Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 1, Number 15, DeMotte, Jasper County, 3 November 1932 — Barter That Satisfied All Concerned in Deal [ARTICLE]

Barter That Satisfied All Concerned in Deal

Forty-five years ago I owned a lumber business in a little country town in Manitoba. We were all desperately poor; a $10 bill looked as large as a bed sheet. One day a farmer asked me to sell him, on credit, $10 worth of lumber, explaining that he had sold some hogs to the butcher, who could not pay him. The butcher would go good for the lumber bill, he said. I explained to the farmer that I would as soon trust him as the butcher and told him to get thle butcher, who confirmed the farmer’s story. I asked the butcher if he sold meat to the Grand Central hotel, where I was boarding. He said he did and that they were owing him money. I told him to go to the hotel and get me two $5 meal tickets on account of his meat bill, which he did, and I furnished the farmer with the lumber. So the hotel paid for its meat, the butcher for the hogs, the farmer for the lumber, and I for my board without any money passing.--W. J. Palmer, in Wall Street Journal.