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TitleMoney is an unnecessary evil
Author
Publisher
Place
Year
Date 17/24/1968
Date 2n.d., ca.
Publication
Volume
Issue
Page(s)
MediumBroadside
DimensionLetter
Extent
Imprint
Collation
CatalogDP-018
CollectionSOLA-o
Cit. No.
Keywords
Trans. Title
Section
GroupDigger Movement (Core Collection)
Sub-Group
Series
Folder
DP-018
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Notes
Dating: see San Francisco Express Times, July 24, 1968, p. 2. Under the title, "Turn In Your Money," the Express Times notice reproduces the broadside’s language closely, but not exactly. It converts the Digger proclamation into a short newspaper item, shifting several sentences into reported speech and correcting “it’s” to “its.”
Abstract
This sheet is a classic Digger parody of civic reform language, recasting money itself as a social toxin and then proposing, with deadpan seriousness, a thirty-day campaign to rid the city of it. By calling money an “unnecessary evil,” addictive, corrupting, and productive of violence, the piece turns conventional public-safety rhetoric inside out, while its warning about hoarded wealth on Montgomery Street gives the satire a distinctly San Francisco target. The joke, of course, is inseparable from the Digger principle behind it: money is not simply to be condemned but released, redistributed, and stripped of its frozen power. In that sense, the sheet is both mock proclamation and real provocation, using humor to expose the unnaturalness of accumulation and to imagine the “free flow of energy” in place of financial control.
Full Text
Money Is An Unnecessary Evil

It is addicting.

It is a temptation to the weak (most of the violent crimes of our city in some way involve money).

It can be hoarded, blocking the free flow of energy and the giant energy-hoards of Montgomery Street will soon give rise to a sudden and thus explosive release of this trapped energy, causing much pain and chaos.
As part of the city's campaign to stem the causes of violence the San Francisco Diggers announce a 30 day period beginning now during which all responsible citizens are asked to turn in their money. No questions will be asked.

Bring money to your local Digger for free distribution to all. The Diggers will then liberate it's [sic] energy according to the style of whoever receives it

[Graphic of a fingerprint]

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