Evening star., 1934-11-11
MONETARY METALS
STILL UNBALANCED.
Gold Imports Outweigh Sill.
yer Purchased in 3-to-1
Program.

BY the Associated Press.
Huge imports of gold and scanty
offerings of silver on international
markets have combined to slow the
Treasury's progress toward the three-
to-one ratio in gold and silver hold
tngs. as ordered by Congress.
For every dollars worth of gold re-
ceived from abroad the Treasury must
acquire 1873 cents worth of silver to
keep pace. to say nothing of the tre-
mendouS purchases of silver necessary
to bring original holdings into the
prescribed relationship.
The last week or so has seen, in
addition to large actual imports, some
s5O.0O0,OOO worth of European gold
withdrawn for shipment to America.
The French cabinet crisis and other
influences have weakened the franc TO
a point at which it was profltable 10
buy gold in France and sell 1t IN
America.
Holdings Up S14,000,000.
To the relief of those interested in
seeing the three-to-one ratio attained,
the franc has strengthened IN the last
"a hours to the extent of haltlng the
movement for the time being at least
Nevertheless, the last fortnight mas
seen the Treasury's gold holdings IN
crease by Sl4,000,OOO.
In addition, the New York F'ederal
Reserve Bank has been announcing
daily receipts of gold in quantities, at
least a part of which has not yet
reached the Treasury's books. Yes
terday it announced the acquisition
of $4,000 900 from France and Canaoa
on Thursday and Friday.
The movement of gold into tne
United States has continued with prlei
Interruptions since the gold dollar was
devalued in early February. Since
then the Treasury's gold holdings nave
increased by nearly billion doiiafs.
Meanwhile, its silver acquisitions
have totaled 16639,000 ounces from
the mines and los, ,226,000 ounces un-
der the executive order whereby tne
Treasury took title to all privately nelo
monetary silver, with certain excep-
tions for industrial use OF that metal.
Foreign Buying Secret.
To this total of 121,865,210 ounces
must be added the silver purchased
abroad through the exchange stabl-
Iization fund. This figure the Treas
urv will not reveal, as secrecy is essen
tial to the funds operations. How
ever. only 5000, 100000 has been trans
ferred to the fund and its uses have
been many.
All in all unofficial estimates based
upon intimations of the monthly rate
of silver purchases place the figure at
a point which would bring all silver
ACQUISITIONS to total somewhat above
3O0O0O,000 ounces.
For purposes of the gold-silver ratio,
this silver, although bought at vary
ing prices, is given its statutory value
of S1.29 an ounce. Thus, while the
Treasury was acquiring a billion in
gold, it added some S400000,000
worth of silver to its stocks, or about
SOS 900, 900 more than would have been
necessary to keep pace with receipts
OF gold.
Under these estimates, therefore,
the SOS 100000 figure represents the
net progress toward the desired ratio,
by comparison with official estimates
that 1914. ZOO 900 ounces would have
to be bought to offset the gold held by
the Treasury When the silver puylng
program began.
China Stops Exports.
Dispatches from silver selling CEN
ters have revealed a market in which
the offerings we're small and largely
speculative. The silver export tax i'm
posed by China as the result of the
American program is understood to
have effectually stopped the flow from
that country.
The solution may be a continuation
of direct intergovernmental trans
actions such as that recently closed
with Mexico, under which the Treas
ury bought a quantity of silver esti-
mated at about 100000 ounces.
Similar purchases from China may be
in the ofing.