Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-19

as of a certain fneness and passes as
currency in the bullion form, and a
huge quantity of it is made into or
naments. For silver is still the fav.
orite @material for personal adorn.
ment in the Orient.
1t is evident, then, that the silver
producers of the world have lost a
considerable part of their market by
reason of the disuse of silver coinage.
1t is also evident hat supply and de-
mand do not operate in this market
as they do in others, for the demand
for silver is largely dependent Upon
government action.
Silver in the Arts
In addition to that used in coinage,
there is another market for silver
created by its use in the arts. Here
again the Orient with its ancient in
variable taste for silver bracelets,
anklets and other trinkets, is the
main market, but the Occident also
consumes a considerable amount of
silver in the form of table silver and
ornaments for the house. Wedding
gifts of forks, spoons and the like
are one of the chief uses of silver in
this country and throughout EuSope.
The silver producers claim that
this market is in a peculiar way de-
pendent upon the amount of silver
used in other ways.
If much silver is used in coinage,
they say, the price will be relatively
high and relatively high price means
a relatively large use of silver in the
arts. In the case of almost any
other commodity, the lower the price
the greater the use. 1t is claimed
that this does not hold good of silver
used in the arts and especially for
silver goods used as wedding and n
niversary gifts. For the more ex-
pensive a gift, the better it serves It's
purpose. When silver is high in
price, the w~ealthiest persons will use
1t for gifts, but when it becomes
cheap, they will turn to some more
expensive material. This, of course,
holds good to some extent of all ma.
terials used for gift and adornment.
Diamonds are highly valued not only
for their beauty but also because of
their scarcity and high price. Silver
jeWelry is no longer esteemed in the
money-mad western world, not be-
III it is not beautiful, but because
it is too cheap. Platinum and gold
drive 1t out.
The silver market means a great
deal to the United States, because it
often produces more silver than all
other countries put together. The
worlds annual production of silver
ranges from 175,000,0O0 ounces to
100000 ounce At its peak of
production the United States has
produced as much as no. 900, 900
ounces. Most of the rest comes from
Canada and Mexico.
| Thara fc o0at1ap 10000 ,.t-.. -
brisk and profitable market for silver
is important to the United States,
and that is that most of our silver
is a by-product of the mining of
lead, zinc and copper. Hence a good
demand for silver means a large pro-
duction and possibly a lower price
for these other metals which are SO
important to the industries.
No governmental action is expect
ed as a result of the investigation
now under way. The mining inter-
ests are understood not to be asking
for the reenactment of the Pittmar
act or of anything like it. The,
want primarily to get all the fact
bearing upon the silver market. TheI
believe that when all the facts are
known, it may be possible to maxi
some arrangement with British In
t%erests, looking toward the restora
ton of silver coinage. They are ais
, inclined to believe that when tn
coinages of Europe are stabilized,
/, great deal of silver will have to b
: used in the process. No one an.
/ longer trusts the paper c~urrencies o
+ the war-torn countries. In order. l.
r make their currencies sound, thes
countries sooner or later will have T.
. Issue hard money which will hav
a value as metal somewhere near 1t
| face value. 1t will be difficult 70
' them to get enough gold for thi
3 purpose. Therefore they will almos
3 certainly have to use silver.