U.S. SILVER POLICY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 954, 26 December 1933, Page 1

U.S. SILVER POLICY.

Criticism of Remonetisation Scheme. United Press Assn. —is y Electric Telegraph—Copyright. WASHINGTON, December 22. Whatever the intention of the Government may be concerning silver, it seems indicated that in the direction of increasing the internal price level, the effect if any can only be psychological. Technically the addition of approximately 15,000,000 dollars to the country’s currency through silver minting can have little appreciable effect. Some of the more cynical observers conclude that chiefly it is a sop to the silver-producing States which have been extremely vocal in their demand for aid for the badly disrupted silver mining industry. Now, however, the producer taking a thousand ounces of silver to the mint will receive 645 silver dollars, the Government keeping the remainder as seigniorage, thus obviating the provisions of the old law which fixed 129 cents an ounce as the price the Government would pay for silver for minting. The producer, however, if he had sold his silver on the open market yesterday, would only have got 450 dollars. Senator Thomas declared to-day that the silver policy would be of little help. “It will only intensify the fight in Congress” for a cheaper dollar. Other senators stated privately that the step would perhaps stop the six-teen-to-one bimetallism programme of Radical legislators, when Congress convenes. Incidentally it was pointed out that President Roosevelt’s proclamation of yesterday carefully stated that there was no change in the present ratio between the silver and the gold dollar. Mr Roosevelt’s Hopes. At a Press conference to-night President Roosevelt expressed the hope that the world-wide silver agreement could be extended to other monetary bases. Although the President did not mention the metal specifically, it is generally believed that he meant gold. Observers interpreted Mr Roosevelt’s expression as obviously the desire of the Administration to end, at the proper time, the uncertainty in the international monetary system. Clarifying the silver proclamation, the President pointed out that for the first time in history the world’s nations had come together on one of the two great currency bases. He expressed the hope that the other signatories of the London agreement would fellow the lead of the United States and India. The gold price remained unchanged to-day and the dollar dropped in foreign exchange dealings, sterling and the franc advancing. The range in no case, however, was very wide.