Doctor needs money

An unusual list of what a country doctor in 1924 was willing to accept as payment. I wonder if my doctor would accept some goose feathers and soft-shell turtles as a co-pay?

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mar 13, 1924

Letter sent out by a doctor at Paige, Tex.:

I expect a prompt settlement of all accounts due me. If not possible to settle in cash, any of the following named articles will be acceptable, viz.:
Cotton seed, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, billygoats, live catfish over 1 lb. each, bulldogs, registered bird dogs, skunk hides (dry), deer hides, shotguns, cedar posts, watches, gold teeth, diamonds, cream checks, pine trees (2 ft. in diameter, 30 ft. long), automobiles, new or secondhand; peanuts, black-eyed peas, Liberty Bonds, land notes, bacon, lard, country hams, clean goose feathers, soft-shell turtles over 5 lbs. each. Anything that can be sold for cash legally.
I need the money.

I have no idea what "cream checks" are. Google doesn't provide an answer.

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Posted By: Alex - Tue Oct 27, 2020
Category: Medicine | Money | 1920s

Comments

Google may not, but eBay does provide a clue:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Let-our-Cream-Checks-blot-out-your-Bills-Vintage-Advertising-Ink-Blotter-/274306624365

Posted by Jessica on 10/27/20 at 08:50 AM

As I see it from the above, farmers would send their cream to a creamery whereby the creamery would send the farmers 'cream checks', likely based upon the value of the cream at the time.

Posted by Jessica (again) on 10/27/20 at 09:09 AM

Posted by FRANK on 10/27/20 at 12:31 PM

Grandma Bragg told similar stories of horse trading goods off the farm for needed goods during the Great Depression because of a lack of money in hand. And a co-worker with my father owned a farm butchering business as a side job and would trade meat for gasoline / tires and other rationed goods during the Second World War, a really big no-no, but done far more often than recorded in history.

Posted by KDP on 10/27/20 at 01:20 PM

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