Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-18
THE SILVER MARKET.

The recent rise in the price of silver has
caused a good deal of comment, as well as
ooo}satons as II to ad the future onarssr course tners Of q the e
disposition to regard the rise as largely
speculative, or, perhaps, due to the action
O. put'e oe tS Sen mean: but E i for this hh1 view q th ere
seems to be but little foundation. There
has been some speculative interest in the
marked influence on quotations.; and while
sellers naturally watch conditions closely,
there has been nothing like concerted ac-
has been due to an active demand for the
metal, the causes for which can be ex-
planned with little difficulty, says the En-
cheering and Mining Journal.
There has BEEN, as we noted some time
ago.. an increase in the demand for silver
ior n andu st the PURPOSES 1nw geices THIS nh,d Is the hsya result suit
vailed for several years., but in greater de-
gree of the general prosperity Of the past
good. the world has been busy, and has had
a surplus to spend 80 hat there has been
a demand for the articles Of use and orna-
ment in which silver forms an important
This industrial demand. however, though
OF importance, Is not Of itself enough to
to the demand for the metal in the east.
especially in India and China.
The quantity of silver taken for export
an increase of Is per cent. which was main
~ due to the purchases of the metal which
were forced on the Indian government.
tinued In India seven years ago, the reserve
which the government maintained against
It's circulating notes was largely in silver
rupees. AS this reserve was drawn upon
1t was replaced by gold, under the policy
adopted by the government. India is q
poor country, however. and the great bulk
Of the business transactions among It's peo-
pie Is In amounts too small for any gold
coin that might be issued: and gold coin
does not circulate at all in the country,
Even the boards of the people are usually
too small for gold, and by necessity as well
as by custom they are in silver. The de-
1nand for coined rupees continued steadily
and the reserve in the Indian treasury was
became alarmed at it's small amount. When
the necessarily large expenditures for fam
Inc relief were added, the situation became
alarming. The government was forced to
give way, and to order a large coinage of
silver rupees. The amount of this new
coinage has not been made public; but as
the purchases of silver continue, it may be
Inferred that q limit has not been reached
Besides this government demand, the pri-
vate purchases of silver for India have
continued as large as usual; 1t has been
of silver to India dc not fall off, as might
be expected; and this has been the case
during the present year.
For China the demand has been on a diff
ferent basis. The shipments to that coun-
try for the first half Of the year have been
nearly double those of last year. This has
not been due to any great increase in trade.
but to the fact that European nations
especially R~ussia-have been spending large
amounts in China for railroad building,
mine explorations, improvements of ports
been largely made in silver. The demand
thus created had to be met by purchases
in the open market. and these have been a
factor factor. quite q ma, ns important nr;us. as THE the Indian
for China is likely to continue and may be
increased rather than diminished by the