───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1915. 1916. 1917. 1918. 1919. 1920. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Industrial Arts 17·0 18·0 16·0 17·0 22·0 22·0 (Europe and America) India (Year to 1·4 5·1 19·6 −3·3 27·7 5·1 March 31 following) China −1·7 2·6 2·6 0·4 11·5 −3·7 Egypt −0·8 −0·2 −0·1 −0·0 −0·0 ? Balance 80·5 68·0 48·2 64·9 13·8 46·6 available as money (difference) World 96·4 93·5 86·3 79·0 75·0 70·0 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ³⁷⁶ The figures are those of Mr. Joseph Kitchin in _The Review of Economic Statistics_, Preliminary volume 3, No. 8 for August, 1921, p.257. If figures previous to 1914 are desired, _see_ table _ibid._, p. 268.) Omitting the abnormal years of 1917 and 1919 and reducing the figures to _per capita_ basis the consumption of gold by India must be said to be remarkably small. Besides, it is to be noted that figures for India include industrial as well as monetary consumption. Further, in making comparison account must be taken of the difference in the period taken as unit in the case of India and other countries. Of course in these days when gold is so very greatly depreciated in terms of commodities in general, neither is there any necessity to shed tears if its production were to fall off, nor can it be anything but a welcome event if its use were to be extended. It would therefore be unwise to resent an increase, if it were to take place, in the importation and use of gold by India. The greater the use of gold and the less the production of it, the better for the world as it is circumstanced to-day. Cf. in this connection the remarks of Prof. Cannan on Mr. Shirras’s Paper in the _J.R.S.S_ for July, 1920, pp. 623–24, ³⁷⁷ Evidence of Prof. Marshall, I.C.C., 1898, Q. 11,793. “in a modern community the prices of different goods constitute a completely organized system, in which the various parts are continually being adjusted to each other by intricate business process. Any marked change in the price of important goods disturbs the equilibrium of this system, and business processes at once set going a series of readjustments in the prices of other goods to restore it.”³⁷⁸ ³⁷⁸ Mitchell, _ibid._, p. 258.