Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1922-01-13

tlon could no longer meet require
 ments. The price necessa arily advanc-
 ed. The price taken at the value of
 a fine ounce, average quotation, New
 York, from 1914 to 1919, was as fol
 lows:
 1914 SO.54S11
 1915 ...-.......................... O.496S4
 1916 ....-.-...-...- 0.65661
 1917 ..................... 0.81417
 1918 .....................,... ......... 0.96772
 1919 ............................. 1.11122 It will be noted that while the av-
 craze price for 1917 was $0.81417, a
 maximum price of $1.0S5 was reached
 during the month of September, fol-
 lowed by an entirely unexpected stop
 page of buying on the part of the agencies supplied or controlled direct
 ly or indirectly through London, with the result that the price fell to $0.S25 in October, when buying once more commenced. The reason for the cessation of buying and the decline in price in 1917 was no doubt due to the realization by purchasers that to continue would lead to a rapid in crease of price to prohibitive figures, without the possibility existing of ability to supply the demand. The situation became critical and measur- es were taken to meet it. Great Britain had already assumed control over imports and exports of silver within and throughout it's Empire. The United States, after becoming belligerant, assumed control over ex- ports. Its action was followed by Canada, so that no open market for the metal no longer existed.
 THE U. s. TREASURY HOARD
 In this situation, there was just one place in the world where an available supply of silver existed, and that was the Treasury of the United States, where there was held as a reserve against silver certificates which had been issued, either in bullion or coin ed into dollars, the equivalent of ap- proximately four hundred million fine ounces of silver. To make this sup ply available for the requirements of the Allies became matter of pressing war necessity and demanded coopera- tive effort on the part of the Govern ment and American producers, that under no other conditions would have been exerted.
 In the autumn of 1917, representa- tions of the situation were made by Great Britain to the United States, and the latter, through officials of the Treasury, undertook the problem first, of endeavoring to reach an agreement with the producers of sil- yer as to q price at which all silver produced should be marketed, and second, to secure necessary legislation to make available the silver supply of the United States.
 At first, the silver miners, who have felt that for many years, in the fix ing of the world price, London has, taken advantage of its situation as the clearing houS of Chinese and In dian exchange to fix thu pries to the of the Indian Government in the collection of saigniorage on the coining rupees and to the disadvant tage, chiefly, of the Ausriean and Mexican producers, from which the bulk of production comes, resisted the attempt, not because they lacked sym pathetic interest in the matter, but because they objected to the proposal which was first made, namely to fix the price at a maximum based upon the coinage value of silver in the rupee to gold in the pound sterling as fixed by British law at the then existing ratio of one sovereign to 15 rupees. The ratio so fixed at par ex- change was the equivalent of e4 cents an ounce for silver, and would, under the then existing charges of express age, insurance, etc., have made a max imum price of about ST cents ani ounce, New York, while it was ap- parent to all who understood the situ- ation that without the check of gov ernment action by the United States and the cooperation of American miners, no reasonable limit of price either could or would be established.
 A CRITICAL SITUATION
 DEVELOPED
 The several Western districts pri- marily interested in the production of silver sent representatives to Wash ington, who, with number of con representatives, met with officials of the Treasury. A com plete understanding of the situation and as result, in this as we'll as in every other effort that was necessary to aid at the time, the American miner subordinateA his self interest and who'e-heartedly pledged himself to cooperate to the liriit If his resources and ability. An under
 ->~~knl Sec< En !