greatest monetary use is in India and China, where it has been the basis for the settlement of foreign exchange balances. In China also it is the money standard of the country. In the arts, silver is employed chiefly in the making of articles of luxury, such as jewelry and tableware. In the Orient this use is closely related to its use as money, since the natives invest their savings both in silver jewelry and silver coins. There is some consumption of silver by certain chemical industries, and quantities of increasing importance are used in the form of silver salts by the photographic and moving picture industries. It has been estimated that before 1914 about two-thirds of the new silver produced went into the arts and one-third into money. During the war, however, increasing amounts were used in coinage, and less than one-fifth of the output was used in the arts. Demands for silver for monetary purposes will probably continue to take the larger part of the world's production for some time. In this connection it may be noted that India has adopted a gold standard, but that the conservative habits of the population will doubtless continue to call for large amounts of silver.
About half of the silver production of the world comes from the dry or siliceous silver ores, which are mined solely for that metal and the associated gold; and about half of the production is obtained as a by-product in the mining of other metals, principally copper and lead. The average grades of these ores, in combined values of gold and silver, were referred to on p. 228. While the aggregate amount of silver obtained as a by-product of other ores is large, the percentage of silver in the copper or lead in any mine is ordinarily very small. Consequently the world output of silver depends to a considerable extent upon conditions in the copper- and lead-mining industries.
Of the total world 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.