Page 333 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Headway Against Difficulties.
way into the shops the Wholesale must not be indifferent to the
demand. Meanwhile the substance and stability of the federation
mark it out for attack in the case of reprisals. However, it must
not be supposed that the minor difificulties experienced from time
to time under this head have constituted a serious handicap either
upon the warehousing or manufacturmg of the Wholesale Society.
More arduous has been the ejGfort to extend production in the
sweated trades. In shirt making, in some classes of corset making
and shoe making, to some degree in tailoring, and especially in
cabinet making, the C.W.S., with roomy buildings, fixed rates of
depreciation, fair wages, and often a short working week, has been
heavily weighted in competition with small factories or irregular
workshops in low-wage centres, or with jobbers giving out materials
to sweated homeworkers.
All this forms a summary of conditions operating during the
growth of the wholesale departments, and also a necessary preface
to the details of manufacturing that now follow. What has been
said will perhaps illustrate the complex reahties which in this area
of operations have qualified and checked, but have not destroyed,
the old ideal of co-operators supplying themselves at first cost, and
employing their fellow-workers and themselves in the process, from
start to finish. At the same time there is no apology, for the
C.W.S. production of " dry goods " has a record not to be despised.
Apart from the boot and shoe industry, in the clothing, textile,
and furnishing trades it was represented at the close of 1912 by
an annual output, roughly, of £900,000 sterling, and a regular
employment of 5,400 workers.
Begmnings, of course, were humble. Before the days of
Broughton or Pelaw furniture was bought " in the white " and
polished on the premises, as is the case still in London; or a single
cutter and a dozen machines would be employed, say, in shirt
making. The history of the Broughton group commences with the
former busmess. As far back as March 3rd, 1888, the Committee
obtained permission for the manufacture of furniture. It is true
that a Lancashire delegate found plenty of support for the view
" large that
that the business of the Wholesale had grown so
it was impossible for the Committee to satisfactorily manage an
extension," but the London and Newcastle meetings combined with
" "
the ayes at Manchester to carry the day. Then began a search
for land. Crumpsall was discussed, but ruled out as too distant.
A dozen sites were visited, but one alone seemed rightly placed,
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