Evening journal., 1900-01-22
TRApE WITHOUT MONEY.
Society in Lendon Aims to Abolish
Poverty.

Poverty.
That money IS the root or all evIl IL
E. view which has recently round favor
nong political economists Most peo-
lc think It Is The want OF It that mat.
nrs Now some cooperative reform
have started an experiment to dis
cover what amount ri truth there IS In
these two Views. The scheme IN ques-
ion IS the work of the Cooperative
! brotherhood Trust Limited. and they
nave hif upon O. very Ingenious plan
for trading without money. Before et-
planning what this IS. however, It would
be well TO state their reasons for adopt
ing Il, which are something more than
merely sentimental objections TO cur
rent coin.
one result OF our present systems OF
currency Ii that money has a value far
beyond any of the commodities it rep
I resents. The demand for it has In
creased more of late years than has the
supply, and the result Is that a man
who has no money az all stands to-day
I but poor chance Of getting any. ana
fairly good one az going under"
though ho may an the same be able to
do useful work that his fellows need.
/ To-day there are some thousands OF
men an able 20 produce something OF
! benefit TO the community, and yet all OF
them idle. merely because they lack
money.
Take the case Of one OF those. For
the time being all the vacant jobs are
Fun and he Is unable TO get employ
ment
Now. unless he has money enough
90 set himself MP Ia small business.
or money enough to extensively adver-
iise his goods. IL Is useless for him
TO produce any. lie does not know
how 20 ges any one to buy them ii he
does. Accordingly he drifts and drifts.
tnt finally becomes a member of what
iH apparently the surplus class
only apparently. however, for really
while he Is unable 20 ind people who
want his goods there are plenty who
are only too willing 10 consume them.
Only, like himself, they cannot pur-
chase. because for the time being, at
any rate, they are without money
The result Is that both the potential
consumer and the potential producer
lave 90 stand idle. though both have
labor force and both are capable Of
PRODUCING something Of use 20 one am
other. Without money. however, they
cannot 90 this, and what happens is
that an artificial poverty seizes both Of
them and their energies are paralyzed.
IL Is this artificial poverty that the
Cooperative Brotherhood Trust, limit
ed. have set themselves to abolish. and
thcT do this by bringing the idle con-
sumner and the iaierproducor together
and exchanging the labor OF one for
the labor OF the other.
They manage 20 effect this In very
clever way. In connection with the
trust an exchange circle has been
started. and this Is the medium through
which all the labor products are ex-
changed. and In the following manner:
We win say carpenter has become
one Of the unemployed He Is out OF
work and has not enough money to sci
up In business FOR himself, but he Joins
the exchange circle and puts his name
down on the directory.
lie offers to supply tables, chairs Of
! whatever II Is that he can most easily
make. and offers az the same time (
10 odd Jobs.
When some other member OF th'
ircie who Is in need OF the thing h
flers buys II, and pays him, not II
money. but in barter notes and e
which he has become entitled by tn
, I Aofk he nimHcll mas eNecuteu loi
bird member Of the exchange circle.
These barter notes not only entitl
, The bearer 20 as much as their fac
'alue OF the goods in the circle. bu
.lso 10 such goods as are in the store
and these include. groceries and pro
visions clothes hosieries. furniture
, athletic requisites, and nearly every
thing except alcoholic beverages.
n the holder OF any particular barte
, note desires 10 realize Il in cash tn
committee endeavors to oblige him
/, But II is, of course, preferable that III
/, should take It out in food made b,
: other members, as only In this way cai
the circle be self-supporting.
OF course, the success of the circli
. largely depends on the number Of peo
! pie joining IL Obviously the good
: cannot be exchanged without at leas
a fair number OF exchanges. But
though yet in its infancy it is vigor
|, ously developing, and the fact tina
I, tradesmen are accepting barter note
I, instead Of cash augues we'll for it,
: Parsons Weekly.