[Footnote: Clay MSS., _passim;_ letter to Thomas Hart, October 19, 1794; October 13, 1797, etc.

In the last letter, by the way, written by one John Umstead, occurs the following sentence: "I have lately heard a piece of news, if true, must be a valuable acquisition to the Western World, viz.

a boat of a considerable burden making four miles and a half an hour against the strongest current in the Mississippi river, and worked by horses."] Currency.
Prices of Goods.
All through the West there was much difficulty in getting money.

In Tennessee particularly money was so scarce that the only way to get cash in hand was by selling provisions to the few Federal garrisons.
[Footnote: _Do_., Blount to Hart, Knoxville, March 13, 1799.] Credits were long, and payment made largely in kind; and the price at which an article could be sold under such conditions was twice as large as that which it would command for cash down.

In the accounts kept by the landowners with the merchants who sold them goods, and the artizans who worked for them, there usually appear credit accounts in which the amounts due on account of produce of various kinds are deducted from the debt, leaving a balance to be settled by cash and by orders.