MEXICO: Shrewd Aboriginals

Is money loaned anywhere without interest, by a system, satisfactory to both the lender and the borrower class? News came last week that the Mexican sociologist Professor Javier Uranga has discovered such a system in operation among the seclusive Yalalteca Indians in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico.

When times are hard tribal custom compels the Yalalteca to form what are known as Goosons. Twenty-five men declare themselves a gooson, and every week for 25 weeks they each drop two pesos in the "gooson pot." The first week the pot is given to him...

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