Most have never heard of barter during the Great Depression, but I am certain it did happen many times. Unemployment was 25%, jobs were virtually impossible to obtain, and hundreds of the unemployed were selling apples on street corners for a nickel, or doing anything imaginable to obtain a few coins to buy a meal. Churches and other charities were doing their very best to care for the needy, and big cities had dozens of lines with mostly men waiting for a meal. Their wives were home taking care of the children, or possibly cleaning houses for the more affluent, for a few cents per hour. World War Two hadn’t cut the value of the dollar by 50%, as did the other wars such as Vietnam and Korea by another 50%, and a cup of coffee was a nickel, as were Coke and Pepsi. A new Ford Model T in its final year of 1928 was down to $275, and a fifty cent an hour job was welcome to millions. That would be equal to a $5 or more an hour job today.
In Abington Virginia, the Norfolk and Western Railway had laid off thousands, because the coal it carried in 100 car hoppers, (pulled by hefty Y-6 steam locomotives), was in less demand than before the depression, as thousands of businesses were bankrupt, and burned less electricity. Abingdon was a coal mining town, as well as a farm supply center. Farms to its east and coal mines to its west. Abingdon had been known for its burley tobacco crop, but that market is gone, so it has cattle auctions, truck traffic on the interstate, and its well known and historic, “Barter Theatre.” Abingdon is on Interstate 81, at the far southwest corner of Virginia.
In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, a movie theatre, the building of which was built many decades earlier, and been used for many town offices and even a fire station and a gym, on June 10th became the ‘Barter Theatre.’ Times were tough, even in tiny Abingdon, and its proprietor and entrepreneur Robert Porterfield, learned that the Empire Theatre in New York was to be demolished. He bought all he could from the Empire, in the way of seats, lights, and projection equipment, and finally, on June 10th, its doors were opened to a full house. His slogan was “With vegetables you cannot sell, you can buy a good laugh.” It worked, and today, the Barter Theatre is world renown, with famous acts and actors in great demand. I’ve seen two shows there, and it is as professional as any in theatre in New York. It began with exchanging vegetables for a show or movie. No money involved. I’ve been dealing in precious metals since November of 1977, and even then, my customers were always asking and thinking about eventual barter. It’s understandable. After all, the buck, since 1933, has lost close to or even more than 90% of its purchasing power. In Germany after WW I, it eventually took a wheelbarrow full of Reichsmarks to buy a loaf of bread. In last week’s harassment, I pointed out that many huge corporations, as well as their stock, have gone to zero, and often almost overnight when crooked bookkeeping was involved and suddenly exposed. Can it happen again? Is it possible that what has taken close to a hundred years for the dollar to lose close to all of its buying power, could happen quickly? Could an American get caught with money in a bank which failed, and lose it all, even with the FDIC? My Mom and Dad lost theirs in such a bank during the depression. The dollar hadn’t lost its value, but their bank failed, and the FDIC cannot assure anyone that the value of the dollar will not decline. They insure the number of dollars can and will be replaced if a bank fails, with no assurance of their value, even if it has none. (The FDIC, it is said, has a nickel on deposit for every $100 worth of insurance.)
Will we ever need to barter? I say ‘yes,’ but I have no idea when. No insurance company will insure anyone or anything if they think there is a chance of going broke redeeming policies. Can’t make any money paying out more than you take in. Why not then, even if it never happens in your lifetime, have your own ‘barter’ insurance policy? That happens to be silver, not gold. Gold for a large barter, but as far as daily barter for food and fuel, if banks fail, or the dollar collapses, it is silver. Gold was 117 times more expensive than silver last Thursday. In other words, one ounce of gold will buy 117 ounces of silver, a ratio that is absurd, but it exists, and I can’t change it and neither can you. With that ratio, an ounce of silver can be bartered for about eight gallons of gasoline…if there is any available. Whether gas is available or not, there will always be something available, which the seller would be glad to exchange for silver, as it is a universal money. You may never have to barter for food or fuel, but even today, barter is always fun at a yard sale, or buying something from someone who no longer wants what he or she has, and would be glad to get rid of what they don’t want, for silver. Silver kills germs. Put a one ounce silver coin in a gallon of water or even five gallons of water, and it till purify it. Silver is great, and I think it is underpriced. If not, gold is overpriced, and who knows which is which? Get out of dollars, that’s all. Keep some for emergency use, but for goodness’s sake do not save in them.
Don Stott
don@coloradogold.com