Senator HAYDEN. Another reason was that the Treasury had received no revenue. Congressman WHITE. That is correct. Senator Green stated the situation accurately when he said that there was no free market for silver due to the restrictions imposed on the marketing for metal all over the world. Senator MCCARRAN. First of all, when we get to it, I am going to show this committee that the required amount of silver in this country is startling, and secondly, the coinage demand for silver all over the world is startling. Congressman WHITE. I am afraid that speculators may enter the picture under the cloak of the Green bill and take the silver out of the Treasury and use it for speculation. STATEMENT OF HON. LOWELL STOCKMAN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON It is my sincere regret that H. R. 5452, the Treasury and Post Office Departments appropriations bill for 1947, passed the House of Representatives on February 14, 1946, with a rider attached which would permit the Secretary of the Treasury to sell or lease Government-owned silver to private manufacturers at the price of 71.11 cents per ounce. I have had many communications from my constituents in the State of Oregon protesting the provisions of the Green bill, S. 1508, and H. R. 4590, both of which are almost identical to the rider which has been approved by the House. My constituents believe that selling silver to jewelers and silversmiths at 71.11 cents per ounce is, in fact, a Government subsidy to a group of manufacturers of luxury products. They believe that manufacturers should be required to pay at least as much for Government-owned silver as the people of the United States who do business with silver money based on the full coinage of $1.29 per ounce which is now in use in this country. The President of the United States has said in a recent message that it was intended to reduce the borrowing of the country by drawing on reserves of the Treasury. We have in the Treasury sufficient silver to put out in the form of silver certificates about $1,500,000,000, and yet under the rider as passed by the House, it is proposed to let jewelers and silversmiths come in and make a raid on this stock of silver in the Treasury which we had hoped to see put into circulation to reduce the interest load on the people of the country. I cannot see any sense in letting that silver go at a price of 71.11 cents per ounce to manufacturers of luxury products when it is worth $1.29 all over the world today. I am advised that the Bureau of Mines found in 1937 that the average cost of mining silver was $1 per ounce, and I am sure that today it would cost a great deal more than that to mine silver. In justice to the thousands of people in the Western States dependent upon the mining interest, I urge that this rider, which would in effect amount to a subsidy to the manufacturers of luxury goods, be disapproved by the Senate. REPORT ON RETAIL PRICE OF SILVER CONTENT IN ARTICLES DEMONSTRATED [See p. 335] DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT ON RETAIL PRICE PER TROY OUNCE OF SILVER IN STERLING SILVER ARTICLES (Submitted by Hon. Compton I. White, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, for the Senate Appropriations Committee, U. S. Senate, Washington, D. C.) In computing the retail price per troy ounce of pure silver contained in these articles it was assumed for purposes of computation that the articles which were marked "sterling" contained 925/1000 parts pure silver. No account was taken of any difference in amount of workmanship or quality of workmanship. The price is taken from price tags and invoices. The Federal tax is included. Article Retail price per troy Weight ounce of pure silver Test No. II-2/Tw 109525: 1 ash tray marked "Sterling" with no trade mark, price $6.. 6 ash trays marked "Sterling" with no trade mark, decorated with a rampant lion, price $18 for 6. 1 ash tray marked "Sterling" with no trade mark, price $18 for 6.. 773 4.20 5 ash trays marked "Sterling" with no trade mark, price $15 for 6. 2.573 5. 25 1 pin shaped as an elephant, marked "Sterling" with no trade mark, price $5. 1 ash tray marked "Sterling B. R., Mexico," price $9 for 4. 1 pin having the shape of a horse and carriage marked "Sterling Edw. San Giovann," price $25. 1 compote marked "International sterling Prelude T 177-1," price $18.. Chief, Mass Section, Division of Weights and Measures. (For the Director.) Test completed: April 17, 1946. Test No. II-2/Tw 109525. Senator HAYDEN, The committee will recess. (Thereupon, at 12:55 o'clock p. m., Tuesday April 16, 1946, the committee recessed subject to call.) TREASURY DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL, 1947 FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 1946 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Carl Hayden presiding. Present: Senators McKellar, Tydings, McCarran, Hayden and Green. Also present: Senators Johnson, Millikin, and Murdock. Mr. Fennell has been waiting a long, long time to make a statement to the committee which, I understand, is not extensive. The committee will be glad to hear your statement, Mr. Fennell. TREASURY DEPARTMENT BUREAU OF THE MINT ADDITIONAL STATEMENT OF GERALD M. FENNELL, OF LAKEVIEW, BONNER COUNTY, IDAHO Mr. FENNELL. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is Gerald M. Fennell of Lakeview, Bonner County, Idaho, who owns and operates five silver mines in northern Idaho. I am aware that I am addressing a committee which does not have jurisdiction over mining legislation. I trust, however, that you will sympathetically weigh the facts as I am privileged to set before you. MINING EXPERIENCES I have had a lifetime of experience in owning and operating gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and manganese mines commencing in 1887 for gold in northern California, shipping manganese from Tennessee to Pittsburgh in 1889; copper mining in northern Arizona in 1899 and directing and operating for 7 years a smelter at Humboldt, Ariz., and simultaneously operating two of Arizona's best gold mines. In 1901, I developed a manganese property in Cuba. Commencing in 1911 to help develop and subsequently become the owner of what is probably the largest tonnage of manganese in existence at Urucum, Matto Grosso, in southwest Brazil, until they nationalized it and took it from me. 357 In 1920, I purchased control of my present silver mine in Bonner County, Idaho, and which I have developed to the extent of 34,000 tons blocked out or in sight, during the past 26 years. I have detailed my 60 years of experience in mining so that you may have reasonable confidence in my statements as to costs of production, and so forth. I have here a 100-share certificate showing that I have been a stockholder of what I think is the largest supplier of silver, the Burma Corp., until the Japanese took it. COMPARATIVE PRICES FOR SILVER, UNITED STATES AND INDIA Senator TYDINGS. Do you get 71 cents an ounce for your silver? Mr. FENNELL. Yes; in the United States. Senator TYDINGS. Yes; I mean in the United States. You get 71 cents an ounce for silver in the United States? Mr. FENNELL. Yes, sir. Senator TYDINGS. And they get $1.26 an ounce for silver in India? Mr. FENNELL. Yes; in the Bombay market. Senator TYDINGS. How do you account for the fact that they get pretty near, or approximately, 50 cents or so more per ounce than you do? Mr. FENNELL. About 20 percent or one-fifth, in round figures, is labor costs. Senator TYDINGS. They get more with a lower labor cost than you do? Mr. FENNELL. Yes. Senator TYDINGS. Why is it they get more than you do? Mr. FENNELL. Because I firmly believe, and I think maybe you would agree with me, that the present price of silver is all out of range. EFFECT OF GOVERNMENT CONTROLS ON SILVER Senator TYDINGS. That does not answer my question. Why can you not send your silver to Bombay and get $1.26? Mr. FENNELL. Because the Government does not permit me to ship it out. Senator TYDINGS. Could you get it if you did ship it out? Mr. FENNELL. I don't doubt that I could. They have a very good market there. I have been advised that silver has sold at $1.26. It was sold at that price during the month of April past. Certainly we could get it because there is a great demand for it. Senator TYDINGS. The ceiling keeps you from getting what you would otherwise get in the world market? Mr. FENNELL. Yes; there is no question about that. Senator TYDINGS. Using the Bombay silver market as a yardstick, the world market is higher than the local market? Mr. FENNELL. Of course. Senator TYDINGS. Then, by the same line of reason, the local market is more costly to produce silver than the Bombay market? Mr. FENNELL. I should say it is; three or four times more. SOURCE AND PRICE OF BOMBAY SILVER Senator TYDINGS. Where is the Bombay silver mined? Mr. FENNELL. The one that I referred to is in northern Burma; that is a mine in which I have been interested for some 20-odd years. |