Free soda crackers

Anybody know where this saying came from and what it means?

I had a vague memory that they used to give out free crackers at old country stores. I googled and found:

"An inexhaustible supply of free soda crackers was provided, but checkers and cards were banned, as was the traditional sawdust box for tobacco chewers."

www.uninet.net/~rowley/thornhistory2.html