Page 313 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Soap Makers^ New Efforts.
Having touched upon tlie libel action of Messrs. Lever Brothers
against the Daily Mail and other journals owned by Lord North-
cliffe's multiple newspaper company, we may remind ourselves in
passing that about the time of the combination movement the firm
reduced the size of their 16-ounce soap bars to 15 ounces, and the
action centred mainly upon this procedure and the motives freely
alleged for it. The famous settlement by which the Associated
Newspapers Limited paid over £50,000 damages and costs to Messrs.
Lever (and, as stated by a Times correspondent, subsequently forfeited
a similar sum to Messrs. Watson) was arrived at on July 17th, 1907.
In his evidence Sir William Lever said that his firm had been " shaken
to its foundation " and had suffered incalculable loss. Restored to
respect and congratulated by a press and public that previously
had joined in the hunt, this and other firms naturally put forth
unusual efforts to regain the lost trade. But although the profuse
advertising and house-to-house canvassing was no doubt solely in
trade interests, incidentally it meant a weakening of new recruits
in their practical allegiance to the fundamental co-operative idea
of democratic self-supply. Hence, since virtually every stores'
customer was directly interested in the three soap works, and since
the combination of all was necessary to the benefit of each, it was
still more natural that the C.W.S. and the committees and officials
of societies should recall the weaker brethren to the logic of their
position. The co-operative soap trade, said the C.W.S. Committee
in 1909, amounted to 800 tons weekly. This was not more but
less than the united works had the capacity to supply, yet the
share of the latter had fallen to an average of 500 tons. Conferences
were held and forces ralhed. Four hundred societies enthusiastically
had resolved to stock only C.W.S. soaps, and now this number
increased. Such action naturally resulted in a discontinuance of
orders from co-operative societies to private makers, and Messrs.
Lever Brothers, being affected, took the view that (to quote Sir
W^ilHam Lever's words in the witness box) while co-operators may
" gradually make a trade, they cannot cut off brands of soap which
the pubhc have used with a cut of the knife."
Not considering that historic form of conversion which is collective
rather than individual, Sir WilUam Lever read into the action
of societies a wholesale and (to quote the words of his counsel)
" deUberate attempt on the part of the co-operative societies to
defraud and deprive Messrs. Lever of their business." During the
summer of 1910, therefore, he arranged a number of trap orders
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