DUBUQUE COOPERATIVE UNEMPLOYED EXCHANGE

DUBUQUE COOPERATIVE UNEMPLOYED EXCHANGE. An agency created in the GREAT DEPRESSION, the Dubuque Cooperative Unemployed Exchange, a new local agency, announced in 1933 that SCRIP would be available for use. Merchandise which provided the value back of the scrip was gathered at the headquarters of the cooperative exchange in the former Masonic Temple at 11th and Locust STREETS. Members of the Exchange brought in goods which they wished to barter. Credit was given for the articles. Scrip given to the contributors could then be used to "purchase" other merchandise.

In one of the rooms in the building, clothing was renovated. Most of the clothing was collected in a city-wide canvass conducted by women representing Dubuque Protestant churches. Mrs. Mary Barker supervised three seamstresses who repaired the clothing which was then valued.

Mrs. Homer Butts supervised the canning department. In August, 1933 nearly one thousand quarts of garden produce including beans, turnips, cucumbers, tomatoes and beets had been canned and placed on the shelves of the Exchange. Much of the garden produce had been obtained from farmers living near the city. On one instance, produce was given to the Exchange by a farmer in exchange for the labor of members of the Exchange who repaired a roof on the farmer's house.

Any resident of the Dubuque who needed laborers could arrange for it to be done through the Exchange on the barter basis. Members of the Exchange who worked in the clothing, canning and other departments were given credit for the hours they worked and received scrip. This did not apply to the department chairmen who worked with compensation.