Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-10
Silver From China
Floods World Market

| From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
On an average for the past few years
Mexico has produced approximately
| 100 900 900 ounces of silver. The pres
ent quotations are about Al cents an
ounce, the lowest on record. Mexican
mines expect to throw several thou.
sands Of workers out of a Job. China"
F., says Walter Palmer, big mine owner
in Mexico, in a New York Times in
| terview, owing to her internal wars,
/ has thrown mountains Of silver on the
market and India Is buying only small
quantities. Practically all the principal
nations of the world have gone on a
gold basis, so that silver remains with
out support" He adds:
TN the arts, while silver is still con-
sumed to some extent, its use Is much
| lowered Silverware Is nowadays I'M
appreciated and uncherished as in years
gone by In the home"
This is true, of course. It is a normal
consequence OF the low value OF the
metal in. terms of gold. Spoons and
forks worth intrinsically only Al cents
an ounce are not likely to be cherished.
All small silver articles of ornament
must depend on art workmanship for
their value, not on the metal itself.
All of which considerations point to
a collapse in silver production the world
over, and are calculated to raise the
question as to the future of silver in
the worlds civilization. Mr.. Palmer
would like to have Mexico, as a govern
ment, coin fixed proportion of each
years product within her borders large
enough to enable mine owners to pay
mining wages. For this he finds pre-
cedent in the 1918 wartime Pittman act
in the United States, to melt down
i $3.50 100000 Of silver dollars and re-
at r.
tually stabiliZing the value OF silver.
He also thinks Mexico should "en-
deavor to get the cooperation of
Canada and the United States and
| some European countries to make q
more extensive use of silver"
This. of course, does not mean an
attack on the gold standard. Money
has two distinct functions, first, as a
measure of value; second, as a medium
of exchange. Gold may be, perhaps
should be, the measure Of value uni
versally. But anything convenient may
be the medium of exchange. Paper has
little intrinsic value. Fractional coins
have no value approaching what they
pass for. A larger use Of silver dol
lars, even regarded as token money"
would increase the demand for the
products of the mines. And in many
parts of the world silver, which is more
paper is the common preference.
AS for the experience of the United
States the silver dollar of 412R grains
of 80 per cent alloy, first coined in
1888, held its own till 1873, when 1t
was demonetized. For five years it was
not a legal tender, though commonly
received. 1t regained the legal tender
quality in 1878 through a bill vetoed
by Rutherford B. Hayes, but passed
over his veto by vote of As to 10 in
the Senate and 1876 to 10 in the House.
But it Is noteworthy that the 1873 law
(called by Bryan the "crime of 1917
authorized the coinage of non-legal
tender silver dollar of 400 grains alloy,
Identical in value with the dollar mex"
of the Far East, and intended for the
stimulation of our trade, particularly
in China. In the five years up to 1878,
when coinage was stopped, some 40,O0o,-
900 such dollars were minted. After
1878 for a long time we had the
anomaly of a 420-grain dollar not legal
tender and APE grain dollar good
for the payment of all debts. Possibly
the issuance of like trade dollars by
several important nations would ease
up on the silver crisis and the gold
standard would not be in the least
affected.