“STAMP SCRIP is not a panacea. My diagnosis of the depression and my remedial suggestions for it may be found in “Booms and Depressions,” recently off the press. That is a small enough book, but by no means as small as this one which selects a minor point for special treatment. For, at this juncture of our economic difficulties, a minor point seems to me to have become a key point. Also it has become a sensation by reason of the recent spread of the stamp scrip idea throughout this country. With the help of Mr. Hans R. L. Cohrssen I have recently answered four or five hundred inquiries about it. The letters come from literally every state in the union, and are written by persons, largely in official positions, who have a practical interest in introducing Stamp Scrip in their several towns, cities and states…”
“STAMP SCRIP is, as hitherto used, a temporary substitute for a part of the regular currency which has deserted. It is small in amount and short in duration. The two points about Stamp Scrip are: First: It is like money, because it can be banked OR invested OR spent. Second: It is unlike money, because IT CAN NOT BE HOARDED. For the stamps, as we shall see, compel Stamp Scrip to “step lively.” A piece of typical Stamp Scrip is shaped more or less like a dollar bill; but it can not be mistaken for conventional money, because the color and the design are distinctive. Usually it bears on its face the name of an exchange or of a business men’s association or of a town, according to which of these is the source of issue in the particular case. But though the appearance is distinctive, scrip bears prominently a statement of its denomination, to equalize its purchasing power (by agreement) with the purchasing power of conventional money. In fact, it is a part of the agreement that, after a year of circulation, it is to be redeemed in money.”
Stamp Scrip 1933 by Irving Fisher
For more information about Irving Fisher Stamp Scrip you can read this essay written by Bruce Champ and published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Stamp Scrip: Money People Paid to Use
by Bruce Champ