Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-23
Low Silver Price Is Puzzle
AS Senate Report Is Studied


China doubtless had still more. This
wealh had been accumulated through
generations, and it continued to in
crease in amount until 10 months
ago. Is there any wonder that India
ana China have bought fewer goods
abroad in recent months? Is there
any wonder that the demand for cotton
goods has shrunk? Fortunately the
forces that broke the value of silver
seem to have run their course. Ending
OF the Indian boycott will stimulate
trade among hundreds Of millions of
people; a decline in the production Of
silver win help, while countries which
nave been debasing their silver coin
age doubtless have completed the proc
ess BY this time, and seem In q mood
70 cooperate to strengthen the silver
market"
ITO cure the evil by reducing produce
ton" advises the st. Paul Pioneer
Press, would be difficult because Silver.
except IN Mexico, Is the by-product OBJ
tanned In the extraction Of lead, cop
per, zinc and gold. Eighty per cent Of
the total quantity comes from mines
which yield more Of some other metal.
The present sick state of silver has
orougnt forth many proposed remedies
from statesmen, economists and flnan-
clers. Perhaps the most important
program is that Of the subcommittee Of
the Senate Foreign Relations Commits
tee. It suggests that the United states
enter into negotiations with India and
other countries debasing silver coins, in
order to eliminate abnormal fiuctuation
ana depression in the price of the
metal. It proposes also an interna-
tional conference for stabilizing silver
ano recommends silver loan to China.
This recommendation has met the def
mite oisapproval of T. " Soong, Chinese
Minister of Finance, as detrimental to
his country's interests. There the sill
yer question rests for the present"
The Flint Daily Journal suggests the
effect that this precipitous decline in
silver has had on the American mining
industry and also the effect upon
American investments In foreign mining
ventures" The Toronto Daily Star re-
fers to the move on foot in the United
states to induce the Government to ar
range q loan Of some hundreds Of mil
lions Of dollars to China in the form
OF silver" but that paper offers the
comment. Apparently It Is not silver
that China needs and, in any case,
China Is not in a position to guarantee
peaceful conditions within her borders
and provide the other guarantees that
private bankers would require. Nor is
S@@AAOoC OAcPOSCQ 70
submit to the outside control of her
finance that almost necessarily would
be condition Of the loan. Such a
loan would help Nevada and other sill
reproducing States in the republic,
but scarcely appears to be within the
realm Of practical politics, although it
has met with approval in a committee
of the United States Senate
Senator Key Pittman," says the
Hamilton Ontario Spectator, "of the
silver State of Nevada, secured the
adoption of report calling upon the
President to enter into q discussion
with the governments of Great Britain,
India, France and Belgium In an eff
fort to get those countries to suspend
the practice Of debasing coins, and, in
India, selling silver. DISPATCHES
from Europe indicate that the govern-
ments there would join an international
conference on the silver situation. but
the trouble is that European proposals
would conflict with those which Nevada
advocates. Europe, producing no silver,
is not interested In its production
French financial experts have declared
that the solution lies in the control of
silver-that is to say, in the lessening
OF production. But Mexico, which in
1929 produced 08,00O, 900 ounces Of
silver; the United States, which pro-
duced 61,000,O 900; Canada, which pro-
duced $4,000 900, and Peru, which pro-
duced 2l,0O0,O00 ounces, would have
very different views upon the situa-
ton"