Page 168 - 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. —
this was set the price. So the Marianne Briggs came over, and
was renamed the Unity. Under the competition it had to face it
was feared that ruin would be the final port ; yei few were for yielding
to the enemy. The war of rates continued. Mr. Titus Hall, then
secretary of the Society, told the Quarterly Meeting of December,
1884, that the rates per ton upon flour, sugar, and rice, from
Hamburg to Goole, had been forced down from 6s. to 2s. 6d. per
ton. Mr. Mitchell, as chairman, added
. You will remember that I stated at the Quarterly ^Meeting that, because they
had reduced on what affected us, we reduced the rates on what affected them.
That was on the article of butter, for which we were paying 48s. 4d. We tried
to get half-a-crown reduction times without number, but we failed to do so.
Then afterwards we reduced it to 30s. ourselves, and we liave found by
experience that 30s. is a fair paying rate, and therefore we keep it at that;
and that is the competition rate.
The original rates from Hamburg having been regarded as fair, the
trading departments of the C.W.S. were still debited with these
upon C.W.S. imports. In regard to floiu", one reason adduced was
the necessity of not appearing to create unfair competition with the
flour mills owned by local federations at home. But this policy
was challenged by the auditors. They saw in it a departure from
previous practices, upon which they understood accounts to be
based. They made representations to the Committee, and the issue
was referred to the delegates. Long and hot discussions (December,
1884) ensued at all meetings. The result was a unanimous recom-
mendation " that the shipping department account be made out at
competitive rates."
The competition in itself was seen to be clearly alien to the
spirit and principle of the C.W.S. as a federal institution for self-
supply ; but, being in it, the delegates were prepared whole-heartedly
to support Mr. Mitchell and the Committee in not drawing back.
They were in the days when the C.W.S. still was pooh-poohed by
shipping magnates, who proposed to teach these ignorant working
men the folly of meddling in businesses they could not understand.
This attitude of unconcealed contempt was exactly that most likely
to rouse the spirit of men having a pride in their class and knowing
that—while they might lose money themselves—they could teach
superior j)eople some surprising lessons in equality. We find it
recorded, for example, in the Shipping Committee's minutes, that a
certain great company "object to our bringing j-east from Hamburg
to Hull on Tuesdays, and ask us to desist." In this detail, as in
other matters, the Wholesale Society did not desist at all. The
130