Word: aberhart
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Canada's Alberta was last week a proving ground for a money experiment so fantastic as to baffle financial experts. On the theory that fast-moving money would bring Prosperity to his battered Province, Alberta's Premier William Aberhart last fortnight issued a scrip he called "prosperity certificates" (TIME, Aug. 10.) They had dated spaces on the reverse side for 104 tiny if stamps which must be bought and attached week-by-week to keep the money "fresh" (i. e., acceptable). Premier Aberhart had produced a "money" that was actually cheaper to spend than to save...
...prosperity certificates started off fairly well. They were used to pay in part relief workers, legislators, Cabinet members, Premier Aberhart. They were accepted by most retail stores. The first day, Alberta merchants gave "hard money" change to purchasers with prosperity certificates. On second thought they made change in credit slips or required buyers to spend a whole certificate. A list of wholesalers who had agreed to accept certificates from retailers was published. Trumpeted Premier Aberhart: "You'll have to get used to using something else than this little thing [waving a real dollar bill] for money...
First obvious injustice of the new money was that it loaded wholesalers with certificates for which they were required to buy stamps, could not use for purchases of goods outside the Province. Premier Aberhart promised to redeem part of their certificates each month in cash to keep goods coming into the Province...
Presently Albertans began to think. It was obvious that the Aberhart dollars depreciated if a week and that, to make up this depreciation, Albertans were paying the Government 52% interest a year on their average weekly balance. Last week the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce called the Aberhart money "a heavy and discriminatory taxation scheme." The Chamber had already appealed to the Dominion Government at Ottawa to force Premier Aberhart to withdraw his prosperity certificates...
Money is, by definition, as good as people think it is, and Premier Aberhart's money was last week about as good as Albertans think Premier Aberhart is. Most merchants were willing to accept the certificates up to the total of their sales taxes, which Premier Aberhart had said were payable in certificates. Beyond that point Albertan merchants began to balk. Prosperity Certificates began appearing in Sunday collection plates and the Edmonton Journal asserted that only two of Edmonton's 218 stores were accepting unlimited quantities of scrip...