these affinities are, or rather were, we must look into Chapter II of Mr. Keynes’s interesting treatise on _Indian Currency and Finance_. In that treatise of his, Mr. Keynes has attempted to show that there is a fundamental likeness between the operations of the Indian currency system and the operations as they used to be of the central banks of some of the important countries of Europe. He found that it used to be the practice of these banks to hold foreign bills of exchange for the purpose of making remittances to foreign countries. Between the selling of such foreign bills and the selling of reverse councils by the Government of India he observed a close fundamental likeness, inasmuch as both involved “the use of a local currency mainly not of gold, some degree of unwillingness to supply gold locally in exchange for the local currency, but a high degree of willingness to sell foreign exchange for payment in local currency at a certain maximum rate.”²⁹⁰ ²⁹⁰ Keynes, _Indian Currency and Finance_, p. 29. But, as Prof. Kemmerer points out,²⁹¹ it is difficult to see what likeness there is between the Government of India selling reverse councils and the European banks holding foreign bills. Far from being alike, the two practices must be regarded as the opposite of each other. In selling reverse councils ²⁹¹ Cf. his review of Keynes in the _Quarterly Journal of Economics_, February, 1914, p. 374.