Page 190 - 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.

without and within, inspires both admiration and pity. This, and
the later rehgious, social, and industrial history, all need some
consideration, even by the business man, if he is to understand his
modern Wales. Dafyd-ap-Gwyllym, who observed nature Hke
Wordsworth, and sang of her Uke Shelley, as he wandered through
Wales five hundred years ago, would hardly recognise his " fair
Morganwg " if set down in the Rhondda to-day; but, however
changed and altered by rehgion and education, the larger part of its
people are at heart still the same as those amongst whom he Hved
a,nd loved.
The capitaUsts who developed and exploited the South Wales
valleys both hindered and helped the rise of co-operation. Thirty
3'ears after the passing of the Truck Act Glamorganshire still saw
this system in force. In 1861 the Cardiff Times reported the Pentyrch
colliers as offering to give " the master's shop " a preference,
"provided they be paid in mone3^" The truck shop in Aberdare
only closed in 1868. With the suppression of the sj^stem, the
" company shops " in a few instances were turned over to genuine
co-operative societies, but in many others they became only
nominally co-operative. Out of this confusion, through ever-recur-
ring industrial disputes, the co-operative movement had to emerge.
In the eighties, and even later, the C.W.S. travellers found it not
at all easy to win Welsh support for the federation. In at least one
case the representative of the Bristol Depot was regarded at a
conference as an " interloper," and a vote was taken upon whether
he should remain. However, the forward spirit which had shown
itseK in the seventies still lent sufficient aid to justify its beginning
and a step beyond.
On October 22nd, 1891, the C.W.S. opened in Cardiff itself,
taking a room in what was then the Rotunda Buildings and is now
an hotel. J. T. W. Mitchell attended the dinner in celebration;
George Hawkins was there, and an Aberdare man fittingly moved the
resolution of welcome from the sixty Welsh and Monmouthshire
representatives present. Cardiff is even further from London
than Bristol, but eventually Mr. J. F. James filled the post of
command, which has remained his since. Co-operative trade for
co-operators was now sought at closer quarters. It was still a task.
Managers were " not in; " prices and quaUties never were deemed
satisfactory. In some cases C.W.S. trading methods broke upon
habits which custom had permitted, producing something Hke a
struggle for the survival of the fittest. Yet the unity of interests
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