Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-23

Oriental countries as factors In COM
merce are receiving attention as re-
suit Of the report Of o committee Of
the United States Senate, proposing an
international conference on the subject
Of silver as q commodity. The present
low price of the metal Is declared tc
have affected the purchasing power Of
| Oriental countries and to have been On
influence in the development of gen.
eral conditions.
That the question "now Is engaging
directly the financiers in New York
London, Shanghai and Bombay" Is q
matter Of comment by the Hartford
Times, which declares that indirectly
It concerns q great multitude Of pro-
ducers and consumers in many lands. .
That paper adds: 1.-THE international
trade in cotton, for instance, has been
hard hit because Of the reduced ca
ing from the sharp reduction in the
value Of silver. Whereas this metal
was worth an everage of 90 cents an
ounce in 1925, it is worth but 26 cents
per ounce now. This has more than
halved the buying ability Of the Far
East, where silver Is the medium Of ex-
change. The cotton spinners in New
England make product widely used In
tropical countries, and cotton growers
Of the South are similarly affected when
foreign demand Is curtailed. Thus the
exchange value of silver in China and
India makes q difference to the factory
worker in New England and the cotton
farmer in the South, to cite but one
commodity which Is affected by this
drop in the value of silver"
1.-THE British government" thinks the
Oakland Tribune, added to the seri-
ouusness of the silver situation when
it debased its subsidiary coinage, Par
lament authorizing the coming OF
money with a lower content of silver.
The coins pass for the same amount,
but if melted would yield less silver.
This action, of course, freed silver for
sale in the open market" The Tribune
also states: China, the principal ma
ton of the world using silver coinage,
has so much on hand that she has been
selling Hongkong dollars and discour-
aging further imports. The ease for
silver is bad and the demands for refne-
dies urgent. In the suggestion for an
international conference there is at least
a hope for the development Of general
policy"
The Financial World is quoted by
IIlc OdNSIlPORb OCAuOCidO W bAAC CA~
feet that "the white metal on February
Is, this year, sold at 1854 cents an
ounce, a record low in its history and
the elimination Of a decline that be-
gan in May, 1925" That paper adds
that 1.-THE status Of this metal as q
commodity is somewhat complicated
by the fact that it is used as currency
everywhere, and that 1t Is money for
a large part of the population of the
globe, principally China and Abyssinia,
which are still on the silver standard"
The Democrat advises that there Is
every reason why the housewife may
own or give away much more silver
than in former years, because silver
is now cheaper than ever"
1.-THE South Is very directly affected. I"
in the opinion of the Houston Chron-
icle, emphasizing the fact that cotton
goods are sold and used very extern
Sively through the tropical and semi
tropical countries of the world, and
the densely populated parts of the
world not so tropical, India and China.
It so happens" continues the Chron-
icle, that practically ali these coun-
tries use silver for money, and that
silver money has lost something more
than half its value in the last Is
months" That paper concludes: SIT
is estimated that India in 1926 had
silver bullion worth $500, 100000, and