The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1923-03-08
PITTMAN TO DROWNELL
CONTROL SILVER PRICE
FAVORS EXPORT ASSOCIATION
IN ABSENCE OF GOVERN
MENT ACTION.

The Miner has heretofore published
extracts from letter by F. II. Brow
nell. vice president of the American
Smelling & Refining company and
president of the Federal Mining &
Smelling company to Senator Pitt
man. of Nevada, defining the attitude
of the smelling interests toward the
proposed export association as a
means of controlling the price of sill
yer following the completion of gov
eminent purchases under the Pittman
act In his reply to Mr.. Brownell,
Senator Pittman discusses the pro-
posed association at considerable
length. The Congressional Record of
February contains Mr.. Brownell's
letter and Senator Pittmans reply
The latter follows:
Pittman's Reply to BrowneIl.
Il have read more carefully your
letter of January &c. in reply to a
letter addressed to the former gov
'ernor of the state of Nevada, appear
ing in the Congressional Record of
January %, 1928, on page 21S4.
Il am pleased to have your explain
alton of the meaning that you intend
ed to give your testimony before the
committee on mines and mining of
the United States senate, wherein
you said in substance that the smell
ter companies were not interested in
the price of silver, as they all sold at
the market
Il was aware, of course. that for
many reasons the smelter companies
should be interested in the price of
silver You have stated very clearly
these reasons This should urge the
smelter companies to take the most
active interest in all plans looking to
the betterment Of the silver industry
81 am still rather at a loss to I'M
derstand why the smelter companies !
have so quickly surrendered partic-
ularly in the matter of financing an
export association. There is mini I
mum price for silver At that mini |
mum price there is no better security |
in the world than silver bullion. Since !
the writing of your letter I have dis
cussed this very matter with men who
are able to finance such association,
and they have expressed their entire \
willingness to undertake it.
you use a double argument against
the formation of such an association.
You say if it can be financed then it
is not legal; and if it is legal, then it
can not be financed. 1t is this hope
less attitude on the part of the smell
ters that appears so unreasonable
under the statement of the interest OF
the smelters in silver as set forth in
your letter
Copper People Organized
1.-The smelter and copper people or
ganized a copper export association.
I assume that that was legal-at least
our government has not seen fit TO at
tack it. What was the object of such
association? Was one of it's purposes
to sustain the price of copper Is
there any distinction in law in sus-
tanning The price of copper to prevent
it from going to a lower level or in
raising it from the lower level to the
sustained price?
Copper is sold abroad and in the
United States just as silver is sold
abroad and in the United States. Did
the sustaining of the price of copper
abroad sustain the price of it in the
United States? If So was that a vio-
lation of our antitrust acts? Is it any
more legal to artificially prevent the
price of copper from going down in
accordance with the supply and de-
mand than it would be to put it up
to such price and hold it there by the {
same means?
"All of our antitrust acts were pass
ed for the purpose of preventing the S
fixing of unfair and extortonate c
prices through combinations in re-
straint of trade. A silver export as Y
ISOLATION will have no such purpose I
nor will it have that effect. G
The exchange value of silver and s
subsidiary coins and gold in the Unit :
ed States is on the basis of approx Y
mately s1.29 an ounce for silver a
Whenever the price of silver is be- I
low such price it is below par. The C
association is not to artifcially in
crease its value but on the contrary
to remove the artificial restrictions
imposed upon it's marketing. which do |
now and for a long time have pre-
vented it from rising to it's natural
value based on supply and demand ?
Congress had in mind at the time t
that the Webb Pomerene act was +
passed these combinations in foreign t
countries which have Disseminated l
against and restricted the rise in price Il
of our products. I can hardly con- 3
ceive of a case in which the price Of z
our products were increased abroad il
that there would not be some shad a
owy reflection upon the price at home. v
1t was not this shadowy reflection v
that congress intended to prohibit, b
because such a prohibition would be p
e n IL IL Z