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Show EXPERTSTrSCTiG HIGH SILVER PRICES i - i Even With Output Increased, In-creased, Demand Will Insure In-sure Rich Returns. Needs of India and China for White Metal Will Absorb Ab-sorb Vast Amount. Tr.e ,-(rtou heard most often .ester-till .ester-till and fur some time past on the stock. sxrliaiigo mi.J among mining men have ben: "Will silver maintain its price?" j "Will it increase in vnluo, and, if it does, . hu'.v high will it, go?-' 'Where does the j hull; ol' silver go?" "Why is so much sil- , id- ..,...x in Oriental countries, especially j In India and China'.'" "Who fixes tlio price, of silver?" Tlio last question should lo: answered first. The price u( siUer, up to the tlmo when 1 1 io federal rc-'ervo board standardized the price of minerals, was fixed, and to u certain extent is fixed at the present lime, by four patent brokerage firms in London. England. These, tour brokerage firm-, by name Sharps & Wilkins, Mo-catta Mo-catta & Goldsimth, Pixley & Abel and x.lo.,lagu & Co.. patented by the crown, formerly met every mumiiiR at 11 o clocn with iheir orders. Wlien a prico had been Mvretd upon by this combination, it uny li'a-1 ?ny orders for silver that they con d not fill, the price that they saw fit to otter was telem-aphed to various silver markets of tho world. Tho price that they oi'lcfed was tho silver price for the world. Combine May Lose Control. Just evaetlv whether these brokers will bo ablo hereafter to hold control of the Hlvcr market of the world is unknown, according to leading silver experts. Mm-hig Mm-hig men are of Ihe opinion that, with tho unusually heavy demand for silver, the control of the world markets for the white metal niny pass from the hands of thl; English combine. In regard to the question as to whether tho demand for silver will increase and tho price be maintained at or pass its present level, mining men point to several conditions which are almost certain to make this metal In heavy demand for a considerable time. The first of tlie conditions which win cause an Increase in the demand for and In the price of silver is its popularity m India and China. India alone is called "the sink of gold and silver." The native na-tive Indian desires silver not alone for ltl- monetary value, but for its ornamental value. He lo es to bent the silver into artistic ornaments. He loves to hoard tno metal He knows no other metal, comparatively com-paratively speaking. Tho coolie and even tlie raiah do comparatively little business with, banks. Silver that goes to Inula never goes out, it is said. Orient Prizes Metal. In both China and India there are very few banks of record. In almost every easo the coined metal is held by the family fam-ily in Perpetuity and descends from the father to tlio oldest son, and is kept under un-der their own supervision and exchange. When a foreign purchaser of Indian or Chinese goods enters tlie market, if ho wishes to do business, ho must be prepared pre-pared to nay for his purchases in the ilr taol, which Is simply a unit of value, val-ue, -whose value ranges from 43 40 or 67.3c in our money. Or he pays in -the s'-cee. which is pure uncoined, lump silver, sil-ver, usually having a banker's or assay-er's assay-er's stamp upon it. These sycees are used by tlie Chinese as a medium of e.-clr.tnce. e.-clr.tnce. The rupee, which is the basis of ex-chause ex-chause in India, is a coin worth approximately approxi-mately 31c, when silver is selling for S4c, Crops Determine Demand. The amount of silver called for in China ,-inj India, will depend upon their eropt. If tlio crops of these countries and the market for Oriental products are goed, then great amounts of silver, it is expected, ex-pected, will be absorbed by the Orient. Urncc. purchasers of Indian and Chinese products will need to buy silver. As North America. Including Canada, the t nited states and Mexico, produce ,S per cent of the entire silver output of the world, with the mines of Mexico not pro-ducinr; pro-ducinr; their capacitj, mining men are of the opinion that it is reasonable lo believe tho production of silver will bo augmented greatlv in the United states. rother factor that should augment the, price of silver is the fact that there is at present a healthful demand for silver in the United States, due to the Pittman act. which allow the melting of silver dollars and the selling of the metal to the allies. According to government statistics, enormous enor-mous issues of paper money have been made, which demand a reasonable base of metallic money ou deposit. Dt'inestic Output Curtailed. Tiie slump in the price of the baser metals, had, zinc and copper, has caused mar,'- minC3. whose output was a combined com-bined lead, gold, silver and copper product, prod-uct, to suspend operations. This condition condi-tion has curtailed tlie donieslic output of Mlver lo a com idem blc extent. As a result, re-sult, tninipg men look for mines whose ore ' contains su'Tieieut silver to resume operations on a big scale. The following excerpts from the annual bullion Utter of Samuel Montagu & Co. of London, one of the "big four" that controlled con-trolled the price of silver the world over. s'.'Ue ,1. finitclv his conception of what silver sil-ver pri'.c? win be for sonic time to come. " s 1 -ng as Hie United States government govern-ment is pledge! to renurchase at ?1 per ounce t'ce bullion composed of melted United States coin, which it placed at the di-;-o.-l of the Indian mints, at present ..mounting tu n.',.0.',0.l10i ounces, the price cannot fall much, if at ail. below 9tc, allowing al-lowing for the return of the American exchange ex-change to a normal figure. If there were external competition with the United States government, tlie repurchase of this bullion, "together with local trade requirements, require-ments, would absorb probably two years' pr.el'ieiion of ihat country. "the deduction from tiie preceding remarks re-marks is that, although oulput may be a rcci-'TO led. l',,e pee ls of Tndia and China.1 tnc obligation of tiie United Slates government gov-ernment to remird tise. aud the cumula-ii-.c demand lor the trade, will insure a !;,-h level 01 prices for some time.'" |