‘Old Moneyless’ noted for his economic theory

Henry Crecelius McCowen was 27 when he moved in 1917 to the Elida area. In 1920, he became editor of the Roosevelt County Record, published at Elida.

He became known throughout the country as something of an eccentric. He advocated doing away with money!

And that is how he became known as “Old Moneyless,” one of the great regional characters.

His editorials reached all the way to the East Coast. He published a couple of books, the first one in 1933. I own one of his books, “Moneyless and Prescription,” that should be in the Portales and Clovis libraries. What I tell you here is from his books.

His prescription (theory) was “to revise or revolutionize our present system as follows: To every American that has a mouth, stomach and body, give food, clothes, shelter and wholesome diversion; to every human that is sick or disabled give proper care; to every minor give scientific care, education and training, to majority age; and to every human that has ability of any sort give him a useful job. In fact, compel a certain minimum of service according to the fitness of the subject.

“Divert human energy into proper channels and we will have no outlaws. (We will have no money.) Put all people to producing actual wholesome diversions or rendering service and there will be created a great abundance of such essentials. No marketing problem need exist.

“Such an altruistic program is at once financed and made possible by the abolishment of money and the private ownership of productive property. Bingo! Mammon (the Devil) will be on his back dying and God’s kingdom will be virtually established!”

McCowen was born in relative poverty but of good parentage on March 23, 1890, at Las Cruces.

“In the spring of 1899, we moved to Long Beach, Calif.,” he wrote. “We lived in five different houses during our three-year sojourn at the beach. To help feed and clothe us three, I gathered small clams and cockerels at 3 a.m. when the tide was low. Rich people on Ocean Boulevard were my customers. They would hire me at 10 cents an hour to pick weeds out of their lawns after school. My $3 per week jobs included drugstore bottle washer, to a store flunky where I ground customers’ choice Mocha and Java coffee priced at 35 cents a pound.

“For a while I was plumber’s helper, and for a year or so I rode a bicycle delivering the small Long Beach daily. Per hour the best-paying job was selling the Los Angeles Times and sweeping the sidewalk in front of the two banks ... all before breakfast.

“We moved back to New Mexico in the summer of 1903.

“Now over to 1906. I started a college education at the Land Grant New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 2 1/2 miles south of Las Cruces. In my senior year I was editor of the Round Up. It paid my living expenses. I even got to be an Agricultural Demonstrator for the Santa Fe Railroad enticing people from Chicago west to homestead on the plains.

“During the ’20s my Enterprise-Record newspaper (name had changed) got its first Linotype. Elida High School was built, the bank was robbed of $3,000 and Sheriff Bob Poindexter had the three culprits in the pen in 30 days. Rufe Walker shot and killed Jim Johnson for resisting arrest. That was just some of the events I wrote about.

“Back in 1914 I had married Ruth Tillinghast. Ruth was librarian at Elida for many years. The home we built in 1917 was on the McCowen ranch near Elida.”

They lived on that ranch until their death. Old Moneyless died in 1970. Ruth died in 1980. They were survived by two sons and two daughters. The couple were buried in Elida Cemetery. Too bad nobody took up his cause, but I can see why.

Don McAlavy writes about local history. He can be contacted at:

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