CO-OPERATIVE VENTURES 221avoid violent fluctuations in employment, and bring supply and
demand into perfect balance. A centralized administration would
reduce the expense of operation to a minimum. Speaking again for
the skilled craftsman, Weitling proposed to give to guilds of jour
neymen and master workmen the function of deciding what goods
should be produced and the responsibility for guaranteeing their
quality. An expert commission would determine the amount of
paper money to be issued in exchange. Part of the proposal was a
requirement that the price of the products of the guilds be fixed at
a figure sufficiently above the actual cost of production to ensure
a surplus. Thus ordinary taxes would be unnecessary; and the
funds required to pay management and to finance hospitals, the
educational system, and other social objectives would be pro
vided.
Weitling was enough of an economist to know that many fac
tors, such as raw materials, machinery, capacity and demand, are
involved in producing a finished, salable product, yet he insisted
that the time consumed in its production was the only constant
which could be accurately computed to represent its true value.
Thus, a gold chain might be worth from 50 to 100 hours of work
and a bottle of champagne from 12 to 18 hours, for their value for
purposes of exchange depended solely on the work hours required
to produce them.
To set his new plan in motion, Weitling expected the workers
to buy stock in the bank of exchange with ordinary existing cur
rency, but for the cash thus deposited they would receive the new
paper money in exchange. It was assumed that they would be as
well off after the transaction as they would be if they had kept the
old-fashioned circulating medium. The ultimate goal of this
financial legerdemain was a system in which society would really
own all existing property, but actual possession and use would be
in the hands of individuals because of the new processes of ex
changing labor for labor. Weitling pointed out that under his
scheme organizations of all kinds could preserve their peculiar in
terests and objectives and yet participate in the bank of exchange.