Business & Finance: Fallen Silver

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A group of Chinese men gathered last week in a large dismal house in Hong Kong. They watched a man write figures on a board, erase them, write other figures. None spoke loudly but each spoke often. They were selling silver and they were gathered in the silver exchange. In Peking and Shanghai similar groups were gathered. They too were selling. When they were through selling last week silver prices in London and Wall Street reached the lowest low in ten years: approximately 50⅞¢ an ounce. A month ago Chinese speculators held approximately 20,000,000 ounces of silver, at the end of last week they had sold 50,000,000, were apparently on the short side to the extent of 30,000,000 ounces. No El Dorado but an El Argento is China. It is the only important country on a silver basis currency. For many a year it has been one of the chief markets for U. S., Canadian, South American silver. But lately silver prices have decreased, the Chinese market slowed. Reasons: overproduction of silver in the U. S., Mexico. Then, too, India, once a great Chinese silver buyer, has been selling instead of buying. France and Belgium in the last two years have sold 40,000,000 ounces of silver. Inevitably the Chinese market was flooded, the price of silver fell. Inevitable too was the bearish selling of Chinese speculators last week. But silver-men opined last week that in spite of its new low, silver faced no crisis. Optimists even prophesied that Chinese silver would again chink to better prices.