Page 138 - 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. —
were entertained to a breakfast by the Ouseburn Company. This,
and the spectacle of the works as it was then, with its five hundred
employees, added oil to the fires of enthusiasm. Co-operative
production was the main subject of the Congress discussions. A
paper by Dr. John Watts was read by Nuttall ; but its quiet insistence
on the soundness of the federal system paled ineffectually when,
through a subsequent paper, Ludlow (himself absent) was heard to
say that of the two principles in man " consumption is primarily the
animal element; production the divine."
At a later period, when the divinity of the idol had been tested,
the unlucky influence of the Newcastle Congress was indicated very
definitely by Mr. John Thirlaway, of Gateshead, the then secretary
of the Newcastle Branch Committee. His remarks, made at the
Newcastle Quarterly Meeting of May 28th, 1881, were received with
cheers, and not afterwards challenged ; and he said :
One of the greatest causes that had brought about these losses was the
Co-operative Congress held in Newcastle in 1873. At the Congress, co-opera-
tion was in the background and individualism in the ascendant. Resolutions
were passed which gave such a wide definition to co-operation that nearly every
company in the land could be admitted on making very little alteration in
their rules. The result was a whole crop of companies being called into
existence, and a number had got connected with the Wholesale, and large losses
had been sustained as a result.
This, however, is putting the moral before the story. Very soon
after the Newcastle Congress troubles arose at Ouseburn. A loss of
£10,000 was shown; also, a hundred men and boys went on strike.
The position seemed to improve later on, and the Co-operative News
was able to spend a column in praise of the works having achieved
" thorough success, commercially and practically." But the report
on which the encomium was based, hke the famous premature account
of IVIark Twain's death, proved " greatly exaggerated." There were
concealed losses, which, in 1875, had to be confessed. In spite of
the copartnership principle, public quarrels ensued between a
committee of discharged workers and the management. In
November, 1875, the works failed. Liquidators were appointed,
and a reconstruction attempted. The effort was fruitless. Outside
creditors pressed for a reaUsation of assets. In August, 1876, it
became necessary that the large co-operative societies interested
should take immediate action. The Hahfax and the Wholesale
Societies were chiefly affected, while Heckmondwike, with two or
three other Yorkshire Societies, had lent considerable sums. The
representatives of these organisations met in conference, and, owing
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