ABSTRACT
In modern civilized society the inconveniences of the primitive method of exchange are wholly unknown, and might almost seem to be imaginary. The earliest form of exchange must have consisted in giving what was not wanted directly for that which was wanted. The first difficulty in barter is to find two persons whose disposable possessions mutually suit each other's wants. Within the last few years a curious attempt has been made to revive the practice of barter by the circulation of advertisements. Commerce begins with barter, and in a certain sense it returns to barter; but the last form of barter is very different from the first form. The truck or barter system, by which workmen took their wages in kind, has hardly yet been extinguished in some parts of England. Pieces of land are occasionally exchanged by adjoining landowners; but all these are comparatively trifling cases.
