The Opelousas courier., 1897-10-16
WITHOUT ONE DOLLAR.
HOW A SAN FRANCISCO WHOLESALE
BUSINESS is MANAGED.

hs Conducted by Checks
Are Issued That Locally Circulate as
Cash-The Tabor Exchange Idea-Build-
ing a Railroad Without a Cent of Money.
The attorney general of the United
States was recently called upon to de-
eide whether checks not redeemable
in legal tenders could be taxed: The
conclusion was reached that they
could not.
Connected with this question is one
OF the most interesting labor problems
of the day, and the leaders interested,
one of whom was in Washington q
few days ago, gave the following ac-
count of the enterprise to q Star re-
porter:
"There is" said he, sat 322 Davis
street, San Francisco, a large whole
sale business house that has done a
business of $2S, 900 within the last
eight months wholly without money.
Nor is it in debt for one dollar. It ex-
poets to go right along doing business
in exactly the same way-without
money. 1t has grown from a very
small affair, a year ago, to its present
healthy proportions by the same meth
DDS, and bases its future expectations
upon what it has accomplish It
claims to have solved the monty ques-
ton by dismissing money entirely
having nothing to do with it. .
"This business concern is thhLabor
Exchange. It is not a mere ,5cal CO.
operative affair. The Labor Exchange
is a national i stitution that, in spite
of the sneers and prophecies of failure
that it met at its inception, and that
have followed it along it's course, seems
to have reached a point where it may
demand respectful study and consid-
Grafton.
"The idea upon which it is founded
is very simple. It's purpose is to en-
ploy every man who has an opportu-
nifty to produce anything by finding a
market for the product-to find some
other man who wants the product, and
who has something to exchange for it.
It is by this means that the use of
hIoICy 10 uiopCIoNAt WILL.
ga shoemaker, for instance, wants
a barrel of -four. He gets to work
and makes a whole lot of shoes of the
value Of the thing he wants, takes
them to the exchange and receives the
flour. II he wants something that is
not in the exchange-for instance, if
he wants a new set of teeth-he is
given a check or checks of the value of
the product he leaves there, and goes
away to ONE dentist who belongs to
the exchange, and who, therefore, will
accept the checks for his work. The
dentist is not required to take the
shoes in exchange for his work-the
checks will be accepted at the tx
change for anything there is in stock.
Nor is the dentist even limited to this.
These checks are accepted by a score
or more of other business houses in
almost every line Of trade, so widely
has the movement spread.
"Labor Exchange checks are COM
ing into general circulation, and serv-
ing not merely as a substitute, but in
some respects as an improvement upon
money. They are an improvement to
the extent that they serve all the pur-
poses in facilitating exchange without
being subject to taxation.
"This question has been raised at
Washington - the institution has
reached such proportions as to have
forced such attention-and the attor-
ney general has declared that mas
much as the checks were not redeema-
BILE in legal tender they could not be
taxed. Every check of the Labor Ex-
change found in circulation represents
some product of labor. They are re-
deemable in labor, or the product Of
labor, and nothing else. That is the
whole scheme.
Branches are being established all
over the country, and especially in the
West. These exchange all manner of
goods with each other. There are such
things as socks and cigars from as dis
tant a point as Reading, Penn, at the
Davis street exchange, broom handles
from New Whatcom, Wash, fruit ex-
tracts from Fresno, as we'll as fruit
from as far south as San Diego. A
consignment of shirts and overalls is
being negotiated for with a branch in
Ohio. A lot of dried fruit was recent
ly shipped to Idaho Falls, Idaho, in
exchange for pork, and groceries were
sent to Ammonia, in Kings county,
in exchange for dried fruit.
"These organizations have under
taken to build a railroad. Subscrip-
tons of $1Oo, 900, not in dollars but
in land, material and provender, have
been made, and these will be pledged
for the rails and rolling stock, things
that cannot be secured with the ex-
change checks. All the labor, the tires.
ETC., will be paid for with these checks,
which will be accepted for traffic
charges when the road is completed.
The road to be built is a strip twenty
five miles long, extending into the
prolific farming country of the Viii
Jeanette valley. Star.