The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-04-04
LONDON THE WORLDS MARKET
FOX THE WHITE METAL.
Sold In Bulk Like Any Other Mcr-
chandise-Some of the Causes
Which Have Led to FIuctua-
tions in Price.

Slb,OOO,UOO. Nearly all of it goes
direct to London, which is tho great
silver market of the world. There il
is dealt in just like wheat or cotton,
and is delivered from thence TO buy.
ers in every civilized country on the
face of the globe. More than half of
our silver finds its way eventually TO
Asia, the whole of which continent
employs this substance for money.
The business of buying and selling
silver in bulk as merchandise is more
than ordinarily interesting. It is con-
trolled by II few dealers in New Yorl;
City, who have enormous capital and
practically unlimited credit. The
metal actually passes through their
hands, and is shipped b. them to Lon.
don. To them the ieiners are Obliged
to look for advances of cash, of which
they are always in more or less urgent
need. The refiners must pay prompt
ly for the ores furnished to them
from the mines. A single firm will
sometimes carry rs much az 1,500, 900
ounces of silver in the ore, which may
be gold-bearing also. This requires a
lot of money.
The retiner must pay the mine own
cr not only for the silver in the ores.
but also for whatever gold. copper or
lead they may contain. The silver is
made into large bricks, commercially
known ms "bars," weighing ordinarily
from 1000 to 1900 ounces. Each brick
is stamped with fgures indicating It's
weight and fineness. These figures
are absolutely reliable; not the Gov
ernment itself could be more careful
to have them correct. The bars are
bought and sold, passing through
many hands, without any further test
for determining their value. If one
of them should provo to be not rs
represented the credit and standing
of the reiiner would suffer serious
damage.
The refincr forwards his bars bv cx-
press to the dealer in New York. They
are delivered usually at the Office of
the dealer, where several tons of them
may be stacked up at one time on the
iloor, with no other protection than
wire fence. No special guard is
necessary, because the big chunks of
white metal are too heavy to be car
ried away easily. Robbers would
have to bring truck with them. A
brick weighing eighty or one hundred
| pounds is n pretty good lift for
Itrong man. Sometimes the rofner,
mt the dealers order, sends the bars
direct to the ship, and they are put
down into the hold like any other
merchandise.
Ordinarily the silver bars are not
placed in the specie vault, even
though the ship may have such con-
venience for safe deposit. No greater
care is taken OF them than of other
merchandise in the cargo, because it
Is practically impossible for anybody
toget away with them. On the ar
rival of the ship at Liverpool the
bricks are sent by rail to London,
consigned to brokers in that city. In
due time they sold and forwarded to
various parts OF the world. Some of
them may go to the continent, while
Others are shipped to Egypt. Bombay,
Madras, Penang, Manila, the Brazils
and New Zealand. Dealers in silver
everywhere look to London for their
supply.
The demand from India for silver
has been greatly diminished of late.
owing to the Tact that the British
Government in that country has
stopped coming the metal. /. is still
coined to n considerable extent, how
ever, by the mints of the native
princes. A great deal of silver goes
to China, where the bricks are cut up
into pieces, which circulate and have
value as currency, according to their
weight. These pieces are called
"taels," and those employed in differ
ent parts of the empire vary in weight,
SO that the merchant in concluding II
bargain must be s.:e as 60 whether he
Is TO ne paiJ IN taels OF Shanghai or
of dnikwan, or oG Tien-Tsin, or of
! Chefoo.
our silver bars are known on The
London market ms "cake" silver. The
latest quotation for cake silver ia 80!
cents per ounce. 'F!re bar" silver
| is WoftG ftty-slX cents an ounce. Iha
quotation for fine bar silver contain
ing five grains OF geld to the ounce is
half II cent more, This kind of silver
isused almost wholly by reincr5 il
the processes of their business. MeXi-
can dollars are quoted at fifty cents
an ounce. These dollars are favor
lite circulating medium in China and
the Straits Settlements, and they are
regularly quoted on change in New
York AS we'll ns in London.
The silver dealer in New York buys
foreign coins of all sorts. Suppose
that n merchant in tie City of Mexico
owes sum of money to a merchant in
New York. He pays the debt by 4
shipment of Mexican dollars. This
New York merchant finds no use for
Mexican dollars in his business, and
SO sells them to the dealer in silver.
The dealer forwards them to broker
| IN I,nn1on aud tho lottar abipo than,