must all be made through the medium of barter; and he is obliged to waste his time in arranging an exchange, in which the goods which he has been compelled to accept for his labour are invariably taken at a lower price than that at which his master charged them to him. The father of a family perhaps, writhing under the agonies of the toothache, is obliged to make his hasty bargain with the village surgeon, before he will remove the cause of his pain; or the disconsolate mother is compelled to sacrifice her depreciated goods in exchange for the last receptacle of her departed offspring. The subjoined evidence from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on Framework-Knitters' Petitions, shows that these are not exaggerated statements.
"It has been so common in our town to pay goods instead of money, that a number of my neighbours have been obliged to pay articles for articles, to pay sugar for drugs out of the druggist's shop; and others have been obliged to pay sugar for drapery goods, and such things, and exchange in that way numbers of times. I was credibly informed, that one person paid half a pound of tenpenny sugar and a penny to have a tooth drawn; and there is a credible neighbour of mine told me, that he had heard that the sexton had been paid for digging a grave with sugar and tea; and before I came off, knowing I had to give evidence upon these things, I asked this friend to inquire of the sexton, whether this was a fact: the sexton hesitated for a little time, on account of bringing into discredit the person who paid these goods; however, he said at last, 'I have received these articles repeatedly—I know these things have been paid to a great extent in this way.'"
