Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1904-02-25
MONEY NOT NEEDED.
Trade Transactions in Which There
Is No Cash.
Foreigners and Farmers In Chicago
Do Get Supplies and AceOmmo-
datiOns in Exchange for
Produce.

/ ger On an LlSlOu avenue Car hhulAb net
self without change, paid her fare to the
conductor by giving him a can OF to-
matoes, and the story got in the papers.
there was much astonishment and not
little laughter, says the Chicago Tirb-
une
Yet thousands of dollars worth OF
business is done in Chicago every year
upon the same terms, and many tran
saction which would swamp some cash
stores is carried out without the ex-
penditure of nickel. The custom, which
is deeply imbedded In some parts OF
Chicago, rose in one Of two ways
At the Office of City Sealer Quinn,
where weights and measures are known
like books, 1t is said that the habit OF
barter comes to Chicago from New Eng
land. A man who has hotel out In
Milwaukee avenue, and who is the center
of a trading population in which money
is seldom used said that he believes the
barter and exchange custom, as used In
Chicago, came in after the Chicago fire
and was a product Of those disordered
days.
II is out in Milwaukee avenue, toward
Dunning, down in Blue Island, and west
ward, near Hawthorne and Clyde, that
much of this moneyless commerce is car
ried out. Yet so close to town as Hay
market square many deals are put
through without the necessity on the
part Of either the buyer or the seller OF
putting his hand in his pocket
Money among some parts of Chicago's
cosmopolitan population is used solely
as a medium of saving. In some parts
Of the Italian and Chinese quarters
dollar spent means that $40 or $50 have
been laid away. Many Of these residents
Of Chicago are transients. They look
forward always to the time when they
may go into the ticket Office and buy
passage back to their native land.
In the businesses in which they are
engaged here they usually have little
capital except their labor invested. They
sell fruit or brooms or rugs or they shine
shoes or do laundry work or sell tea In
small quantities II follows that never
at one time have they much money on
hand for spending purposes.
They cut their living expenses down
10 a minimum. Those industrious statis-
ticians who calculate TO the penny on
how family can live on $3.50 week
and who indulge in similar mathematical
feats, would be surprised to see how
many thrifty Greeks or economical ltal-
fans can live BEAUTIFULLY and happily
through day which has seen only bit
Of dry bread and a piece of bacon as its
table luxuries.
These people, who but tarry within
our gates, always live in neighborhoods
which are populated mostly by their
fellow countrymen. When they need
clothes they get them from the man
whose relatives they knew in Naples or
Athens. With shoes, drinks, cigars, med
icines 1t is the same.
They deal. many Of them, with their
own people, and not always for cash.
They have something. some part of their
small stock, or some share Of their labor,
which they willingly exchange for what
the other man has.
This trading among some strata Of the |
aliens is done for the most part without !
the use Of money. Most of the money |
that comes in is put into the chamois
skin bag. which is kept back Of the |
loose panel in the walls, under the board, |
under the bed or in the safety deposit |
vault. which is sometimes the only thing |
for which money is actually paid.
But Americans who have lived here all |
their lives. and who expect to die here,
do not always pay money for what they |
ct. In a larger way they are like the
woman in the Elston avenue car who
paid can of tomatoes for car fare Many |
Of them are farmers. They drive into
town in the morning with load of prod
uce. Their first stop is at the hotel.
Never at a downtown hotel. but at one
Of those countless farmers homes or
farmers rests" that dot many Of the
outskirts.
The hotel keeper often does not make
out his bill in dollars and cents. He let's
the farmer put his wagon and his horses
In the hotel shed and he charges him so
many pecks of apples or so many BUSH
els of corn.
While the farmer is out selling his
produce his wife, or perhaps his daugh-
Ter. may be trading needlework or but
ter for some article which is needed out
On the farm. Most of the money that is
used comes into the farmers family. 1t
foes not go out of It,
It is useless to deny that hundreds of
prosperous farmers who come into town
each day spend money and spend it free
'. But the percentage of those who
rannot afford money and who exchange
rather than sell or buy is high. Even
many Of those who have bank accounts
prefer to do business in the old way and
keep their money for themselves.
That this custom is neither the result
entirely of foreign nor of rural environ
nent It is only necessary to turn in this
paper to the for sale or exchange column.
There will be found the advertisements f,
IF many city bred men and women who
have some possession for which they
rant anOfhpr Money is not the nub of