Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-08-21
PRICE OF SILVER.

Financiers and political economists hav
given much study recently to the unusual
l. marked depression IN Jne price OF silver
While they have arrived at no definite con
%clusion, the opinion is freely expressed thai
the depression ia only temporary and thai
in the very near future an upward tendency
in the price of the metal will take place.
This result, in the opinion of some writers
on the subject, will follow the gathering OF
the wheat crop in India, for the purchase
OF which at minimum rates London specu-
lators forced down the price of silver. the
metal in the form OF bullion being exchange
able for the products Of that country.
Another cause is also assigned for the
present low price Of silver and is thls given
by the Chicago Mining Review: ut is a
~well-known fact, laid down as a principle
IN fnancia science, that money, being a
measure OF value, is in demand and valu-
able in proportion to the necessity for it's
use. The reduction of the amount of the
currency Of the world by the increasing ex-
tent oil industrial development, the occu-
patton OF new territory, the increase in the
number OF people using money, the failing
supply of gold for a number of years, and
the demonetization and objection to silver
as currency, has SO hampered business
operations and limited projected enter
prises by depressing prices for the results |
OF human labor that money has not been |
in strong demand as a medium of exchange.
When prices are so low that there 10 no in
centive to produce or create, money stag
mates and loses its value.
The price of every commodity and mate
rial at the present time everywhere is low
and silver bullion or silver bars seek a
market they come under the same law as
any product of labor and show the pre-
vailing condition OF trade. The fact that
silver is and has been coined into money
does not enter into the question of it's
value as a commodity any more than does
the TACT that paper is made into bank
bills affect it's value as a merchantable pro-
1uct. The value of a bank bill or a check
aas no relation to the market value oil the
and the same law applies IN re-
ard to a silver dollar or O gold dollar.
The amount of silver annually absorbed
" India during the past eleven years has
averaged something over $54, 600, 900.
duch OF this demand has probably been
Implied from the demonetized silver cur. I
ency ofGermany. The demand which has c
low probably nearly exhausted that t
ource, continues to increase, as during the
asst year figures show the net import of t
liver by India was $50, 2s7,3 l1, which is t
bout one-half the product of the world. a
rom this it will be seen that the present q
W price of silver cannot long continue. i
hen the indications that the danger of the
lono-metallic standard, based upon the
resent insufficient supply of gold to the q,
rosperity and industrial advancement Of =,
10 leading nations, is being realized. and =,
10 strengthening demand for silver cnr. :.
ncy in the most conservative financial 8;
nters OF Europe, show plainly that tho -,
oduct of the silver mines of this commits -
IL soon bring better prices even thouoh q
different legislators neglect to protect n,
is industry from the grasp of foreign mo. %
:.