If I can show that for a period of seventeen years, since its
demonetization in 1873, silver has lost none of its purchasing power,
none of its command over commodities; that is to say, if I can show
that 412-1/2 grains of silver to-day, uncoined, and shorn by hostile
legislation of its principal element of value--the money use--will buy
as much as would 412-1/2 grains of silver in 1873 (when our silver
dollar bore a premium over gold) of all the articles that enter into the
daily consumption of the people, it must be manifest that silver has not
fallen in value.
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.
In order to present the question from another point of view I submit
another table showing the number of grains of silver that are required
in 1890 and the number which were required in 1873 to buy a bushel of
wheat, a bushel of corn, &c., by which it will even more clearly appear
that silver has not fallen in value in respect to commodities.
_Comparative purchasing power of silver bullion, in grains nine-tenths
fine, in 1873 and 1890, respectively._
----------------------------+-----------+-----------
| 1873. | 1890.
Articles. | Legal | Commodity.
| tender. |
----------------------------+-----------+-----------
| _Grains | _Grains
| silver._ | silver._
Wheat per bushel | 474.3 | 468
Corn do | 223.9 | 209.25
Cotton per pound | 77.55 | 61.42
Beef, mess per barrel | 8,662.5 | 7,560
Pork, mess do | 5,465.62 | 6,750
Lard per pound | 31.97 | 35.1
Butter do | 76.31 | 89.1
Cheese do | 47.44 | 59.4
Sugar, refined do | 42.07 | 39.82
Eggs per dozen | 96.52 | 76.68
----------------------------+-----------+-----------
From this table it will be seen that in 1873 it required 474 grains of
standard silver, in the form of coined dollars, to buy one bushel of
wheat; in 1890, only 468 grains of standard silver (and that merely in
bullion form, or in other words, at its market value) are required to
buy a bushel of wheat. This does not show that silver has fallen in
value, in its relation to wheat, but, on the contrary, that it has risen
in value.
In 1873 it required 224 grains of silver to buy a bushel of corn; to-day
only 209 grains of silver are required to buy the same quantity. These
figures fail to prove that silver has fallen in value, in its relation
to corn. On the contrary, again, it has risen.
In 1873 a pound of cotton could not be had for less than 77-1/2 grains
of silver; to-day the same pound of cotton can be bought for 61 grains
of silver. Silver, therefore, has not fallen, but risen in value in its
relation to cotton.
In 1873 96 grains of silver were required to buy one dozen eggs; to-day
only 76 grains of silver are required to buy the same quantity of eggs.
Silver therefore has not fallen but risen in value, in its relation to
eggs.
These comparisons might be continued with the same results as to a great
majority of the articles entering into general use.
These figures demonstrate that in its relation to all commodities that
enter into the daily consumption, silver has not fallen in value, but,
as is clearly seen, while holding a remarkably steady ratio to
commodities, has slightly increased in value, as is shown by the fact
that a less number of grains of the metal are to-day required to
purchase the same quantity of the commodities mentioned than were
required in 1873.
In relation to what, then, is it that silver has fallen? As it has not
fallen in relation to commodities, there remains but one thing in
relation to which it can be said to have fallen, and that one thing is
gold. The phrase "the fall of silver" is the ingenious and cunning
invention by which it is sought to cast on that metal the discredit of
depreciation rather than subject gold to the suspicion of any change
whatever. The term to correctly describe what has taken place would be
"the rise of gold;" but that term is scrupulously avoided, as implying
that gold does not remain immovably fixed. That gold has risen, however,
admits of no doubt, except to those who willfully shut their eyes to
facts of common observation. The true test of the increasing or
decreasing value of any one thing is not to compare it with any other
one thing, but with a large range of commodities generally dealt in. It
is not of so much importance to know how much gold can be bought with a
given amount of silver, as it is to know how much bread, how much meat,
and how much clothing can be bought, and how much of all the things that
are necessary to the comfort and well-being of the people can be bought
with that amount of silver.