Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-01-13
By Cornelius F. Kelley,

industrial, economic and financial arose over night that stressed to tn uttermost the ingenuity and abilit. of those who dealt with them. It wa essentially time demanding actiol rapid and concentrated, and not ont for discussion, either academic or pol emic. As result, matters of impor tance were necessarily transacted without the desirable opportunity be- ing afforded of enabling a genera understanding to be gained as to the relative merit or demerit involved, anc insome instances, legislation essentia to enable the consummation of an i'm. portant matter was passed without at, tracing the public attention ther deeply engrossed in the larger aspects of the situation.
 The result was that so long as the public mind was occupied, little ol no concern was given to questions that ordinarily would have invited i'm mediate attention; and in some in stances, only when as an aftermath of war a particular subject has be- come a matter of discussion, criticism not altogether fair is made without first obtaining accurate knowledge as to the conditions that prevailed, the purpose sought to be accomplished, or the results obtained by the action taken.
 A striking illustration of this is af- forded by the general misconception of the causes that led to the enact ment, and the working, of the so-call- ed Pittman Act, under which domes- tic silver is now being purchased by the Director of the Mint at a price of one dollar per ounce, while foreign silver is quoted at much below that figure.
 MISTAKEN CRITICISM
 During the past few months, crlti- cism has been directed toward what has been termed, and no doubt is honestly regarded as, an unwarranteo subsidy of silver production; and somewhat vehement are the protesta' tions that are being made agalnss what is designated as the imposition of an unnecessary burden upon our depleted treasury. In no instance that has come to my attention, has the author of such criticism disclosed accurate information, if any were possessed, as to the conditions under which the statute was enacted, and the circumstances that led to 1t, al- though it constituted a measure or war legislation of the utmost impor- tance. ]
 As a preliminary to discussion of the Act in question it should be def hitely stated that 1t never had, nor has it now, any connection of any kind with any question economic or poliu- cal that has besn associated with the discussion of free coinage or hmetal- lsm as opposed to nonometalliam' or the ratio which exists or should exist between gold and silvsr. In short, the Pittman Act, and the position Of silver hereunder, must be completely dissOeiated from any question that Is or has been Q matter of controversial economies.
 It is also important that it be un- derstood that the law was not passed as a subsidy for silver production, nor to benefit silver miners. Its enact ment occurred at time of vital i'm portance in the prosecution of the war. Its main purpose was to enable Great Britain to meet her oriental ex- change obligations, and the people should be informed that in carrying out the provisions of the law there neither has been, nor will there be, any cost incurred by our Government. The United States has not spent . single cent that it will not recover. The law imposes no burden upon the taxpayer of the United States, nor does it take one dollar from it's treasury. NATURE and PURPOSE OF THE
 PITTNAN ACT.
 If the foregoing statements b. cor rect, query arises as to the naturs Of the Act, what was its purpose, to what extent has such purpose been fulfilled, and what if anything rs- mains to be performed hereunder? The answer, briefly, is that the pur- pose of the Act, aside from making possible the rendition of a service of inestimable value to Great Britain at the time of its enactment, was to leg alize a plain business proposition that was in the nature of a three-party compact, to whieh the United States and Great Britain were the contract ing parties, while the American miner, though not named, was an interested and active participant in the transas- tion.
 The compact has been partially per formed. Tho purchaser of silver from the Government under the Act has secured the important benefit that flowed from its ability to do so at a