barter systems
From: Kieran Roe (kroecap.gwu.edu)
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 1994 22:16:31 -0500 (EST)
Some articles I found that may be of interest regarding the discussion of
community economics. 
                                                Kieran Roe




                    Copyright 1989 Globe Newspaper Company  
                                The Boston Globe

                     October 29, 1989, Sunday, City Edition

SECTION: METRO/REGION; Pg. 75 p

LENGTH: 1105 words

HEADLINE: Food-backed financing;
Great Barrington to begin trade in Deli Dollars

BYLINE: By Judith Gaines, Globe Staff

DATELINE: GREAT BARRINGTON

 BODY:
   In one of the most novel economic experiments since creation of the Constant 
- the alternative currency issued in Exeter, N.H., in the 1970s - Deli Dollars
go on sale here tomorrow. The burgundy-on-cream-colored notes - each one redeema
ble for
$ 10 in bagels,
corned beef, salami, cornballs and other Deli delights - are an unusual
financing and marketing tool, devised in part by the townspeople to help Deli
owner Frank Tortoriello make an important business move.

   Because Deli Dollars can be redeemed only after February, June or December
1990 - depending on the buyer's preference - Tortoriello hopes they will give
him the capital he needs to move the popular Deli from its increasingly
expensive Main Street location to a larger and more affordable building a few
blocks away.

   Others see Deli Dollars as an alternative medium of exchange and a way to
increase local control over the town economy.

   With sale of 500 Deli Dollars just beginning tomorrow, it's too early to say 
whether the bagel-backed notes will function as more than glorified gift
certificates for prepaid meals.

   But the local postmaster is poised to drop a Deli Dollar in the collection
plate at a church in town next Sunday. The local land trust has agreed to accept
memberships in Deli Dollars. And some merchants, service providers and others
who frequent the Deli are considering accepting Deli Dollars in lieu of cash. In
 short,
Great Barrington is establishing a limited local currency.

   Deli Dollars were the brainchild of SHARE, a nonprofit organization promoting
economic self-help activities in the Berkshire region. As administrator Susan
Witt explained, group members share a belief that ecological and social values
should shape investment decisions and that innovative methods must be developed 
to encourage local and regional self-sufficiency.

   "Too many people just put their money in a bank and let the banker decide how
to invest it," she said. "People need to ask, what's going on? What's our money 
doing tonight?"

   "And we need to develop economic tools for building rootedness," she
continued. "SHARE is trying to support small, productive businesses that create 
bonds between people, the kind of businesses that often are unable to get
conventional financing when they need it."

   According to   Bob Swann,  a prime mover behind SHARE, a centralized bankin
g
system promotes concentration of wealth in urban areas. So a key to rural
revitalization is "a decentralized system that gets more people involved in
managing and issuing money," he said.
                                                                              
   The idea isn't new.

   As Rick Schubart, an American historian teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy, 
observed, the nation lacked a well-defined currency until the Civil War era, and
the Depression brought more ferment and invention by ingenious Yankees grappling
with the collapse of the economic system.

   Through the years, Americans have created local currencies backed by bricks, 
lumber, land, crops and more, he said. Although the US Constitution forbids
counterfeiting the nation's currency, the government has never prohibited the
minting or circulation of an alternative medium of exchange.

   In one of the most recent experiments - conducted in Exeter, N.H. - a
decentralist named Ralph Borsodi created The Constant, a supposedly
inflation-proof currency issued by local banks and backed by what Borsodi called
"a basket mix" of about 30 of the world's most widely used commodities -
including metals such as gold, silver, nickel and zinc; foods such as rice,
sugar, cocoa, corn, coffee and peanuts; and raw materials such as petroleum,
cotton, rubber and hides.

   The idea was that the "basket" would be balanced so that a decrease in the
value of some commodities would be offset by increases in others. Hence the 
Constant, an unshrinking kind of cash, constant in value.

   The Constant never caught on in a big way. But from June 1972 to January
1974, about 200 people converted roughly $ 100,000 into Constants (in much the
same way travelers change money when passing over international borders), and
more than a dozen businesses and agencies accepted the notes in lieu of cash.

   Constant holders used them to buy hairdos at Exeter's Beau Reve Beauty Salon,
chowder at the Loaf and Ladle, and books at the Phillips Academy bookstore. The 
Exeter police even accepted Constants as payment for parking violations.

   Great Barrington's bagel-backed Deli Dollars may seem a long way from the
sophisticated Constants, but Swann worked with Borsodi in Exeter during the
currency's heyday. Witt remembers driving over from Wilton, N.H., about 50 miles
away, "to buy Q-tips, just to be part of the experiment;" other SHARE members
have studied the Exeter experience closely.

   According to Joe Savage, SHARE president, Deli Dollars are a way "to test the
waters" for a scheme to issue a more broadly based local currency.

   Ever since 1932, when Roosevelt's administration declared it illegal for
citizens to redeem US dollars in gold, "our money has not been based on         
anything - except the word of the government," Swann said.  So SHARE has been
struggling to create a monetary system that would increase local trade by
circulating currencies locally and that also could be redeemed in something
real, something a person could use.

   A plan to create BERK-SHARES, a currency backed by cords of firewood and
using Berkshire forests as collateral, fell through when the oil and gas crisis 
abated, decreasing demand for wood to burn. But SHARE is still searching for the
perfect commodity to represent the Berkshire region and back its BERK-SHARES.

   Meanwhile, back at the Deli, a casual crowd of students, old folks, a few
businesspeople and an occasional yuppie were hanging out, chatting and munching 
on sandwiches such as the Cool Hand Luke (tuna, cucumbers,sprouts), X Gov.
Dukakis (cold turkey), Sluggo (hot turkey) and Tim Leary (peanut butter and
banana).

   Many of the munchers hadn't yet heard about Deli Dollars, and most didn't
quite understand about local currency and decentralized paths to socially
responsible economic development.

   But they thought they'd like to help Frank move his Deli, if he had to move
in order to stay in business, and they were happy to buy a few Deli Dollars if
that would do the trick.

   "Frankly, we can use the money," said Tortoriello. "But this will also show
the kind of connections we have with the community, how big our base is.

   "I'm from New York/New Jersey, where you don't see things like this happen.
In small towns, sometimes people seem to come together quicker and tighter. It
kind of reinforces your belief in human nature."


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