“Gimme an hour's worth of 'smoke,' Andy,” meaning, of course, the substitute for tobacco.
Or:
“You blamed robber, what do you mean charging six hours for half-soling them shoes? If you was any good, you could ha' done it in half the time.”
Every individual in camp over the age of thirteen was obliged to have an occupation. To a certain extent, this occupation was selective, but in the main it was to be determined by a board whose business it was to see that the man-power was directed to the best advantage for all concerned. A camp tax was ordered. At the end of the week, every citizen was required to pay into the common treasury two “hours.” He could not “work out” this tax. It had to be paid in “cash.” Out of the taxes so received, the school, the church, the “hospital” and the “government” were to be supported.
The “governor” of Trigger Island and the humblest workingman were to receive exactly the same pay: “hour” for hour. Thirty thousand “hours” represented the total issue, or, approximately fifty units for each individual over the age of thirteen.
As no man's hours was worth more than another's, and as every transaction was to be based on time, rather than on money, there was no small likelihood that any one man or group of men could ever obtain a commanding grip on the finances of the Island.
And so it came to pass that all manner of enterprises sprang into existence. Competition was not allowed. There could be but one millinery shop, one dress-making establishment, one shoe and sandal factory, and so on. Everything was conducted on a strictly cash basis; there were no “charge accounts.”
Olga Obosky, as the proprietress of the millinery shop, earned no more than any one of her half-dozen assistants,—and they were all paid by the “government.” The same could be said of Madame Careni-Amori, who conducted a school of music, and the great Joseppi who graciously,—even gladly,—went into the tailoring business. Andrew Mott, one time First Officer on the Doraine, opened a “smoke” store and dispensed cured weed that Flattner authorized him to call “tobacco.” The austere Mrs. Spofford decided to open a dress-making shop!
It was all very simple, this man-to-man system of traffic, but no one took it lightly or in the spirit of jest. They were serious, they were sober-minded. Interest, incentive, grim determination centred in the seemingly childish arrangement. Greed was lacking, for there was no chance to hoard; confidence was paramount, for there was no chance to lose.
The “hours” travelled in a circle, from the “government” to people, from people to “government”; when all was said and done, it was the product of soil and sea that formed the backbone of the system.