Page 134 - 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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The Story of the C.W,S. —

some old co-operators disliked thus following in commercial
footsteps, the departure had proved necessary. The nature of
the goods they were dealing with (demanding something more
than the submission of a list to societies) had obliged the C.W.S.
managers to face a certain amount of travelling, and naturally
this tended to interfere with their other duties. The first traveller
was sent out from the drapery department, primarily to represent
the manufactures of the productive societies in 1877. But neither
these steps nor changes of management sufficed at Manchester to
avert successive losses. For the last quarter of 1876, while New-
castle showed a small profit and expenses of lid. in the £, Manchester
expenses were Is. 3d. per £, and the loss £392. " Until our customers
purchase more than 3s. 6d. per member per quarter," said the General
Committee, "we shall have to report loss." The actual case was
worse, for only about half-a-dozen societies, led by Dewsbury,
Hahfax, and Eccles, were above that average, and many were
nowhere. Later in the year the tone of the Committee grew
mournful :
We are precluded from doing a trade with others than co-operative societies,
and if they forsake us what must be the result ?
"The neglected, ill-used drapery department"—so Dr. Watts
alluded to it in the Co-operative News. However, the general
business of the Society during the third quarter of 1877 yielded
unusually large profits, of which prompt advantage was taken.
A dividend was paid of 2d. in the £, which absorbed £6,075; £1,129
went to wipe out bad debts, and £4,757 to a special depreciation of
the drapery stock, with a view to a clearance of old goods at reduced
prices. One way or another the stocks were brought down from
£74,000 to £48,000. These prudent and energetic measures had
the reward they deserved. In June, 1878, the Committee said:
It is quite a relief to our anxiety, and a pleasing reward to the exertions both
of the societies and ourselves, to be able to report such an increased trade, fair
profits, and a greatly improved condition of the stocks, both as to value and
amount.
Although trade then decreased shghtly, the department success-
fully endured the hard times of 1879, and with the great development
of the London as well as the Newcastle Branches it reached in 1880
a thoroughly safe position. After all, the entire net loss from the
start of the department until September, 1880, was simply £4,800,
and the Society had in return a business all the stronger for its
nursing.
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