The Value of MoneyAnderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
General
The Value of Money
Anderson, Benjamin M. (Benjamin McAlester)
Money
Where does one find barter? Well, not to be ignored would be the
advertisements which fill many columns of such a paper as the New York
_Telegram_ in the course of a week; "Wanted: to trade a well-trained
parrot for a violin"--a trade that might, or might not, be a wise one!
There is a good deal of such simple barter among the people. Then,
perhaps more important, is the regular practice of sewing machine,
piano, automobile, and other similar companies of taking part of the
payment for a new machine, piano,[197] or automobile in the similar
thing which the owner is discarding. The old machine, piano, etc., are
then repaired, repainted, and sold again. This is a very extensive
practice. Again, there are companies which combine the business of
wrecking old houses and building new ones, who regularly take the old
materials as part of their pay. This is a highly important feature of
the organized building trade in great cities, and is frequently done in
small towns. The building trade is no negligible matter. The
"horse-trade" still thrives in rural regions, and barter of various
kinds, of live stock, of grain and hay, of fresh and cured meat, and of
labor, is an important feature in rural life in many sections. Much of
agricultural rent in the South is still paid in kind, under the "share
system." Much labor, especially farm and domestic labor, is still paid
for partly in kind. Where payments for labor are made in orders on
company stores, we have again what is virtually barter, from the
standpoint of the point at issue. _Real estate_ transactions make large
use of barter. Farms are exchanged for one another, with some cash (or
more usually, a promissory note) "to boot." The writer has repeatedly
heard real estate men say to customers: "I can't sell it for you very
easily, but I can trade it off, and maybe you can sell what you trade it
for." This is perhaps more frequent in rural real estate transactions,
and in the smaller cities, than in large cities, but it is very
extensive in New York City.[198]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account