The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-11-16
The Price of Silver and World Chaos
Financial Review. New York;

The intelligentsia prefer to discuss
world problems in glittering generali-
ties; definite consideration is much
more exacting. The ills of this country
are attributed to wall street." those
of Europe to our failure to join the
league of nations and our refusal to
cancel the eleven billion dollar debt
which the people-minus the intelli-
gentsia-lOaned during the war
The price of silver, one of these
painfully concrete subjects, is a tech
nical and hardly worthwhile matter in
the minds of these abstractionists.
The chaos that exists particularly in
Europe is obviously due to a rotten
credit situation conditioned very large
ly by the omission of nondescript pa
per money rather than the circum-
scribed kind of some related value It
is apparently equally true that no
valuation of even 100 billion dollars
of this paper money is possible with
less than 81 billion dollars in gold.
Nor will yearly production of 49,
0OO,0 ounces of gold help to overcome
the total problem of making good a
total of 400 billion dollars in paper
money even excluding that of Russia.
Silver became a football when some
of the wise solons of the world insist
ed that there was too much gold and
silver and that if one of these metals
was not demonetized world credit
would collapse.
The problem if we are to return to
a suOnd credit basis must be that of
trying to validate as much of this pa
per money as we can. Present gold
supplies and prevailing gold produc-
ton will not do this; annual produc-
ton of $50 900, 900 ounces of silver may
help.
What has actually been done in the
past four years?
Has there been any reduction in the |
total paper money issues? No; they !
have been increased from 200 to 400 |
billion dollars. minus Russia.
The latter country, after having seen
It's paper money reduced to values less
han that of cheap wall paper, has fin
:Ay reached virtual reputation, and
he new paper ruble note is now
backed" by both gold and silver. Ger
many is apparently headed in the
iame direction; Austria is suffering |,
rom these influences probably more 4
han either Russia or Germany;
france and Italy are probably not ex-
any mental or spiritual dis
ress but the economic situation is so \
adly disrupted that If the peoples s
here were positively sane they would 6
ave demanded reforms long before T
his.
Nearly every expert on foreign ex-
hange and precious metals knows that
REVEALING silver production does not
quail demand; that Of $50 million Is
unces produced yearly more than so
iiliions goes to China and India, that
millions is secured under the Pitt Z
ian law In this country and that the d
alanee goes to meet in part other de- c
ands including commercial uses. b
The excess-above production-has L
zen provided since the war through RI
ie melting down of the comparatively II
nah amount Of good, printing l.
'ess paper that remained in Europe h
he treaty Of Versailles encouraged p
is destruction of sound currency by c.
the gold of Germany, but II
exercising none over that Of silver; oi
repeated the tactics of the Prussian- OF
'ench settlement of 1870 and filed lb'
e London markets with this silver tn
tanned from currency during 1919 W
20 and part of 1921 W
Since the beginning of 1921 the new la
d chief offender has been Great sa