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Show COAST CAPITALIST PREDICTS REMONETIZATION OF SILVER Mins Classed as Stable as Industrial Enterprises; Local Capital Urged to Aid Development of Legitimate Propositions. WHAT will be tho effect On the price, of silvor after the war is over ? is the question nearly everyone interested in silver mines is asking. My answer is that in my judgment the price of silver will advance ad-vance to at least one dollar an ounce, but should the money powers agree that it is absolutely necessarv to remonetixe silver, then I believe silver will be re, monetized at the rate of sixteen to one. Silver, in my judgment, will be the only metal that will not decline, but will advance ad-vance after the war ceases. All the countries of Europe will want silver for coinago purposes. The war has proven to the world, and especially to those who were all against the coinage of silver, that if people cannot get gold they are willing to take silver coined by their respective governments, but are not willing to take their paper money. I believe that since England has lost its Standing in the world as a creditor nation, and America ha taken her piaffe, England will not object to taking silver sil-ver out of its place as a commodity and putting it back where it was mauy years ago, a medium of exchange. But there are other reasons why silver will likely be rcmonetized. When this war is over every nation in Europe engaged in the war now will try its best to find a market for its products iu foreign countries, and one of the best fields will most likely be China. China Is Great Market. Anyone who' is familiar with what is going" on in China cannot help but feel that China is aw'akeuiug and on the eve of developing the country' with up-to-date methods just like Japan did when they first started in many years ago. China is such a vast country, with such great possibilities., that it will naturally nat-urally be a great field where nations will trv .their best to get a slice of the trade, and it is but natural that if you sell or buy goods in a country where they have a staple currency, it is much easier to do business than" when it is otherwise. In other words, it will be of greater advantage when you buy or sell goods, when the time comes for paying for or delivering the goods, that you know exactly the amount you have to settle for. At tho present time if you trade in China you are more or less speculating on the rise and fall of silver. That China cannot go on a gold basis is a positive fact. Several years ago when the Chinese government gave intimation that they would reorganize their monetary system, sys-tem, and go on a gold basis, the bankers bank-ers of Europe, through their respective governments, put in a protest and tho matter was dropped and nothing was done. Conditions today, Everybody must admit, are much stronger for Europe to object to China going on a gold standard. stand-ard. While the gold in the world has not disappeared, it has to a great ex tent been shifted over to America and I believe that the money powers in Europe will come to the conclusion that the only thing that can be clone is to remonetize silver and thus relieve the money situation very materially, and at the same time bo of great help to those couutries using silver as currency. It is rather a hard pill for European bankers to swallow, as they have always maintained that silver never could bo remouetized again. The war, however, has brought on so many changes in the world, not ajoue in the money system, but in everything else, that it will be the only thing left for them to do, not to create a disturbance in the financial finan-cial world. Owners of silver mines cannot make a mistake if they hold on to their stiver; sti-ver; thov are bound to get ruoru money for it after the war is over certainly very little less than the present price. There are, without questiou of a doubt, a large number of silver mines in Nevaua today that are just waiting for a rise in silver to be taken hold of by eastern capital and it has always been a wonder to me that San Francisco capitalists have paid so little attention to silver mines of Nevada and let all the people from the east come in and buy them up. The way mining is conducted at the present time, it seems to me it is just as legitimate for anyone to put some money into a mining property as it is into in industrial proposition, En both instances one' has to take legitimate chances. My experience h'as been that just as much money is lost, perhaps more, in industrial propositions, as in mining. If you have a mining property and you do' not want to keep on working work-ing it, you can shut down, and some day your neighbor may make a strike that will make your ; prty valuable, whereas an iudustii:'' position, if you shut it down, riiotn .most the end of it, and when you wa-ut to sell, you generally sell it for old junk. Warns Local Capital. I wish I could arouse the people of San Francisco to pay some attention to gold and silver mines and not allow them to be taken away by people from the east. While it is a benefit to a city to have eastern people come in and develop a property there is no doubt j about that yet, if the property was owned by local people, the money that would come out of tho ground would all be spent here in California. Such was the case When the great Comstock brought forth millions. Most of its shares, in fact, nearly all, were held by people in California, principally in San Francisqo, and everyone familiar with its history must admit that the Corn-stock Corn-stock was' a great factor in the upbuilding upbuild-ing of San Francisco. it is a good time now to get hold of properties in California aHd Nevada that have been lying dormant for want of capital. I predict that there will bo a great demand for silver mines after the war is over. Tt will act something similar to what copper has since 1914. Everybody got the fever on copper and properties that could have been bought for a song, have sold for millions since. My idea is that the next great boom will be in silver properties and it is a good time to get into them now. Herman Her-man Zadig in United States Banker. |