The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-07-03

are to money. He said we nave the
land, lumber, and other materials and
the only thing needed to develop the
country is labor. If labor will wisely
cooperate this is true.
Mr.. Wilson read a clipping from a
newspaper of an interview with a
prominent banker of Boston, about the
panic last year, in which the banker
said a new system must come within
ten years-a system Of cooperation In
stead of competition.
Mr.. Wilson said the new system of
exchange is best for all honest, work
ing people, in all vocations. He said
the branch at Pfaftown, in a commun
ity where the people had not more
than five cents to 81 the people in this
| community have, is working well, has
| given employment to labor that would
otherwise have been idle, has nearly
| completed a nice ~three-story depot and
| has purchased a bark mill to run a tan
yard.
W. B. Isler was elected temporary
chairman, and John F. Mewborne tenn.
porary secretary.
DR.. H. o. Hyatt was elected presi-
dent; W. O. Moseley, vice president;
W. S. Herbert, secretary; James f.
Parrot, manager and accountant.
The following were elected as an ad-
visory board: E. T. Moseley, Jno.
Simkins, j. P. Tucker, L ]. Hill, J.W.
Daily, E. P. Hauser and B. F. Scarboro.
The Exchange was organized with 40
members.
A meeting will be held in the court
house next Saturday afternoon at $50
o'clock to complete the organization.
Auo ~ooooo,oo ,o -o1,o. -;+L;o -
self-it con be put to no direct use. To
exchange commodities through the lie
dunn of money is more convenient and
better than mere barter. But money
is too costly. It is too great a burden
upon production; and lack of sufficient
supply of money causes, has caused
and will continue to cause, until a bet
ter system Of exchange is adopted, un-
told hardships upon the human a C
If a man will cast off all prejudice
and reflect how utterly valueless money
is within itself, he is bound to see that
the present system is wrong. Money
is of no value except to buy things
with, and it is only valuable because
the people by common consent accept
it for labor Or commodities, knowing
they can buy other labor or commodi-
ties with it,
The present system has enabled a
few men to grow immensely wealthy,
while the great majority are toiling
and scheming to make a bare existence.
That such a condition has come about
shows that the present system is
wrong.
Money is not wealth, but only a rep
resentative of wealth. Real wealth is
something of real value, that is useful.
1t would be much better if some plan
could be adopted by which laborers
producing different articles could ex-
change their surplus products at a
minimum expense, without the cost of
interest and profits on money.
TheLabor Exchange, anincorporated
organization, proposes a plan to e
change consumable wealth and accum
ulate permanent wealth, by means of
depositing products of labor and issu-
ing checks therefor, which checks are
good for their face value for products
deposited in a Labor Exchange depot.
1t seems to us that any intelligent man
can see that If an entire community
would co operate in such an undertak-
ing, 1T would be bound to succeed. In
establishing such an Exchange a mis-
take might be made by putting too
much, at the beginning, into perma-
nent wealth. AS it takes nearly all of
a mans labor to provide absolute nee
| essary consumable wealth for himself
and family, permanent wealth neces
sarily must be of comparatively slow
growth. A man can't eat or wear a
house; and something 10 eat and wear
necessarily comes before anything else.
We do not know whether the people
are ready yet to substituted grand plan
of co operation for the present one of
competition, but we are fully persuaded
it will prevail eventually.
The principle upon which the Labor
Exchange is based is correct, whether
the machinery it has adopted to carry
out the principle will properly do the
work we do not know, but we haven't
the slightest doubt that some plan of
the sort will finally meet with complete
success.
How much better it would be for
mankind to live under a system of CO.
operation, that recognizes the brother
hood of man, than under the present
system of competition, of sort of war
fare, In which nearly every man is
strained to his utmost to provide the
actual necessaries for his family, and
is afraid of an evil day approaching
when he may be unable even to provide
these.
The main trouble under the present
system of using money in effecting ex-
changes are speculation and interest
on money. Money does not increase
of itself and the charge of interest on
1T ls necessarily a tax on production.
Speculation is useless to mankind.
Spectators, who buy a commodity
when it is plentiful and low in price
because the laborers in other lines
don't need it just then and haven't
money to buy and keep it until needed)