S: When everybody else was pulling it out. I remember the amount I deposited-
 about $1,400.

M: And that bank never closed?

S: No, they never closed.

M: So, you did your business with First National Bank rather than the Phifer
 Bank?

S: Yes, that's right.

M: Did you know Mr. Phifer [Gus], though?

S: Yes, we were all good friends.

M: And you knew Mr. Lee Graham at First National.

S: As a matter of fact, I went over to his desk and I said, "Is everything all
 right?" And he said, "Your money will be there when you want it."

M: And it was?

S: Yes.

M: That bank was much stabler than the others. So then, generally, you would
 cut back to essentials.

S: I'll tell you another instance that happened about that time. My whole
 outfit was less than a dozen people. I got them together one day and I
 said, "Things are bad. We are doing a certain amount of business a month
 and our gross profit is so much a month. I can give all of you a job, and
 pay you so much a week each, and we can just rock along. We can just hang
 on this basis until things look better, or else you can all look for another
 job. Now take your pick." So they said, "Well, we'll stick it out."

M: So no one had to be fired from your business?

S: No one. But the lowest man got as low as nine dollars a week. I was drawing
 thirty-five dollars a week to run the business. That's all I could take out
 of it to run it. I was giving my wife fifteen dollars a week to run the house
 and to buy the groceries. But think about what groceries were worth. I
 remember buying a carload of dry salt bacon out of Chicago at two and three
 quarters cents a pound delivered to Gainesville.

M: How would that compare with today?

S: I would say today it's seventy-five cents a pound, retail. The wholesalers
 probably have a market in Jacksonville. The paper used to show it, I don't
 know whether it does now or not. I bought corn products, like meal and grits
 as low as a dollar for 100 pounds delivered to Gainesville. I bought flour
 at less than three dollars a barrel, which is about 200 pounds. Rice was
 four and five cents a pound. I bought sugar at two and a half cents a pound.