Page 184 - 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.
the higher status of a complete and distinct department, at
Manchester under Mr. S. Allen. Nine years of steady work may be
summarised in the figures of present attainment. During 1912 the
total sales at Manchester, Newcastle, and London amounted to
899,848 tons of £703,167 value, while the Society now possesses 371
railway wagons.
Whether a further forward movement will follow the jubilee of
the federation remains to be seen. In December, 1912, the
desirability of inquiring into coUiery owning again was advanced
at the Quarterly Meetings, and again the reference was accepted
by the C.W.S. Committee. Meanwhile, it may be added that in
becoming an employer of miners the Society from its past experience
would have to face a two-fold consideration. Along with the
question of commercial soundness there would go the fact of direct
relations with a strongly-organised body of workers—a body from
which co-operators largely are recruited, and a body capable of
exerting a great influence. Representations from this quarter
made from time to time in connection with the coal buying have
deserved and received respect, and it goes without saying that
were the Society to become a mine-owner the same attitude would
be maintained. A similar respect for the general interests v.hich
the Society exists to serve would be needed in return. Miners and
seamen are the two great classes of workers especially deserving of
consideration by the general community; but if co-operative coal
mining ever is to succeed the consideration must in the main be
that of the general community, and not a superlative regard
enforced upon co-operative consumers only.
Since this chapter has dealt so largely with traffic, it would be
unfair to close without a reference to other fleets possessed by the
Society. There is little history, but much to interest, in the gradual
development of the different carting departments of the Society.
The progress from one-horse carts to the forty or more motor
lurries, and from the very modest vehicle in which the Committee
originally were conveyed by 'Mi. Moore, at Manchester, to the small
fleet of motor cars now under his control, epitomises the progress of
the Society. There is, indeed, a wealth of detail to be gathered
under this head, but such details truly are endless, and we desist.

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