THE PERIOD OF BARTER.
All exchanges must, however, in the first instance, have been made
directly, or, as we term it, by barter; so much of one commodity
or service being given for so much of some other commodity or
service--corn for cloth, furs and skins for knives or tobacco, so
much labor in building a house for so much skill in constructing
a canoe. But in all this method of exchanging, which, while it is
the most ancient, is also one which still extensively prevails in
even the most civilized societies, there was no place for the use
or intervention of money; and consequently, also, there was no such
thing as price; for price, as before stated, is the purchasing power
of any commodity or service expressed in money.
But the people on Robinson Crusoe Island soon found out by experience
that there was an obstacle in the way of carrying on all exchanges
according to the principle of direct barter, so serious in its nature
as to constitute, unless removed, a complete bar to any further
considerable progress in civilization and social development. And
the discovery happened somewhat in this wise:
Twist, who was a tailor, and had made a coat, discovered all at
once that he was out of bread; and being hungry, suspended work,
and went in search of Needum, the baker, to effect an exchange. He
found him without difficulty, just heating his oven, and with plenty
of bread to dispose of; but as the baker had all the coats he wanted,
he declined to trade. Needum, however, kindly informed Twist that if
any fellow should call with any surplus grain or flour, he (Needum)
would be most happy to supply him with all the bread he needed in
exchange; but as the tailor was neither a farmer nor a miller, and
had neither of these articles, he (Twist) set off for the other end
of the island, where there was another baker, to see how the latter
was situated in respect to garments. On his way, Twist was overtaken
by Pecks, the mason, who had no coat, and, wanting the very garment
which Twist had been making, had stopped work on a stone wall and
gone in search of the tailor, to whom he proposed to exchange the
coat for a new chimney. But as Twist had already two chimneys to
his house, and nothing to cook, and didn't want another chimney, the
mason was as unsuccessful in his effort to trade with the tailor as
the tailor had been just before with the baker. At last, after much
vexatious traveling about, involving great waste of time and labor,
Twist found a baker who wanted to exchange bread for the coat, and
Pecks a tailor who would give a coat for a chimney; Needum having,
in the mean time, shut up his bakery and gone in search of Diggs, the
farmer, who was willing to supply grain for bread. But when all these
different persons, each desirous of exchanging his special products
or services, had been found, and had come together, a new perplexity
at once made its appearance, and one so embarrassing as to cause each
man seriously to consider whether it were not better to return home
and endeavor to produce every thing for himself, rather than attempt
to exchange any thing. "For how," said they all, "is the comparative
value of our different commodities and services which we propose to
exchange to be ascertained?" "How can I know," said Twist, "how many
loaves I ought to receive for my coat?" "Or I," said Pecks, "find out
how high and broad a chimney I ought to make for my garment?" Diggs,
furthermore, got up a little private dispute of his own with Needum,
growing out of the circumstance that the latter wanted to make his
entire payment in bread to the former at once; while Diggs, who did
not relish the idea of living on stale and possibly moldy bread for
an indefinite length of time, wanted pay for his grain, from the
baker, at the rate of one fresh loaf per day. As for poor Twist,
he had become by this time so humble through hunger that he had not
the heart to object to the proposition to take a cart-load of bread
at once in exchange for his coat, although his house was so small
that he knew he would have to store part of his "pay" on the roof,
where it would be certain to be eaten by others than his own family.
There was another incident which happened about this time which made
much talk among the island community. A man who had nothing to sell
but his labor had been employed to load a vessel with coal--a vein
of which had been discovered; and, after working faithfully all day,
had received in pay for his services a ton of coal. But as it was
meat, drink, and lodging, and not coal (although the latter was
greatly needed for some purposes), which the laborer wanted, there
was nothing left for the laborer to do but to attempt to exchange
his coal, and that, too, as soon as possible, in order to satisfy
his immediate necessities. Being too poor to hire a horse and cart,
he therefore borrowed a wheelbarrow, and, filling it with coal, went
in search of persons who had a surplus of meat, drink, and lodgings
to dispose of. But all of them happened to have all the coal they
wanted; and morning found the laborer still trundling through the
streets his most useful commodity unexchanged, and ready to sink with
hunger and exposure. A like experience befell also the journeyman
butcher, blacksmith, carpenter, and dry-goods clerk, who received
for their day's labor respectively a sheep-skin, a dozen horse-shoes,
a piece of pine timber, and two yards of red flannel. All were in no
condition, through bodily exhaustion, to resume work on the next day;
and all also clearly saw that their condition would not have been much
improved, if each had received an entire payment in either meat, drink,
or lodging, in place of coal, skin, lumber, horseshoes, or cloth.
The laborers, therefore, held a meeting, and at once resolved:
"That whereas it was evident that the system of paying for labor
with a portion of the commodity which each laborer produced would
necessitate as much time and labor to make their wages serviceable to
their wants as was required in the first instance to earn said wages;
therefore, it was but right and proper that the employers should allow
the laborers to use half of the whole time for which they were paid,
for the purpose of rendering their wages wholly available for their
immediate necessities." But to this the employers rejoined that such
an agreement would be equivalent not only to doubling the proportion
of wages to direct production, but also to impairing, to the extent
of one-half, the effectiveness of all labor engaged in production,
thereby increasing scarcity, diminishing abundance, and rendering
further advance in material development exceedingly slow, if not
altogether impossible. For a time, therefore, there was a prospect of
a very serious difficulty between the representatives of labor and
the representatives of capital; resulting, as is always the case,
in immense losses, not only to those directly concerned, but to the
whole community.