Arizona republican., 1920-11-24
THE RETURN OF SILVER Rv Eredarin l Haskin

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov 23.-l The quest of silver, which played so important a part in the development | of this country, is again attracting | large numbers of fortune seekers to the l West. For the first time in many quiet | years, Salt Lake City is thronged with | prospectors on their way back and forth from the mountains. where min ing camps that have slumbered longer than Rip Van Wrinkle are stirring in their sleep and threatening a renewal of their former activity.
 Silver is once more coming into it's own. The reason is that the world demand for it is much greater than the present available supply, which condi- ton is sufficient to keep the price of silver at a fair figure for years to- come.
 One hears much excited conjecture as to the future of the metal here in Salt Lake City. which is the greatest snaelting center in the world. As such, l it receives practically all of the silver ore produced on this continent-ore from Mexico and Canada as well as that from Utah, Nevada and Montana mines. The largest silver mines are in Mexico; the largest silver mine in this country is in Montana. and the second largest in Utah. Some of this product | is shipped by way of San Francisco to the Orient. but the greater part goes to London.
 The history of silver. of it's rise and I fall, is curiously romantic. Once q king among metals, fought for by po- tentates and pirates and capable of drawing an army of fortune hunters across a continent. silver tottered and 1 fell, after demonetization in 1873, until dozens of silver mines were compelled 1 fsa ofn the 1Qfa the owner of a silver mine was not to l be enyied. He was in the same posi- ton as so many owners of gold claims i today who cannot afford to operate them. Mining costs were too high and
 the price of silver too low.
 The greatest demand for silver has always been in the Orient. There are
 only two great countries in the world which are not on a gold basis. and these are China and India. They are
 the chief so- called silver nations. This is because they are heavily in debt to
 other nations. and must trade with
 them on whatever terms their creditors see fit. If China could succeed in de-
 velpaing it's splendid natural resources
 So that it could get out of debt, it could
 demand payment for it's goods in gold But until then it will have to take
 silver.
 tHQidg tuG 0iNCf 9ttR
 In India the coinage is entirely oi silver, which is minted by the British . government The demand for silver
 for personal adornment is also very great in that country, owing to ths
 preference of the people for carryins
 their wealth about with them. Thiev-
 cry flourishes so successfully in India that this is an almost necessary pre- f caution. At the cry of Thief" in th' f night the average native family merely o gets up and runs, carrying it's riche.
 in the form of bracelets. rings ant ! chains. The same custom is observed
 in certain parts of our own West
 where the men carry their wealth no
 in the form of silver, but of diamonds ;, The silver authorities in Salt Lak
 City speak of India as the silver sink They say they don't know what be 2 comes of all of it. but that no silve
 which ever goes into India ever come o out. While this is a slight exaggera
 tion, of course, it is true that a grea f deal of metal is hoarded from genera
 ton to generation, through which it
 passed down much in the same forn as the families of other nations pas Q down their real estate. Widows i f India, for instance, have no dowe
 right, but they are permitted to kee i. their ornaments, which naturall = l causes the natlVe women to demand q . many silver necklaces as possible.
 All of the Indian supply of coinage f provided by the British governmen I which therefore has always been in : terested in keeping the price of silve
 down. For when the price or silve ? rises above the value of the India
 roupee, which is 94 cents, everybod V immediately melts his supply of rou e pees down and sells them for bulliol
 There is one group of four brokers i IS London which has been setting th
 price of silver for the rest of the worl .e for a long period of years. One firl f is in it's sixth generation. They me, .s at II o'clock every morning and eN >, change orders. Some have buying ol
 ders and some selling orders, and c IS the basis of these orders they fix u ,. price of silver for the day.
 n War Prices of Silver
 ,e This custom suffered severe cheC IS with the war. Then the British gov Id ernment and the other allied goverl ts ments were in need Of unusually lars ts quantities of a the metal with which to pay China and India for war supple le Most of this silver they had to bJ e from the United States. There was m Id nearly sufficient metal on hand in tn
 country to supply the demand and [