Hyder Weekly Herald

In what was undoubtedly one of the most interesting and illuminating talks on the gold and silver situation ever heard in the district, Mr. D. L. Pitt, manager of the Premier Gold Mining Company, speaking at the monthly dinner meeting of the Stewart Board of Trade, last week, said he doubted if ever the residents of the district realized the extent of local gold production.

"When I tell you that this district has produced in one year as much as fifty-five per cent of the total gold production of British Columbia and fifteen percent of the total annual gold production of Canada, you will get some idea of its importance," Mr. Pitt said.

Continuing the speaker said that one mine in this district produced as much as two and one-half avoirdupois tons of gold in one year, while the district has produced as much as four tons of gold in one year.

Relative to the silver production, Mr. Pitt asserted the district has produced as much as one hundred tons of that metal in one year.

"This illustrates," he said, the status of this district in the mining industry, and the extent to which it will benefit by any stabilization of the market for silver, for use as money."

The remainder of Mr. Pitt's address was devoted principally to a discussion of the present situation with respect to gold and silver as a monetary medium, in which he outlined the views of the upholders of the gold standard and those who advocate the use of both gold and silver, and declared that the present depreciation of silver is due entirely to manipulation of the bankers and traders which have had the effect of robbing fully one-half of the world's peoples of all of half of their purchasing power.

Mr. Pitt concluded with a plea for support of the demand for silver remonetization.