Page 217 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

CHAPTER XVIII. —A
The Development of Production.

Crumpsall—and a Competitor—Ten Years of Bootmakinp—The Wheatshoaf
Works—Heckmondwike—A queer Legal Question—Corn, Cloth, and
Cocoa—Batley Woollens, Leeds Clothing, and a Charge of Sweating
Luton Works—Sneezing at Pepper—The American Cheese Factories—
Sub-chapter on a long Controversy: A History and an Elucidation^
Years 1888-90, and to 1912.
IT is now time to pick up the story of the productive works where
we left it in the seventies and the early eighties. The Biscuit,
Sweet, and Sundries Works at Crumpsall continued to produce its
variety of articles with satisfactory results. In 1885, indeed, we
find the Committee apologising for a large profit—it amounted to
£885 for the quarter. It would have been less, the Committee
explained, if they had either reduced the prices or paid the cost
of the carriage of goods out to societies. These alternatives had
been under discussion, and the former course was to be taken. In
the next quarter the profit fell to less than £100, without an increase
of trade; but later on both the amount of supplies and the profits
grew satisfactorily. In 1885 a traveller first was sent to the societies
direct from the works, and this helped. The same year also saw
fruit preserving begun. It added to a miscellany of production,
from biscuits to dry soap and black lead. The announcement of the
fruit preserving aroused no comment at the Quarterly Meetings;
yet it quickly became an important branch of the business. For
the next few years increases of trade and profits generally were
reported. Occasional losses chequered the sunshine, but these usually
had some connection with new burdens of depreciation upon the
frequently-extended buildings.
Apart from this domestic career, Crumpsall came into the heat
of controversy in 1890. The Co-operative Sundries Society had
commenced business in Manchester, and desired to become a member
of the C.W.S. Two-thirds of its sales already were through the
Wholesale Society; but the C.W.S. Committee objected. Before
entering into any field of production the executive of the federation
had first obtained the consent of the constituent societies. Goods
of C.W.S. production had, therefore, an especial claim upon the
latter. On the other hand, the Sundries Society had originated (in
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