Page 107 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

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Crumpsall to Leicester.

turning, and during the hard times of 1876-80, when co-operative
productive societies were going down hke ninepins, the Crumpsall
Works was comfortably embarked upon a profitable career, which,
practically, has continued ever since.
Want
While Crumpsall moved the boot and shoe factory tarried.
of capital was the reason urged by the Committee in February, 1873.
Thereupon Messrs. Marcroft, Stott, and Brearley, of Oldham, pro-
posed what amounted to the abandonment of the idea, while J. C.
Edwards joined forces, and the " Wholesale " chahman, Mr. Crabtree,
was dubious. Wilham Nuttall, however, remained stalwart, and a
possibly unexpected support of C.W.S. manufacturing was lent by
Mr. E. 0. Greening. Mr. John Butcher emphasised the point of
biscuits being a luxury and boots a necessity, but he referred simply
to the natural order of things, for the Continental war a year or two
earher had stimulated the demand for British boots until they, too,
had become almost a luxury, especially to the agricultural classes
around Banbury. However, the Quarterly Meeting carried the
boot-making project past the sirens of Oldham, and then a new
difficulty arose. Where should the Avorks be placed ? If they were
close to headquarters an eye could be kept upon them, but the claims
of the centres of bootmaking could not safely be ignored. Mr. John
Butcher had just been elected to the C.W.S. Committee, and he had
been born making boots—and co-operative societies—as some men
are writers from their cradles. A bright idea was acted upon,
therefore, when a colleague hurried after him as he walked from a
committee meeting to the Manchester station to ask whether, in
the event of a works being commenced at Leicester, he would
undertake the management. Offers of the kind in those days proved
embarrassiag rather than otherwise to advocates of progress who
themselves were in settled positions; but eventually the proposal
was accepted. The factory, which has since been enlarged to the
present Duns Lane Works at Leicester, was rented at £75 a year,
and the Society's name posted thereon. Two men passed:
"Ah," said one, ''they won't be there long; two people have
failed there already."
" Those fellows won't be easy to shift," replied the other; " they
come from Manchester, and they're stickers."
By November, 1873, one hundred employees were at work.
From the first the C.W.S. kept its work indoors as far as possible,
but under the existing conditions of the trade much riveting and
finishing had to be given out. It went to men who, in too many
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