| OCR Text |
Show SILVER HAS ROSY FUTURE. SAYS HUNT The much-maligned congressional congression-al silver bloc will come into its own this year and be privileged to thumb their respective noses at the conservative eastern financiers and bankers who have long contended there is no monetary necessity for the metal; that the west has produced pro-duced far more than was needed for the arts and industries, and those "blasphemous persons" who derisively deris-ively said silver had less value as a commercial metal than cast iron. That was the gist of the remarks of Paul Hunt, manager of Park Utah Consolidated Mining company, com-pany, in an interview in the Horn Silver hotel early this week. In 1945, Mr. Hunt pointed out, the United States alone used 140 million ounces of silver in two newly-found uses for the metal, in addition to 75 million ounces in the arts and industries (jewelry, dental work, movie film, etc.). The production of the entire world in 1945 was but 135 million ounces, Mr. Hunt said, with the United States mining but 30 million ounces. Total world production pro-duction in "peak years" has never exceeded 275 million ounces, and with other nations demanding the metal for monetary purposes, and adopting the new uses developed in this country, demand for silver should boost the price from the 71c per ounce now quoted, to well over the $1 mark. In India and Egypt the price of silver today is $1.08 an ounce, he said. India, China, Burma and several South American countries are "silver "sil-ver countries," Mr. Hunt said, with Mexican coin predominantly silver back by gold reserves. In the oriental ori-ental countries, silver coin in large quantities is an immediate necessity neces-sity to block the spreading inflation, infla-tion, Mr. Hunt said, pointing out that Chinese tradesmen already have reverted to the barter system, refusing to accept the Nationalist currency. Regarding the new commercial uses for silver Mr. Hunt, after citing cit-ing the increased demand in established estab-lished markets such as the film industry and the jewelry manufacturers, manufac-turers, said silver had been proved the most ideal bearing metaf ever discovered, replacing babbit, alloys al-loys and the roller-type bearings. About five years ago a leading automobile manufacturer placed on the market a car with all-silver bearings. Today, almost all automobile auto-mobile motors are to roll on silver bearings. Large electrical manufacturers are replacing the old-style copper electrical contacts (switches, etc.) with a silver-coated contact. Silver Sil-ver is a 50 per cent better conductor con-ductor of electricity than copper, he said, and is not susceptible to oxidation (corroding) as is copper. Another point brouhgt out by Mr. Hunt was the fact that a critical crit-ical shortage of lead and zinc is likely to develop, due to low production pro-duction and stepped-up demands. Approximately 7 per cent of the lead supply, he estimated, is diverted di-verted into the making of high-octane high-octane gasoline. This will be increased in-creased somewhat as more car3 are built to use the 100 octane or "airplane" gas. Also, each year the use of underground cables, replacing replac-ing overhead wires, is increasing, with proportionate increase in de mand for lead. Storage batteries, another major outlet, are being manufactured in ever-increasing numbers. Lead, zinc and silver are usually found in the same mines, with silver sil-ver heretofore considered a byproduct. by-product. With increased use, and therefore increased price, of silver the mines will profit more from the production of the companion metals, Mr. Hunt said, and at the same time the purchasers of. lead and zinc will find their metal? selling at lower price. With Mr. Hunt voicing the possibility possi-bility that soon lead and zinc might be considered by-products of silver, the future of the silver miners would seem very rosy, ndeed. |
