| Show MORE SILVER MAY YET BE TAKEN TAKE UNDER TERMS OF PITTMAN ACT contention of western silver producers that the united states department of the mint had failed to deal fairly with the white metal industry seems justified and accord ing to the report of the special correspondent of the en gingering and mining journal press at washington D C purchases of at least additional fine ounces of silver at the pittman act price seem assured certified accountants employed by the senate commission of gold and silver inquiry apparently have just established after two months of work that the amount mentioned was actually used in subsidiary coinage and was not held in the vaults all alon along as claimed by the undersecretary of the treasury undersea Under undersecretary sec 1 gilberts contention throughout 6 hout the recent controversy has been that the amount of pittman act silver allocated for subsidiary coinage and afterward revoked never had been used for the purpose for which it was allocated in fact the decision of the comptroller tl general authorizing thor izing the revocation was predicted on a statement to that effect there now is reason to believe that the comptroller I 1 general will reconsider his decision in the light of senator Pitt mans disclosure that these ounces were not held in the vaults but were actually converted into subsidiary coins in the course of his investigations senator pittman has brou brought ht to light copies of letters from the bureau of the mint which support his contentions that the silver allocated for subsidiary coinage actually was used for that purpose either ignoring or being unaware of that correspondence the treasury officials proceeded to advise the comptroller general that the silver never had left the vaults though there is no thought that they deliberately misstated facts to the comptroller it now seems clear that the comptrollers decision was based on a faulty promise and that it is likely to be recalled |
