The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1919-07-31
NEVADA SENATOR TALKS
ON SILVER SITUATION
AUTHOR OF PlTTMAN ACT SAYS
UNCLE SAM SHOULD CON-
Troll THE PRICE.

ciiNtli It's luLuit, Il SuDJtCl Vi SilAi
interest to western mining operators,
is discussed fully in an article by Sen
ator Key Pittman of Nevada in a re-
cent issue of the Magazine of Wall
Street:
The silver situation Is challenging
the attention and study Of the states
men and fnanciers of the world. At
the time of the passage of the Pittman
was threatened in India by reason of
the inability of Great Britain to obtain
silver to supply the Indian demand
Some day the proper British authori-
ties may consider it advisable to tell
the world how serious this situation
was and how vital our action was to
the successful termination of the
world war.
There was no surplus supply Of
silver in the world except the silver
dollars in the United States treasury
held to redeem silver certificates is
sued against them. 1t then became
production had always been exceed
ingly limited. study of the statis-
ties demonstrated that during the past
II years the worlds production of sill
yer had not exceeded 175O0O,0 900
ounces and that in each of those years
the demand had constantly doubled
that of the production.
Must Have Metallic Money.
"A war demonstrated the instability
of governments Of fiat paper money,
and commercial necessity for me-
tallic money, 1t also demonstrated the
insufficient supply of gold. Every gov
eminent was utilizing every power to
retain its gold, and one of the meth
DDS of retaining gold was to pay in
silver
India Is great sink for silver. No
silver that enters there returns to the
worlds circulation again. The United
States produces over one third of the
annual production Of the world: the
United States, Canada and Mexico
produce over three quarters of the sill
yer of the world, and up until the
passage Of the Pittman act, the silver
market of the world was dominated in
London and the price of silver there
arbitrarily fixed each morning.
Our government by promising to
buy silver whenever it dropped to 81
per ounce prevented London from fix
ing the price below that amount. In
other words, it took the control of the
silver market away from London. How
was it possible for London to control
the silver market when nearly all of
the silver was produced on the Amer
lean continent?
American Control of Price.
This was very simple. There were
thousands of producers and sellers of
silver and they were prevented from
combining under our anti trust stat
ute, while there was virtually only one
buyer in the world, and that was Lon
don. In other words, the buyers were
combined and the sellers were wildly
competing that they might continue
the silver industry.
Congress passed the Webb Pome-
rene act to meet lust such conditions
Under this bin our silver producers
may combine to meet foreign combin-
ations, When This is accomplished
the value Of silver win be fixed by the
law Of supply and demand
"The law Of supply and demand ran
the price of platinum up during the
war from about $50 per ounce to over
800 per ounce. If the demand for sill
Yer Is even twice the supply, we have
a right to at least assert that the price
OF silver is going up much higher. IT
Il goes to S1.29 per ounce, 1t will bring
ahout u change of parity of gold and
silver as used in our money ex-
changes This would undoubtedly
cause great deal Of inconvenience to
the worlds monetary systems
Silver Exchange.
at would possibly result in the
melting mp of silver coin and its trans |
latlon into bullion The United States
would suffer less from this inconven-
fence than almost any other nation. |
by reason of its large production. 1t is
very difficult to see why any of our
statesmen or dnarciers would oppose
an increase in the value of any pro-
fuct OF which the United States pro-
'uces virtually one-third The nat
lral progression of silver toward a
ralue fixed by supply and demand will l.
% expedited by the establishment of a |,
silver EXCHANGE, Snch exchange will
teen the producer. the purchaser and
he broker constantly informed as to
he supply and the demand In my /
'pnion the ultimate result Of the sill
Ter movement is the reimbursement and
of money exchanges
ON int t;ono1 ,n,faronoo l.,