Page 104 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

The Story of the C.W.S.
extended to a third half-million by the end of 1873. Although the
Drapers' Trade Journal, following the Grocer, found co-operation in
1873 to be " rapidly collapsing," most people preferred the evidence
of statistics.
Yet the Wholesale Society was receiving only one-eighth of the
societies' whole trade, and certainly no more than a quarter of what
it might legitimately expect. The reasons of disloyalty were
frequently discussed, and societies' buyers again received their
share of criticism. Amidst cries of " He knows ! " " He's been
there !" it was pointed out at a Quarterly Meeting that merchants
and their agents on Manchester market days lay in wait for the
weaker brethren and induced them to accept hospitality at an
adjacent hotel. According to a writer in the News, hosts and guests
after dinner would join in " drinking damnation " to the forsaken
Wholesale. The provision of dinners for buyers was suggested and
eventually adopted. When it gained the opportunity, the co-operative
meal proved itself worth many arguments in promoting friendly
relations. On the other hand, there were certain incorruptibles
who, so far from being open to mahgn influence, for a long time were
suspicious of a free dinner even from the Wholesale, and refused
everything except that for which they could pay ! ... It
should be said, also, that on the Wholesale's side there was room for
intensive as well as extensive progress. Its officers had not
penetrated in every case to the best markets, while long delays in
executing orders provoked frequent complaints. And every inch
of advance was contested keenly by the private firms affected, as,
for example, when secret offers were made to societies of lower
terms than those upon which the manufacturers or merchants
concerned already were domg business with the WTiolesale.
However, taking together the gratifications and disappointments,
the prosperous year 1872 saw the Society materially in a position
to begin manufacturing. On many sides the step was strongly
urged. The Co-operative News advocated it whole-heartedly and
consistently. Mr. J. Mc.Pherson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, at the
Bolton Congress, and Mr. Joel Whitehead, at Failsworth, gave
powerful support. The leading part taken by two co-operators
of the famous httle town of Banbury illustrates the widening
range of the federation. " Next to mother earth," cried one
of them, an Owenite, William Bunton by name, " the Wholesale
should be the source whence all our wants are suppHed." " How
much longer," he asked, " are we to use goods of other people's
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