Tu the last of these annual trade reports it was stated that one of the few really definite achievements the World Monetary Economic Conference held at London in 1933 was the Silver Agreement, the express object of which was to mitigate fluetuations in the price of silver. The report in question proceeded to cast doubt on the benefits likely to accrue to China from the provisions of the agreement, suggesting that the carrying out of these provisions, especially if 1 Jed to an artificial raising of the price of silver to a higher level than that of recent years without a commensurate appreciation in the international price level for Chinese produce, would lead to an exodus of the metal from this country. It was pointed out in this connection that the "Treasure" tables in the Customs Trade Returns had already begun to show a net export instead of the usual net import of silver.
The developments that have taken place in the silver situation during the year under review, mainly due to extensive purchases of the metal fon behalf of the United States of America, have been (and are likely to remain) of such far-reaching importance to this silver-using country {hat a condensed summary of them has been put on record in the report.
The report then reproduces the text the Silver Agreement itself, duly entered into at London by the dele-gales of the largest holders or users of silver and the principal producers of silver. The United States of America ratified this agreement, and the report points out that in her "Coinage of Silver" proclamation at the same time, it was significant that the following declarations were made:
"Whereas... find: it necessary, in ald. of the stabilization adverse effect of depreciated foreign currencies, that the price of silver bbe enhanced and stabilized:" and-again in the same document:
"Now, therefore, finding it proper to ce-operate with other Governments and necessary to assist in increasing and stabilizing domestic prices, to augment the purchasing Power of peoples in silver-using countries, to protect our foreign commerce against the adverse effect of depreciated foreign currencies, and to carry out the understanding between the 65 Governments that adopted the resolution hereinbefore atmosphere was safely averted by the discreet conduct of affairs by the Pel ping Political Council, under the general direction of ' the National Government, during the protracted negotiations' for the retrocession of the Great Wall passes and the resumption of through traffic on the Peiping-Mukden Railway. The somewhat unimpressively staged revolt in Fukien was crushed in January, and, foreshadowed in the previous trade Report, the internal situation was further improved by the eventual success of the campaign against the so-called Soviet forces in Kiangsi, Th most serious natural calamity of the year was a drought affecting the Provinces of Anhwei, Chekiang, Kiangsi, and Kiangsu principally, and many other provinces to a lesser extent, showing that it was the intention of the United States Government to make use of the agreement (a) to enhance as well as to stabilize the price of silver, (b) to protect its foreign commerce against the adverse effect of depreciated foreign cur-rendes (inferentially) by depreciate ing its own currency through the use tobe made of ite silver purchases, and (e) to augment the purchasing Power of silver-using countries (inferentially) by appreciating the cur-reueles of such countries
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.