Silver in Overalls

Under the New Deal's silver-buying program, the U.S. has spent $1,325,000,000 since 1934 to accumulate about 42,000 tons of silver (besides the 46,800 tons monetized) which lie unused in vaults. Last week the National Academy of Sciences suggested that OPM put some of this expensive luxury to work for defense by substituting it for tin in solder. This would not affect the price of solder because a blend of 2½% silver and 97½% lead gives about the same results as the standard mixture of half tin and half lead. It would save around 18,000 tons of tin—almost 20% of...