Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-23
THE HASK1N LETTER
THE RETURN OF SILVER.


is thronged with prospectors on their
way back and forth from the noun
tains, where mining camps hat have
slumbered longer han Rip Van
Wrinkle are stirring in their sleep
and threatening a renewal of their
former activity.
Silver is once more coming into its
own. The reason is that the worlds
demand for it is mucn greater than
the present available supply, which
condition is sufficient to keep the
price of silver at a fair figure for
years to come.
One hears much excited conjec-
ture as to the future of the metal
here In Salt Lake City, which is the
greatest smelling center in the world.
AS such, it receives practically all
of the silver ore produced on this
continent-ore from Mexico and
Canada, as well rs that from Utah,
Nevada and Montana mines. The
largest silver mines are In Mexico;
the largest silver mine in this coun-
try is in Montana, and the second
largest in Utah. Some of this pro-
duct is shipped by way of San Fran
cisco to the Orient, but the greater
part goes to LONDON.
The history of silver, of its rise
and fall, is curiously romantic. Once
a king among metals fought far
by potentates and pirates, and capa-
BILE of drawing an army of fortune
hunters across a continent, silver
tottered and fell after demonetiza-
ton in 1873, until dozens of silver
mines were compelled to close down.
Before the late war, the owner of
a silver mine vas not to be envied.
He vas in the same position as SO
many nUnnrG nf gold nlaip,a 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 10 other nations, and
must trade with them on whatever
terms their creditors see fit. If China
could succeed In developing its
splendid natural resources SO hat it
could get out of debt, it could de-
mand payment for its goods in gold.
But until then 1t will have to take
silver.
India, the Silver Sink.
In India the coinage is entirely
of silver. which is minted by the
British government. The demand
for personal adornment is also very
great in that country, owing to the
preference of the people for carry
ing their wealth about with them.
Thievery fiourishes SO successfully in
India that this is an almost neces-
sary precaution. At the cry Thief"
in the night. the average native fam
lily merely gets up and runs, carrying
Its rches in the form of bracelets,
rings n chains. Tie same custom
is observed in certain parts of our
own west, where t hemen carry their
wealth not in the form of silver, but
diamonds.
The silver authorities in Salt Lake
City speak of India as the silver
sink. They say they don't know
what com of all of 1t, but that
silver which ever goes into India
m out. While this is a
slight exaggeration. of course. it is
rue that a great deal of metal is
hoarded from generation to genera
tlon, through which it is passed
down much in the same form as the
of other nations pass down
their real estate. Widows in India,
for instance, have no dover right.
$500 49, i pei iiillltu 10 Keep Inelr |
ornaments, which naturally causes
the native women to demand as
silver necklaces as possible.
All of the Indian supply of silver
coinage is provided by the British
government, which therefore has al
ways been interested in keeping the |
price OF silver down. For when the
price OF silver rises above the value
of the Indian roupee, which is nine
ty-four cents, everybody Immediate
ly melts his supply of and
sells them for bullion. There is
one group of four brokers in London
which has been setting the price of |
silver for the rest of the world for a
long period of years. One firm is
IN It's sixth generation. They met
at ~ o'clock every morning and ex-
change orders. Some have buying
orders and some selling orders. and
on the basis of these orders they fix
the price of silver for the day.
War Prices of Silver.
This custom suffered a severe
check with the war. Then the
British government and the other
allied governments were in need of
unusually large quantities of the
metal with which to pay China and
india for war supplies. Most of this
silver they had to buy from the
United States. There was not near
ly sufficient metal on hand in this
country to supply the demand, and
the price started rising. AS an ailv
in the war, the United States gov
eminent was compelled to interfere
and set an export price on silver at
Sl0l Is an ounce, which was higher
than Great Britain had ever per
mitted it to go, but not as high as
American mine owners liked.
Then, as the demand for the
metal became acute, and it was also
needed to meet u own adverse
trade alance with India. Congress
passed what is known as the Pitt
man act, authorizing the Secretary
or the Treasury to melt down 350.-
100000 silver dollars held in the
vaults of the treasury and to sell
the bullion. The silver certificates
outstanding against these dollars
were to be previously retired and
their place in the circulation to be
taken by notes issued by the Federal
reserve banks, secured by special
deposits of United States treasury
certificates.
This kept the price of silver steady
for the period of the war, but upon
h signing of the armistice the ex-
port restriction was removed. I'M
mediately the price of silver started
soaring until last December n
reached the unprecedented figure of
$1.33 an ounce Everybody began
melting down his silver heirlooms
for bullion, which sold at a tremen-
dous profit. Silver plate and orna-
ments bought in the years 1904 and
1905 when silver was selling at from
hfty-two to sixty cents an ounce sud-
denly became worth twice as much