Page 177 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Railway Rates.
Sundays and general holidays. Thus to some extent they mitigated
the hardships of a class which has always suffered heavily from
competitive money making, and from missing some of the advantages
of the ordinary citizen. Perhaps the best proof of this, in a changeful
occupation like that of the sea, has lain in the long terms of service
attained by most of the officers and many of the men under the
Society.
The C.W.S. steamships were, and are, of course, mainty cargo
boats. There is no advertised passenger service. But every
shipowner may grant passes according to the capacity of his boats,
and this power has never been more happily exercised than by the
Wholesale Society. During many years the passage was free to
members of co-operative societies, with a moderate charge for the
captain's liberal table. Latterly the increasing demand has
necessitated a slight payment for the trip. It is not every singer of
" Rule, Britannia !" who cares to test his mastery of the waves, and
perhaps this has been fortunate, or, with a circle of two million
ultimate members, the impartial system of everyone in turn would
have broken down badly. As it is, the facilities have been largely
used by co-operators of both sexes ; and those to whom was granted
the weather of their choice would gladly admit having gathered some
exceedingly pleasant fruits of democratic shipowning.

Two branches of C.W.S. activity may be reviewed in this chapter
since both had their origin in the shipping department. The
first is the railway rates department, located in the block of
general offices at Manchester. Railway rates are known to the
trading world as constituting a fearful and wonderful land of
adventure. To safeguard the interests of those who pay them
the Mansion House Association exists, to which the C.W.S. has
subscribed, as it also has shared in various movements of railway
users on their OAvn behalf. During recent years the question of
co-operators seeking Parliamentary representation has been strongly
debated at the Co-operative Congresses. The Government Act of
1913, designed to give the railway companies the power to increase
their charges to the public because of the better wages that resulted
from the great strike of 1911, furnished a powerful argument to the
advanced section in this respect. However, on the basis of existing
rates, at first through the shipping department, and later through
the services of a railway expert and his staff, the federation has
worked out the practical, if prosaic, philosophy of making the best
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