The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-10-25
FIXING PRICE OF SILVER
BY 4 LONDON BROKERS
DISPOSED TO RIDlcULE SILVER
EXPORT ASSOCIATlON-DO
NOT SPECULATE.
paul Wooton IN Engineering and
Mining Journal-Press)

firms of bullion brokers in London
who give the world its daily silver
quotation, is that they do not specu-
/ late on their own account. Enough
transactions, both buying and selling,
pass through their hands, they de-
clare, to enable them to determine
! with accuracy the price reflected by
| the volume OF buying orders ON the
one hand and the selling orders on
/ the other. They declare that all they
! do is to hold the scale steadily Their
practice is said to be simply that of
any commodity exchanged. How
ever. there is. at least, the important
difference that their operations are
behind closed doors rather than on the
open floor Of an exchange.
The four firms which make up this
So called silver exchange are: Samuel
Montagu & Co.; Mocatta * Goldsmid;
Sharps & Wilkins, and pixley x Abel
Only partners in the firm may sit in
the price fixing conference. The Mon
taeg company usually is represented
by Benjamin White, and Pixley *
Abel by II. l.. Baggallay. The part
ners in Mocatta & Goldsmid are e.
L. de NJ Moratta. O. r. Moratta and
John r. Villiers The partners form
ing Sharps & Wilkins are =. A. VIII
kins, II. Beer and l.. Balfour.
The price-hxing conference con-
venes each weekday at las p. m. with
the exception of Saturday when the
meeting is at 1880 a. m. Usually only
a few moments are required Each
member of the conference attends
with the orders that have come to his
firm. and from these figures a balance
is struck. These orders from buyers
and from sellers constitute fair
representation of the worlds market,
the brokers say. They claim they are
powerless to take any action contrary
to the economic forces which govern
price.
Around transactions involving such
large amounts as pass through the
hands of these four brokers' one
would expect to find some evidence
of opulence Quite the contrary is
true. Mr. White, for instance, has
HIS UtHh ia "a NNA IA AbDlii bNAON AAAh
sidewalk level He shares it with his
clerks and they work with artificial
light all day Janitors in an Ameri-
can Office building would demand bet
ter accommodations and better furni-
ture. Iet mir. W mite mas been with
the powerful house of Montagu for
more than forty years. He is the
.,tlor of sie,if,rar lie IIfcfot.t and Tfq
Romance" and other widely read
books on matters pertaining to silver
and economies. The entrance to the
Office of Pixley & Abel is off an
alley.
British bullion brokers do not believe
the producers of silver will be able to
conduct an export association with
success. They would have pitted
against them, among others, the Indian
bazaars and the Chinese traders,
where are found the most astute
judges of the silver market. The
Hindus and the Chinese are just as
ready to sell as they are TO buy and
seem to possess an uncanny ability
to sense the silver market. To en-
nance the price, large stocks would
have to be held by the association,
the brokers believe. which might
mean being left "to carry the baby"
as one broker put it, and a very
heavy baby at that"
The brokers seem to be entirely I'M
concerned as to what action the pro-
ducers take, or at least their attitude
creates that impression. They simply
will continue to hold the scales, they
declare.
My Investigations in London have 9
me that new effort should
be made to establish in New York an
exchange which would be in a position
to develop silver prices of its own. The
benefits which flow from commodity
exchanges generally cause even the
British to wonder why we do not make
use of that facility in our trading in
metals and in coal Pending any such
development, it would seem desirable
for the silver producers to arrange
at the price-hXing
meeting In taking that matter up
with the London brokers, L have
reason to believe it would be diplo
matte for the producers to point out
that their agent would represent more
than the silver producers of the United
States. If it can be arranged, it should
be proposed that he sit as the au-
agent of silver producers in
various countries of this hemisphere.
There is a feeling in England that
are a little too forward in
asserting the increased strength of
their financial and commercial posi-
ton, and in consequence there might
be sentimental opposition to the seat
ing of a representative who would be
acting for a group of American pro-
ducers. Since Canadian. Mexican.
Central and South American produc-
ers are just as much interested as
are Americans they probably would
vvaioouna e1rob an oppOrfnnitV