I present a table which I shall ask to have inserted in the RECORD as part of my remarks, showing the purchasing power of 412-1/2 grains of silver, nine-tenths fine, in 1873 and 1890, respectively, so far as concerns several leading articles of daily consumption. The table is as follows: _Comparative purchasing power of 412-1/2 grains silver, nine-tenths fine, in 1873 and 1890, respectively._ -----------------------------------+-------+------- 412-1/2 grains silver would buy-- | 1873. | 1890. -----------------------------------+-------+------- Wheat bushels | 0.87 | 0.88 Corn do | 1.84 | 1.97 Cotton pounds | 5.32 | 6.71 Beef, mess barrels | 0.05 | 0.05 Pork, mess do | 0.07 | 0.06 Lard pounds | 12.89 | 11.75 Butter do | 5.40 | 4.63 Cheese do | 8.69 | 6.94 Sugar do | 9.80 | 10.34 Eggs dozen | 4.27 | 5.38 -----------------------------------+-------+------- From this table it conclusively appears that while in 1873 the standard silver dollar of 412-1/2 grains, which then bore a premium over the gold dollar, would purchase four-fifths of a bushel of wheat; to-day the same quantity of silver, without the advantage of coinage and merely as bullion, will also buy four-fifths of a bushel of wheat--the only difference between the figures for the two years being that at the present time 412-1/2 grains of silver bullion, as will be seen by the table, will buy a fraction of a bushel more than would 412-1/2 grains of coined silver in 1873. If, then, silver has fallen, it is manifestly not in its relation to wheat. By the same table it is shown that the silver dollar of 1873, containing 412-1/2 grains of silver, nine-tenths fine, would purchase one and eight-tenths bushels of corn; in 1890, a like number of grains of silver, uncoined and estimated at its gold value, will purchase one and nine-tenths bushels of corn. Here again the advantage is slightly in favor of the 412-1/2 grains of silver bullion of 1890. This shows conclusively that silver has not fallen in its relation to corn. The figures of the same table show that in 1873 a coined silver dollar of 412-1/2 grains would buy 5-1/3 pounds of cotton; to-day 412-1/2 grains of uncoined silver will buy 6-3/4 pounds of cotton. From this it appears that silver has not fallen relatively to cotton, the great staple of universal use, but that, on the contrary, it has advanced somewhat in its purchasing power when compared with that article.