Washington, Jan. 9.
The United States Treasury's silver stocks on December 21 amounted to 2,176,000,000 ounces as a result of heavy purchases throughout the year, Handy & Harmon's review of the silver market reported here to-day.
Purchases during 1937. totalled 317,300,000 ounces, the report stated. The trend of the silver market during 1987 was "the narrowest on record," with only two cents difference between the highs and lows, according to the report.
The report said it was impossible to estimate the future trend of prices "because this is dependent on the Treasury's daily buying rate, which admittedly is on a 24-hour: ba: "Past events" the report said, "have sufficiently demonstrated the unfortunate results consequent to sharply advancing and declining prices and this fact has been recognized by the Treasury's buying Programme pursued since. January, 1936. Should the reduction of the price of domestic silver be a forerunner of a decline of the foreign price, we earnestly hope such a decline will be gradual and orderly. The Government has the power to control the situation and we assume it will continue to prevent any sudden or wide fluctuation."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.