fine oz., at the same time a not inconsiderable proportion of their
gold-silver ores are shipped to and refined in England.
Asia. The chief countries producing silver are Japan and India.
The production of copper has made great strides in Japan of late
years, and it is chiefly from these ores that her silver is obtained ;
the metal is also obtained from the gold ores mined in Formosa and
Korea. Japan's output of silver in 1917 was reported at 6,844,500
fine ounces.
The Indian output is chiefly derived from the mines in Upper
Burma belonging to the Burma Corp. Ltd., and the production from
Jan. to Oct. 1920 amounted to as much as 2,014,261 oz., and it was
said that 1,000,000 oz., per month would in the future be a very
possible outturn. What India ultimately would be able to produce
must remain problematical, but there is no question whatever about
India's potential mineral wealth, which only requires time to develop.
Consumption of Silver. Although great difficulties are expe-
rienced in obtaining definite data as to production, that prob-
lem is relatively simple in comparison with the consumption
side of the subject. Briefly stated, consumption may be dis-
cussed from four standpoints the respective world nations'
coinages, their arts, and the requirements of India and China,
and it is here that the absence of readily obtainable and reliable
information is felt. In the case of America the admirable figures
annually presented by the U.S. director of the mint, in so far as
America is concerned, supply the following information:
497
American silver coinage.
1918 35,004,450 fine oz.
1919 14,682,079 '
1920 19,763,600 " "
Industrial arts.
Silver consumed Of which new material
1917 27,039,845 fine oz. 15,998,807 fine oz.
1918 36,252,596 ' 26,722,333 " "
1919 32,700,521 ' 26,237,519 " "
As regards the coinage requirements of other nations, a most
remarkable reversal of conditions has arisen. Prior to the World
War the annual requirements for such purposes probably
amounted to 70,000,000 oz. at least. In 1921 that was all changed,
and the spectacle was presented of a great number of countries
demonetizing silver as quickly as possible, and / or reducing the
fineness of their silver coinages. England had reduced hers from
925 to 500, and the Straits Settlements from 900 to 500. The
quantity of silver which had already been placed on the market,
though somewhat problematical, was probably 50,000,000 oz.,
with a fairly safe estimate of as much more to follow.
As regards the world's requirements for arts, it may be safe
to say that the majority of European countries were in 1921 in
far too impecunious a position owing to the war to become real
factors under this heading for many years to come in fact, the
majority had been and still were sellers of silver ware.
Table 3. Silver coin and bullion imported into and exported from
British India, 1887-1919. (British standard ounces.)
Fiscal yr.
ended
March 31.
Imported
Exported
Net Imports
1887-8
37,877,141
5,994,542
32,782,599
1888-9
1889-90
37,844,665
43,940,659
5,408,636
5,296,885
32,436,029
38,643,774
1890-1
56,190,870
4,661,785
51,529,085
1891-2
38,177,580
5,829,142
32,348,438
1892-3
54,180,144
8,656,632
45,523,512
1893-4
1894-5
60,328,296
32,638,069
5,999,323
5,598,047
54,328,973
27,040,022
1895-6
34,082,810
7,064,731
27,018,079
1896-7
37,520,322
11,591,234
25,929,088
1897-8
68,535,612
24,250,995
44,284,617
1898-9
49,226,780
26,061,355
23,165,425
1899-1900
50,663,542
32,017,260
18,646,282
1900-1
64,746,549
I5,3",385
49,435,164
1901-2
66,726,972
27,721,780
39,005,192
1902-3
75,569,185
32,294,876
42,274,309
1903-4
104,324,765
25,142,629
79,182,136
1904-5
98,118,908
23,769,313
74,349,595
1905-6
88,853,079
4,535,314
84,317,765
1906-7
125,878,008
7,679,151
118,198,857
1907-8
106,358,274
8,442,915
97,915,359
1908-9
85,048,761
11,308,630
73,740,131
1909-10
75,501,745
14,486,993
61,0+4,752
1910-1
69,272,319
14,396,030
54,876,289
1911-2
70,378,747
38,149,647
32,229,100
1912-3
107,190,427
16,112,785
91,077,642
I9I3-4
79,834,999
8,727,648
71,107,351
I9I4-5
64,160,128
8,394,005
55,766,123
1915-6
39,833-279
6,900,906
32,932,373
1916-7
116,959,115
24,765,309
92,193,806
1917-8
88,814,458
14,282,960
74,531,498
1918-9
241,747,806
4,7i9,i87
In studying the figures for British India (Table 3) very great
care is necessary to discriminate between what represents
Government and what private imports, as the Government
3gures are for coinage purposes entirely. The need for this will
ae apparent when it is realized that out of the figures given in
Table 3 for the years 1912 to 1919 Government coinage require-
ments were:
Standard oz.
1912-3 56,057,978
'913-4 ; 35,425,057
I9H-5 169,342
1915-6 302,259
1916-7 109,522,499
'917-8 79,404,555
1918-9 237,189,080
As the stock of silver held by the Government of India in their
currency reserve, according to the return dated May 22 1921,
SIMON, SIR J. A.
amounted to Rs. 66,41,00,000 against an average for the five
pre-war years, 1910-4, of Rs. 21,99,00,000 it may safely be
assumed that they were not likely to be purchasers of the metal
for some years to come.
As regards China's consumption, it is an almost hopeless task
to supply anything approaching reliable data. The figures in
Table 4, however, taken from the Chinese Maritime Customs
reports may be taken as approximately correct they are, how-
ever, given in Haikwan taels.
Table 4. China.
Imports
Exports
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
861,167 ta
818,827
19,903,117
13,871,778
1,228,342
51,078,643
50,966,880
els
13,861,917 ta
18,211,040
8,102,268
5-024,575
2,281,659
9,896,429
68,469,360
els
Imports into Hong Kong for the year 1920 were reported to
be the equivalent of 7,049,700 the greater portion of which was
probably dealt with by the mint in Canton. The stocks of silver
held in Shanghai on Dec. 31 of the following years are shown in
Table 5. The increase in stocks in 1920 over 1919 viz, taels
15,460,000, and dollars 18,420,000 represents the equivalent
of an increase of about 31,030,820 ounces.
Table 5. Stock at Shanghai.
Taels
Dollars
Bar SiUcr
1917
1918
1919
1920
21,760,000
18,860,000
19,140,000
34,600,000
14, 040, o<x>
13,470,000
11,260,000
29,680,000
357
4
242
nil
Prices. Table 6 gives the highest, lowest and average price
of bar silver in London per oz., British standard 925 fine
since 1833, from which it will be seen that the highest quotation
recorded since 1833 was 8g|d. in 1920, the next highest being
79id. in 1919, 62fd. in 1859 and 62jd. in 1864. Though the
highest point reached was in 1920, the average quotation for
that year was only 6ii|d. against averages in 1859 of 62 Ad. and
6i|d. in 1864, which would point to more stable conditions
existing in the silver market in the years 1859 and 1864 than in
1920. To the years 1902 and 1903 belong the honour of recording
the lowest prices, viz. 2i}d., whilst the lowest average goes to
1915 with 23d. followed by 1909 with 23fd. When the Pitt-
man Act became law in the United States, good authorities,
not only in America but in England, made bold to assert that the
result of this Act would be to stabilize the world's price of silver
at not less than $i per oz., for many years to come, whilst Senator
Pittman went further and predicted that the world's price would
range between $i and $1.29 the parity of the American silver
dollar for the next 20 years. The spot price in London on June
i 1921, was 33 Jd., and the price in America on the same date for
foreign mined silver was 60 cents nominal.
Table 6. Highest, lowest, and average price of bar silver in
London, per oz. (British standard 0.925) from 1833 to 1920.
Year
Highest
pence
Lowest
pence
Average
pence
1833
59%
5%
59%
1834
60%
59%
599?
1835
60
59%
59%
1836
60 %
59%
60
1837
6oy s
59
59%
1838
60 3^3
59%
1839
60%
60
6oy s
1840
60%
60%
1841
1842
1843
<x> 3 A
60
59%
59%
59%
59
60%
59%
59%
1844
59%
59%
1845
59%
59 %
1846
60%
59
59%
1847
60%
59%
1848
60
58%
59%
1849
60
59%
59%
1850
61%
59%
60%
Table 6. Continued.
Year
Highest
pence
Lowest
pence
Average
pence
1851
6lR
60
61
1852
6l
59^
6oJ^
1853
6l
60%
61 H
1854
6iH
60 %
6iH
1855
6iM
60
6i
1856
62 X
6oy 2
61 K
i857
62 3 A
61
61
1858
(>i%
60%
6lK
1859
62%
61%
6a
i860
62*A
618
61%
1861
6i
6oy 8
6o!?js
1862
62^
61
6i
1863
6ij|
61
6i^g
1864
62 y 2
60%
6iM
1865
61%
(x>y 2
6l
1866
62%
6oy s
61}^
1867
61%
(x>y a
6oM
1868
6ij|
6oy s
60^
1869
61
60
60 J6
1870
60%
60^
60%
1871
61
60%
60^
1872
6iM
59%
6o>(J
1873
59%
57%
59?f
1874
59 1 A
57 1 A
58
1875
1876
57 & A
5y*
55%
46%
56%
52 M
1877
58%
53 1 A
54%
1878
55%
49 %
52%
1879
53
58%
5iM
1880
52%
51*2
52^
1881
52 y*
50%
51%
1882
52 3 A
So
5iH
1883
51%
50%
50%
1884
5iH
49%
5o%
1885
50
46%
48%
1886
47
42
45%
1887
47 1 A
43K
44%
1888
44
418
42^
1889
44%
4
42%
1890
54%
43%
47 3 A
1891
4%
43%
45J16
1892
43%
37%
39
J893
3%
30%
35%
1894
3* 3 A
27
28K
1895
3iN
vjK
29%
1896
31%
29%
30%
1897
29%
23%
27%
1898
2Sy s
25
26%
1899
29
26%
27%
1900
30%
27
28%
1901
29%
24%
27%
1902
26%
21%
24%
1903
28^
21%
24^
1904
28%
24%
26H
1905
30%
25%
27%
1906
33%
29 ,,
30%
1907
32%
24%
30%
1908
27
22
24 M
1909
24%
23%
23M
1910
26%
23 %
24M
1911
26y g
23%
24&
1912
29%
25%
28%
1913
29 3 A
26%
27%
1914
27%
22 %
25 '4
I9'5
27^
22%
23^
1916
37 1 A
26%
3I ^
1917
55
35%
40%
1918
49 1 A
42 %
47 tt
1919
79%
47 3 A
57 A
1920
89^2
a&4
iiii
(W. E. P.)
SIMON, SIR JOHN ALLSEBROOK (1873- ), British poli-
tician and lawyer, the son of a Congregational minister, was edu-
cated at Fettes, and at Wadham College, Oxford, where he was
a scholar and was eventually elected an hon. fellow. He became
pres. of the Union in 1896, and took a first-class in Lit. Hum.
in the same year, being subsequently elected fellow of All Souls.
He went to the bar, became Barstow Law scholar in 1898, and
was called in 1899. His manifest abilities and the persuasive-
ness of his advocacy soon brought him into notice; he was
chosen one of the counsel for the British Government in the
SIMS SINHA
499
arbitration on the Alaska Boundary in 1903; and he rapidly
attained so considerable a practice that he was able to take
silk in 1908. Meanwhile he had gone into politics, and was
elected as an advanced Liberal for Walthamstow at the general
election of 1906. At first, probably owing to his absorption in
his legal work, he did not command nearly so much attention
in Parliament as his Wadham contemporary and fellow-lawyer,
Mr. F. E. Smith (afterwards Lord Birkenhead). But he gradu-
ally made his way, and was appointed by Mr. Asquith solicitor-
general in 1910, and Attorney-General with a seat in the Cabi-
net in 1913. On the outbreak of war in 1914, his resignation,
along with those of Lord Morley and Mr. Burns, was confi-
dently expected; but he finally decided to remain with his chief
and the bulk of his colleagues. When the first war Coalition
Government was formed in May 1915, he was offered the lord
chancellorship, but he declined the greatest prize of his pro-
fession as he preferred a political career in the Commons.
Accordingly he accepted the home secretaryship, and gave up
his legal practice, by means of which he had acquired a comfort-
able fortune. Early, however, in the following year, owing to
his inability to accept the Government bill for compulsory
military service, he resigned his office and led a fruitless opposi-
tion to the measure in the House; and then went out to the front
in France as a major in the R.A.F. He subsequently resumed
practice as a barrister, and immediately regained his posi-
tion in the front rank of his profession. On the break between
Mr. Asquith and Mr. Lloyd George, Sir John Simon adhered to
the former. He lost his seat in Parliament at the general election
in Dec. 1918, subsequently taking an active part in political
work outside the House in the interests of the Independent
Liberals. He was twice married in 1899 to Ethel M. Vena-
bles, who died in 1902, leaving a son and two daughters, and in
1917 to Kathleen Manning.
SIMS, WILLIAM SOWDEN (1858- ), American naval offi-
cer, was born at Port Hope, Ont, Canada, Oct. 15 1858. In
childhood he removed to Pennsylvania and was graduated from
the U.S. Naval Academy in 1880. Then for eight years he
served on board various ships in the N. Atlantic. During 1889-93
he was with the nautical school ship " Saratoga," and then
was transferred to the Pacific Station, and later to the China
Station. From 1897 to 1900 he was naval attache to the Ameri-
can embassy, first at Paris and afterwards at St. Petersburg.
In 1900 he returned to the Pacific Station. Convinced of the
inadequacy of American methods of target practice Lieutenant
Sims wrote numerous letters to the Washington officials urging
changes. Meeting with no response he finally addressed a per-
sonal letter to President Roosevelt, which led to his recall to
Washington. In the end he was enabled to arrange for a gun-
nery test and proved his claims. In 1902 he was assigned to the
Bureau of Navigation, serving for the next seven years as in-
spector of target practice, which was remarkably improved
under his guidance. Meanwhile in 1907 he was made commander
and appointed naval aide to President Roosevelt. With this
rank he was placed in charge of the battleship " Minnesota "
in 1909. The following year, during a visit of the Atlantic
Fleet to England, Commander Sims caused a stir by certain
indiscreet remarks made at a dinner at the Guildhall, London,
where he said: " Speaking for myself, I believe that if the time
ever comes when the British Empire is menaced by an external
enemy, you may count upon every man, every drop of blood,
every ship, and every dollar of your kindred across the sea."
A semi-official protest against this utterance was made at
Washington by the German Government, which took offence
at it, and there was some talk of Sims being dismissed from the
service, but the incident ended in a severe reprimand from the
Secretary of the Navy. In 1911 he was promoted captain and
for two years was a member of the staff of the Naval War
College, Newport, R.I. During 1913-5 he was in command of
the Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla and then returned to Newport as
president of the Naval War College. When America entered
the World War in April 1917 he was chosen to command Ameri-
can naval operations in Europe. In Jan. he had been promoted
rear-admiral, and early in April, when war was imminent but
before its formal declaration, he sailed in disguise to England
in a merchant vessel. In May he was made vice-admiral. In
1916 he had urged construction of battle cruisers, arguing their
supremacy over submarines as shown in the battle of Jutland.
In his book The Victory at Sea (1920, in conjunction with
Burton J. Hendrick) he shows how the convoy system, used
in transporting 2,000,000 American troops, frustrated the sub-
marines. In 1919 he criticised the mannerin which naval honours
had been awarded; in particular, he held that " the commanding
officer of a vessel that is sunk by a submarine should not receive
the same reward as the commanding officer of a vessel which
sinks a submarine." This criticism was obviously directed
against the Secretary of the Navy for having decorated his own
son-in-law, whose boat was sunk. He himself refused the D.S.M.
In 1920 he made a formal report to the U.S. Senate, and charged
the U.S. Naval Board with serious errors in the conduct of
naval operations during the war. His English sympathies and
his admiration for the British navy were openly expressed
too openly for the liking of some of his critics.
SINCLAIR, M AY ( - ), English author, was born at Rock
Ferry, Cheshire, and educated at the Ladies' College, Chelten-
ham. She began her career by writing verse and philosophical
criticism. In 1895 she published her first short story, followed
in 1896 by her first novel Audrey Craven. Mr. and Mrs. Neville
Tyson appeared in 1898 and Two Sides of a Question in 1900.
But it was not until she published The Divine Fire in 1904 that
she became widely known. It was followed by The Helpmate
(1907); Kitty Taitteur (1908); The Creators (1910); The Com-
bined Maze (1913); The Three Sisters (1914); Tasker Jevons
(1916); The Tree of Heaven (1917); Mary Olivier (1919) and The
Romantic (1920), as well as one or two volumes of short stories.
In A Defence of Idealism (1917) Miss Sinclair published acute
criticisms of modern philosophic theories, and in a Journal of
Impressions in Belgium (1915) she gave her experiences in the
autumn of 1914 as a member of an advance field ambulance.
SINHA, SATYENDRA PRASSANO, IST BARON (1864- ),
Indian statesman, was born of an ancient Kayastha family in the
village of Raipur, Birbhum district, Bengal, in June 1864.
Matriculating at 14 he held a scholarship at the Presidency
College, Calcutta, and in 1881 came to London to join Lincoln's
Inn, where he won many prizes and scholarships, and was called
to the bar in June 1886. In practice at Calcutta he rapidly rose
to a leading position, and was appointed standing counsel to the
Government of India in 1903. He was the first Indian to be ap-
pointed advocate-general of Bengal (1908), and the first to be-
come a member of the Government of India. He held the law port-
folio from April 1909 to Nov. 1910, up to the retirement from the
viceroyalty of Lord Minto, who testified to the success of what
some English critics regarded as a dangerous experiment. Sinha
resumed his lucrative practice at the bar, presided at the Indian
National Congress session at Bombay in 1915, and was again ap-
pointed advocate-general of Bengal (1916). He and the Maharaja
of Bikaner were the first Indians to participate in Empire delibera-
tions in London, for in 1917 they jointly assisted the Secretary
of State at the meetings of the Imperial War Cabinet, and were
members of the Imperial War Conference. Sinha joined the
Bengal Executive Council in the same year, but returned to
England in 1918 as a member of the Imperial War Cabinet and
Imperial War Conference. Immediately on getting back to India
he was called to London and Paris as an Indian member of the
Peace Conference. Knighted in 1915, in 1918 he was made K.C.,
a distinction not previously conferred upon a barrister of Indian
birth or practice. When the Coalition Government was recast at
the beginning of 1919 he established further records for an Indian
by being appointed to the Ministry as Under-Secretary for India,
and being raised to the peerage as Baron Sinha of Raipur. He
was the second Indian to be sworn of the Privy Council. He
skilfully conducted the Government of India Act, 1919, through
the House of Lords, and when dyarchy was initiated at the close
of 1920 was appointed governor of Bihar and Orissa, being the
first Indian to preside over a British province.
500
SINN FEIN SMITH
SINN FEIN: see IRELAND: Political History.
SKEAT, WALTER WILLIAM (1835-1912), English author
(see 25.168). died at Cambridge Oct. 6 1912.
SLATIN, SIR RUDOLF CARL VON (1857- ), Anglo-Austrian
soldier and ^administrator in the Sudan (see 25.212). For his cap-
able and gallant services in the Sudan Slatin Pasha had been cre-
ated K.C.M.G. and had received the thanks of both Houses of
Parliament in 1899. In 1906 he was created a baron of the Aus-
trian Empire and was made an Austrian privy councillor in 1904.
The same year he married Baroness Alice von Ramberg of Vienna
(d. 1921). In 1912 he received the G.C.V.O. from H.M. King
George. On the outbreak of the World War, Slatin, who was on
leave in Vienna, was prevented, by the Austrian mobilization, from
returning to his appointment in the Sudan, and in this difficult
position he voluntarily took up work as head of the Austrian Red
Cross, and in charge of prisoners-of-war, and would accept no re-
muneration for his services. In this capacity he did much to amel-
iorate the conditions of imprisonment, and was largely respon-
sible for the humane treatment of the Allied soldiers in Austrian
hands. The German Government (through Bethmann Hollweg)
offered him a high post which he refused. Subsequent to the
signing of the Armistice, he was selected as a member of the
Austrian delegation to discuss the terms of peace in Paris.
SMILLIE, ROBERT (1859- ), British labour politician,
was born in Belfast in 1859 of Scottish parents. He was sent to a
primary school but left at the age of 14 years to work in a ship-
yard at Govan. Two years later he went into the mining indus-
try of Lanarkshire and worked underground for 16 years. From
1878 onwards he was an active trade unionist, although in the
earlier years of this period he was earning only i8s. 6d. a week.
In 1890 he was elected paid organizer for the Larkhall district
and owing to his activity the Lanarkshire Miners' Union soon
reached a membership of 30,000. He took a prominent part in
the formation of the Scottish Coal Trade Conciliation Board and
its satisfactory results were largely attributable to his efforts.
His abilities as a leader caused him to rise steadily from the
chairmanship of the Scottish Trade Union Congress to the first
presidency of the parliamentary committee of the Scottish Trade
Union Congress and in 1894 he became permanent president of
the Scottish Miners' Federation. In 1912 he was elected to the
presidency of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the
building up of this body has been the great work of his life.
Politically his success has not been so great as on the industrial
field and although he stood as a candidate for Parliament seven
times he was never elected. His greatest poll was 3,847 in a
three-cornered fight at Mid-Lanark in 1910. In 1885 he was
elected a member of the district school board for Larkhall, a posi-
tion which he filled for 20 years. His work on the Coal Indus-
try Commission from March till June 1919 brought him into
greater prominence, but he became very ill in Nov. 1919. In
March 1920, asliis health was no better, he tendered his resigna-
tion from the presidency of the Miners' Federation, but the
Federation refused to accept it and gave him leave of absence
instead. In March 1921 ill-health compelled him to resign from
the Federation and retire from public life.
SMITH, ALFRED EMANUEL (1873- ), American poli-
tician, was born in New York City, Dec. 30 1873. The son
of humble parents, his father being a truck driver, he was edu-
cated in the St. James parochial school and for several years
was employed in the Fulton Fish Market. He was very popu-
lar with his associates and at the age of 29 was offered the
Democratic nomination for the N.Y. State Assembly by the
Tammany leader of the district in which he lived. He was
elected for 1903 and by reelection served for 12 years. In
1911 he became Democratic leader in the Assembly and was
appointed vice-chairman of the Factory Investigating Commit-
tee which made a searching inquiry into industrial conditions in
the state, resulting in remedial legislation. In 1913 he was
speaker of the Assembly. In 1915 he was chosen a delegate to
the State Constitutional Convention, taking an active part in
its proceedings. He opposed the constitution as finally revised,