Advice to the Indian Aristocracy/Chapter 11
MONEY.
This is a very important subject for us all. We must be very careful in dealing with money. If your estate is involved in debt, you must pay off that debt first and then think about spending money in other directions. I am happy to say that, now that the Court of Wards Act and the Impartible Estates Act are passed, none of our estates can, hereafter, be heavily involved in debt. No creditors will now lend money, as they used to do before, to the holders of Impartible Estates. If you do not come under the category of estate holders, your estate will be saved by the Court of Wards Act before it becomes heavily involved in debt. For these two Acts our ever grateful thanks are due to Lord Ampthill, under whose Governorship the beneficent measures have been passed.
Suppose your estate comes to you without being involved in debt. Then you should utilize its net income with contentment. Sukra, a great sage, said that you should divide your net income into five parts, save, without fail, one-fifth of it every year and spend the other four parts in equal shares in the following ways:—i. In charity ; ii. for getting a good name, or for maintaining the dignity of your position; iii. for enjoyment; and iv. for the benefit of relatives, and people who are the descendants of families that have served the estate for generations. You will all, I am sure, agree with me if I say that the above way of dividing your net income is good and based on virtuous principles.
Narada, another great sage, says that you should save every year three-fourths, or half, or at least one-fourth, of your net income. In my opinion, it is utterly impossible to save three-fourths of your income or even one-half of it. To maintain the prestige of our position, we have to incur several expenses which look unnecessary to the ordinary man. The thirst for saving causes misery. Of course, if any one is fortunate enough to discover precious stones or minerals in his estate or to be one who has a large mercantile business, the matter will be different. Then Narada's principle of saving more than one-fourth of the income may be easily observed. It was perhaps in view of these different circumstances that he, we may presume, prescribed so wide a range as from one-fourth to three-fourths of the net income to be saved so as to suit people of different ranks and positions. Without laying ourselves open to the charge of meanness, we can easily save one-fourth or at least one-fifth of our income every year.
There was a Maharaja in the north of India who made it a rule that so many lakhs of rupees should be added to his treasury every year. In case he could not save so much from his income, he used to borrow the sum lacking and put it into the treasury. Though I appreciate his rule, I object to his practice of borrowing money. I know another one, who having set apart so many lakhs of rupees as his permanent, or rather reserve fund, pays to his creditors much higher rates of interest than what he gets, from the Government paper in which he invests his reserve. There are two defects in his principle : there will be no increase in his treasure on the one hand, and, on the other hand, he will become more involved in debt. Some other people have a thirst for money. They don't enjoy it for themselves, nor do they do with it what they ought to do.
Mr. Macnaghten says : "You who have money, be kind, be generous, do all you can to remedy the miseries which surround you on every side. Help the deserving, comfort the sick, relieve the distress of the poor. So doing you will be rich indeed; this is the true glory and grandeur of money."
He further says in his nice lecture on money : "Money has its dangers. One great danger is pride. Money often leads men to be proud, and to think themselves better than their fellows, when really they have no merit at all, except the power which money gives them. Sometimes people, because they are rich, become so elated with their own importance that they think their very faults to be virtues, their foolishness to be wisdom. They deem themselves to be above law, to be above God's law as well as man's."
This criticism on the thoughts and doings of the rich applies to all, Zamindars as well as all other rich persons. Now I turn again to the question, what part of our income should be saved? How can you form an idea as to how much you can, or ought to, save every year ? None of us can guess the figure. Therefore, before the close of the current Fasli, get a budget prepared for every item of your expenditure in the next Fasli. As you will be quite new to your business, consult with a few of your higher officials as regards all the items in the budget and find out what are necessary and what are unnecessary or extravagant. After finally settling the budget in that way, strictly adhere to it. If your estate is somewhat involved in debt, don*t think much of charity or seek to acquire fame. First clear off your debt, then think of other things. Jf you save one-fourth or one-fifth of your income, you will grow richer and richer every year and can utilize your money more and more for charitable and public purposes. Many a man has perished by spending, whether in good or bad causes, more money than he gets. What I have said above is that you should save some portion of your income every year. I must now tell you how you should invest it so as to increase it. In former times, one who was able to save money used to put it into his treas- ury and lock it up. We must not find fault with him : because there was then no other safer way of guarding it. Many, even in those days, really spent their accumulations in making agricultural improve- ments. Even now this is the best way of investing money. If you improve the agri- cultural conditions in your estate, you will get more revenue from the estate and the condition of your ryots will be greatly improved. Then with the surplus money that you may still have, what should you do ? Advance loans and secure their repayment by mortgages on lands and villages in and about your estate. When a chance comes, buy them. If you still have money in hand, buy Government paper, though you get for it only a small interest. Don't look to the interest, but look more to security. It is not advisable to keep much money in the Banks and with Mercantile Houses. Don't put any money in rotten companies. I prefer the first three ways of investment to buying Government paper or so forth; because, though you yourself may be very careful in your savings, your successor may not be a careful man. If he becomes extravagant, he will spend in no time all the money you have so carefully saved, if it is in the shape of cash or Government paper, in fixed deposits in Banks and in Mercantile Houses. Therefore the best way of improving wealth is to spend it on agricultural improvements in your estate, in buying lands and villages, and in lending money on the mortgage of lands and villages. Then your successor, though he may be extravagant, cannot easily squander away such savings.