Itinerant Merchandising in the Ante-bellum South1

Because of his antiquity the peddler occupies a distinguished position in the history of merchandising. Some historians have credited him with being the earliest business man or petty capitalist in western European economy, while others have seriously questioned his primacy in this respect; all agree, however, that he made his appearance very early in the history of merchandising. From his beginning he seems to have exercised most of the economic functions which have characterized him throughout his history. The transportation and retailing of goods to a scattered and rural market unable as yet to support the settled petty capitalist have generally been the function of the peddler. From the earliest times, too, he has traded his wares for the products of his customers, thus promoting commerce where money has been scarce and where people have lacked local agents to transport their surplus to outside markets. Always he has found the arrival of settled petty capitalists and the conditions which have given rise to them a competitive menace, and he has been able to survive only when he has modified his plan of operations so drastically as to destroy much of his original pattern of conduct.