Page 144 - 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.

mortgage. The Bugle Horn Colliery had absorbed £46,000 in all,
when, during August, 1877, E. V. Xeale wrote of the raining society,
in the Co-operative News, as " slowly, but surely, winning its way to
a successful issue." He was misled; for in April, 1878, " desperate
financial straits " drove the society into l)anlcruptc3\ The Whole-
sale and the Bolton Societies were called upon to take possession.
They agreed to work the mine until it could be sold, the Wholesale
accepting sole risks. Although supposed to produce excellent
house coal, the mine yielded mainly an inferior engine fuel locally
known as " burgy." The C.W.S. coaled the Pioneer with it, and
offered it to manufacturers with whom the federation did business,
but was unable to gain any real profit. In March, 1882, after the
Bugle Horn colliers had participated in a general strike of Lancashire
miners, the mine and loose plant were sold for a sum amounting in
all to £6,081. The net loss to the C.W.S. reached £20,000.
No bitterness, however, was shown towards the Wholesale
Society's Committee. Delegates realised that the blame was not
individually theirs; and, indeed, they were ready to hail with
positive cheerfulness " the last notes from the Bugle Horn." What
they were determined upon was that in future the Wholesale Society,
with its bank, should follow the path of legitimate co-operation.
They had the courage to reject a resolution which expressed this
feeling too narrowly. The}' refused simply to limit advances to
distributive societies and federations of societies. But, while
leaving the Committee's hands untied, they meant the Society
to be more than wary of competitive businesses promoted by
" co-operators."
Before concluding this chapter it may be useful to supplement
the remarks of Mr. Thirlaway previously quoted. It was not merely
a resolution of the Newcastle Congress which caused the mischief,
but the darkened counsel and confused mind of the co-operative
movement throughout the whole period. Thus when Ludlow
eulogised production at the expense of consumption he introduced
a fallacious moral distinction into what happened, in this case, to be
a matter of economics. Both consumption and production may be
either "divine" or "animal." Mari Jones trudging twenty-five
miles eager to buy a printed Welsh Bible was technically a
" consumer; " as the builder of the grim machine which in France
owed its introduction and name to Dr. Guillotine was certainly a
" producer." Again, " consumers " may be either smokers of
opium (grown by producers) or lovers of craftsmanship encouraging
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