He did not quite understand how it was that the merchant, who seemed to work less hard than he did, should make more money; and being ignorant and suspicious, he usually followed some hopelessly wrong-headed course when he tried to remedy his wrongs.

Sometimes these efforts to obtain relief took the form of resolutions not to purchase from merchants or traders such articles as woollens, linens, cottons, hats, or shoes, unless the same could be paid for in articles grown or manufactured by the farmers themselves.

This particular move was taken because of the alarming scarcity of money, and was aimed particularly at the inhabitants of the Atlantic States.

It was of course utterly ineffective.

[Footnote: Marshall, II., p.