Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK DURING THE WAR 347and the interior of Asia were in the market for all they couldget. Almost the whole world was scrambling for the whitemetal. The United States held a large mass of useless silver inher Treasuryin the form of coined dollars, and had a certaininterest in the Indian situation, owing to the difficulty experi-for the Indianenced in procuring remittances to India to paygoods, such as jute, of which she stood in urgent need. Thisled in 1918 to the passing of the Pittman Act by the UnitedStates Congress, under the provisions of which over 270,000,000silver dollars were melted and sold, to be replaced later bypurchases of an equivalent amount of silver from the producersof the United States.The conditions outlined above lend interest to the extraordinaryincrease in the shipments of silver from the port ofSan Francisco during the years 1916, 1917 and 1918, in whichThe Canadian Bank of Commerce had its share. In normalyears in the past, the exports from this port had ranged from6,000,000 to 10,000,000 ounces, but in the later years of thewar there was an enormous increase. The figures follow:1916 18,000,000 oz.1917 58,158,000 oz.1918 156,782,000 oz.The shipments of 1917 and 1918 were destined as follows:1917 1918To China. . ..33,048,000 oz. 20,409,000 oz." India 25,110,000 oz. 136,373,000 oz.58,158,000 oz. 156,782,000 oz.Of these amounts The Canadian Bank of Commerceshipped in 1917 23,093,691 ounces of bullion and 1,536,000Mexican pesos, and in 1918 54,452,917 ounces of bullion and3,798,669 Mexican pesos.During 1916 the patriotic calls on the time and services ofthe Canadian branches and their officers continued, althoughthey were not so heavy as in 1915. Assistance of every kindwas freely extended to the work of the Canadian PatrioticFund: subscriptions were handled free of charge for the