ld output of silver, normally about 75 per cent comes
from North America. Of this the United States and Mexico each produce
about two-fifths and Canada one-fifth, and minor amounts are produced in
Central America. In late years, political disturbances in Mexico reduced
that country's production to less than half the normal figure, and the
United States took the place which Mexico had held for many years as the
leading silver producer. The United States and Mexican supply is
obtained from the Rocky Mountain belt, and the Canadian production comes
chiefly from the Cobalt, Ontario, district. Outside of North America the
principal producing areas are Australia, South America (Peru and to a
less extent Bolivia and Chile), Europe (chiefly from Spain, Germany, and
Austria-Hungary, but with smaller amounts from all the other countries),
and Japan. Thus, while there are sources of silver in many places, the
great bulk of the world's output comes from North America. In the
financial ownership of mines, including ownership in other countries,
the United States controls over half the world's silver, Great Britain
about a third, and Germany about a tenth (principally in Mexico).

All the silver mined in the United States is smelted and refined by
domestic plants; and in addition much of the Canadian, Mexican, and
South and Central American silver is exported to the United States as
ore and base bullion, to be treated in this country. The United States
is therefore the great silver-selling country of the world.

The great silver-consuming countries are India and China, and normally
about a half of the world's output goes to these two countries. This
major movement of silver, from America to the Far East, takes place
through the London market, since England has been the chief nation
trading in the Orient. The balance of the world's silver consumption is
widely distributed among the countries of Europe and South America and
the United States (which consumes about one-tenth of the total). For the
European trade most of the silver also goes through London, which is the
great clearing-house and the market where prices are fixed.

In the later years of the war and immediately after, the demands for
silver were probably twice the world's output. The resulting rise in
price was unprecedented. Silver actually became worth more as bullion
than as currency, and in Europe much trouble was experienced because of
its withdrawal from currency to b