, 1935-03-06
The World
At a Glance
BIZ LESLIE EICHEL
Central PreM staff WRITER

NEW YORK. March s.-The west
ern plains states are TO have another
year OF drought. from present indi-
cationa
Much more moisture Is needed.
The weather bureau holds little hope
for II. The department Of agricul-
ture asserts that l2i per cent oil
normal moisture is needed II the
western Great Plains states from new
until harvest time TO produce aver
age yields.
A second year OF drought. coupled
with the plow-under program,
would raise many food prices beyond
the reach OF even the average man,
much less the persons In lower
brackets Of pay.
Monetary imitation would sky-rock-
ct prices still further.
Such a situation might create a
pauper nation-w1th employers as
well as employees going into bank
ruptcy. II employees are unable 10
buy there Is nothing to keep plants
operating. Pauper wages create the
same situation.
Silver
Financial New York says the "Sil-
verites" have had the wind taken
out Of the sails by the failure O.
the silver purchasing plan during
the past year. But congress seems
more "~silverite" than ever.
The view Of financial New York Is
summarized by Clinton r. narrower
in the Wall Street journal in these
words:
IF we are not mistaken, the ar
dent advocates Of governmental &C.
ton to aid silver pictured as one OF
the many. many glowing benefits the
development OF the huge potential
market In China and other sections
OF the Far East. The argument ran
in principle something like this. Sill
yer is the Chinese money. II silver
is worth Is cents an ounce and II Is
raised to 50 cents, then its value has
been raised by 100 per cent. II the
value of silver has been raised 100
per cent then the value OF Chinese
money has been raised by 100 per
cent and the Chinese purchasing
power abroad has been raised by 100
per cent.
Then as the campaign went on.
the argument changed slightly. Hav-
ing proved that an increase IN the
price OF silver would open up the
Chinese markets TO foreign goods. Il
was then preached that western in
duStrial civilization was endangered
by cheap Chinese competition, rem
dered doubly dangerous by cheap
silver. 1t was the old argument hat
a deprecated exchange gives advan-
tage TO the export trade.
"On the one hand the silver advo-
Gates would have Uncle Sam play
ing Santa Claus TO the Chinese by
raising their standard OF living, TO
our profit Of course. On the other
hand, Uncle Sam must prevent the
Chinese from making an honest lv-
ing IN the old-fAShioned orthodox
way Of selling something q little
cheaper than competitors
And now we shall have a look al
the record. The price OF silver has
been advanced from It's historic low
OF "a Ia cents In December. 1882. 70
its current price Of about 81 "a
cents. an advance Of l258 per cent.
On this basis. certainly, some re-
suits should have been obtained. We
we're going TO stimulate Chinese i'm
ports. In 1888. Chinese imports were
valued at l,345. 900 900 Chinese dol
lars. In 1884 the figure dropped 70
l.02e, 900. 900 dollars, a decline Of 3O.7
per cent. Apparently. the Chinese
have not heard that the purchasing
power has been increased 1883 per
cent.
"We we're also going 10 curtail their
exports, TO speak very bluntly ana
avoid the fine phrases with which
his admirable aim was clothed. even
though we overlooked that China
buys abroad roughly twice as much
as she sells. SO Is a better customer
than merchant. We have pafSnI.
I'm 1894 Chinese exports dropped
in value to $685.. o00.0 900 from s6l2.-
900. 900. a drop Of 1875 per cent. Thus.
even II II were desirable. from the
western viewpoint. TO curtail Chi
nese exports. that curtailment has
been accompanied BY an even great
er curtsilment in Chinese purchases
abroad"