Evening star., 1932-12-27
PLEA FOR SILVER
MADE BY HAYDEN
Forum Speaker Asks for
Rehabilitation of Metal
for Economic Recovery.

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Rehabilitation Of silver as an aid to
world economic recovery was proposed
last night by Senator Hayden, Demo-
crat, Of Arizona In speech In the Ma
tional Radio Forum, arranged by The
Evening Star and broadcast over a
coaSt-to-coast network Of the National
Broadcasting Co.
Senator Hayden urged as a prompt
acc accept 100, 900 600 ' ounces @ OF silver ean from
Great Britain In full settlement OF
100,000,000 in war debts due from that
country, and that Britain at the same
time acquire an equal number OF
ounces of silver to restore its coinage to
its former silver content. He also pro-
posed that the British government for
India give assurance that no silver
owned by it will be sold except to
other governments for coinage purposes.
Britain Chief Offender.
This transaction will take off Of the
market 100000 ounces OF silver and
utilize the same for coinage" he ampl-
fed Certainly, there would be some
If an amount equivalent to whole
years production is thus legitimately
disposed of and the fear Of future gov
ernmental dumping by Great Britain
and India is ended"
Great Britain and the British gov
ernment for India have been the chief
offenders against silver" Senator Hay
den said, adding that by retracing steps
that have been taken, the price OF sill
yer can be restored to its ''pre-war and
pre-panic level"
The Arizona Senator said the settle
ment between this country and Great
Britain would mean mild imitation"
of American currency, but, he empha-
sized, "the United States could now abb
sorb over billion dollars of silver into
its monetary system. and still have
less silver in proportion to gold than
we had in 1900"
..eee.neaking cooperative action among
English-speaK1ns' rpeonle to improve the
position of silver, Senator Hayden said
'the United States, Great Britain,
Canada, India, Australia. New Zealand,
the Irish Free State and the Union Of
South Africa SA1 DO more ec- silver
than all the rest Of the world com.
mined"
Text of Address
The text Of Senator Hayden's address
follows:
1.-The average American production of
silver for the past 10 years has been
So million ounces. Nearly all of it is
taken from the earth as an incident to
mining lead, zinc, copper and gold. The
bonanza silver mines have long since
been exhausted. American manufac-
lures annually consume about 80 mil
lion ounces Of silver. When compared
- L11 &c .v.to,, 1t,,ro
and other products, the net amount left
for export or for coinage shows that, as
producers, our people have but very
minor interest in the price OF silver.
Americas concern is not with produc-
ton, but with the worldwide effect
upon commodity prices when more sill
yer is used as money.
In a report submitted to the Senate
in February, 1881, Senator Key Pitt
man pointed out that silver is the only
money used by half Of the people of the
world. The people Of the Orient who
use silver are large purchasers Of
American products. Cutting its price
in half reduced their purchasing power.
The great decline in the price Of silver
early in 1929 preceded the economic
crash in the fall of that year. Silver
led the parade toward panic. There IS
d oSIAC dllu otuAiu way NlCACOy ol1fCA
can help lead the world back to pros
perity.
Let me illustrate the effect of low
price for silver on one American ag-
ricultural product Before 1929, when
silver was 60 cents an ounce, the Chi
nese cheerfully paid IL cents a pound
for our cotton. When silver dropped to
below 80 cents an ounce 1t took twice
as much Chinese silver money to buy
a pound Of cotton. They stopped buy
ing our cotton, which for lack of export
glutted the home market until its price
declined to G cents pound. At cents
the Chinese could again purchase an
equal amount of cotton with 30-cent
silver as they did when both silver and
cotton were worth twice as much. Vast
quantities of Scent cotton were shipped
to China, but it was bought below the
cost Of production, at Chinese and not
an American price.
Not only have American cotton pro-
ducers suffered, but it is of record that
all other exports to the silver-using
countries have similarly declined, chief
among which are petroleum products,
tobacco and automobiles. In the face
of these facts, is it not reasonable to
assume that anything done to raise the
price OF silver will improve our foreign
trade and that better export prices will
be reflected in an improvement OF COM
modify prices at home?
Better Prices Necessary.
1.-THE British note Of December I,
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