CO-OPERATIVE VENTURES 225for a new system of exchange, primarily because it would serve as
a "protective measure" against existing bank notes. On the other
hand, the Columbus Westbote labeled the plan "communist hum
bug," and Samuel Ludvigh's Fackel described it as a "pious wish,"
like so many of Weitling's impractical dreams. Some corre
spondents also wrote directly to the founder to complain that all
his proposals failed to look beyond the interests of the skilled
craftsmen and did nothing for the empty stomachs of people who
most needed an increase in wages. In short, banks of exchange
were but another example of offering labor "golden apples in
silver shells."
Beginning in 1850, small groups organized associations for the
purpose of establishing banks of exchange and began to accumu
late small reserves of cash for that purpose. In March, 1850, Die
Republik der Arbeiter announced that carpenters and shoemakers
in New York already had organized such a bank; and the follow
ing month the New York Herald reported that an assembly of
New York Negroes, who met to discuss how they were being ex
ploited, had ended by selecting a committee of three to collect $10
membership fees for the establishment of a bank of exchange ac
cording to Weitling's plan. By July, it was alleged that 2,500 New
York craftsmen with a combined treasury of $4,500 were ready
to open a bank. As a preliminary, they had circulated a question
naire to gather data as to what the members produced and bought
regularly, what raw materials were required, and what their needs
for the next year might be. In a letter from Michigan in Novem
ber, 1850, a group of Swiss and German workmen, familiar with
the "once so prosperous Swiss organizations," wrote to Weitling
for advice about various plans, including a Tauschbank; and the
Cincinnati Volksblatt, before the end of the year, reported great
progress for the movement in the East and urged a more active
propaganda in the western states.
In 1851, Weitling advised his friends in Paris that he was about
to launch his favorite project on quite a pretentious scale and
boasted that the contributions already received amounted to $341.