Page 119 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Brokers and Merchants Oblige,

like the fantastic days of pure Owenism, especially when the agency
report told the Congress of 1872 (April) that a co-operative exhibition
in Russia was contemplated, and that a certain Baron Poerio, in
Naples, would probably become a coadjutor in the international
exchange of co-operative manufactures.
What actually came of it
all was the registration of the agency as a joint-stock company, with
E. V. Neale as chairman, and the taking of premises for retail as well
as wholesale trade at Castle Street, Oxford Street, W. Incidentally,
£100 was paid to the previous manager as " goodwill." Yet even so
much did not preclude the agency from applying to the Wholesale
The
Society privately, in May, 1872, to be taken over as a branch.
Wholesale Committee decided to let the appUcation "stand over
for the present." In August of the same year a loan of £400 was
sought from the C.W.S., but this was dechned. The agency, there-
fore, struggled on. Its trade at the time of Congress of 1871 was
reported as amounting to " about £3,000 a year," but for the year
1873 it reached £15,148, and showed a small profit.
The cause proceeding slowly, it was now the turn of enterprising
spirits. And out of a conversation at a London Conservative
Club "an association of brokers and merchants" arose, for "the
promotion of honest co-operation." The quoted words are from the
circular which they sent to co-operative societies. These were no
theorists. They meant business, and at once. The support of
societies was solicited for wholesale trading "on better terms than
through the medium of any wholesale agency." The association,
for its own knowledge, had previously sent out copies of a statistical
form, which has been preserved for us by the Co-operative News of
March 22nd, 1873. Afterwards a representative went down to
Manchester, and while in the city confidently attempted the
conversion of the editor of the News. But this was a fatal step.
The editor did not rise to the idea that London co-operation was a
foolish thmg, and London co-operators a poor lot. On the contrary,
the commercial man learned for the first time of a co-operative
system diiferent from the civil service type. Two leading Wholesale
men, dropping in, freely added to his information. This unexpected
discovery apparently quite upset the association of brokers and
merchants, for nothing more was heard of their scheme.
Normal development continued its course. At the C.W.S.
Quarterly Meeting of February 15th, 1873, Mr. E. 0. Greening moved
that the Wholesale Committee be requested to consult by deputation
with the Central Agency and other societies respecting a London
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