Page 410 - 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. -
authoritatively stated in the paper on " The Objects and Work of
the C.W.S. Bank " read by Mr. T. Goodwin, the present manager,
at different conferences of secretaries and committee-men, held
between Carlisle and London dm"ing 1912. Profital^le employment
of co-operative capital, with the profits returning to the society
customers, easier terms for societies borrowing, accommodation for
the C.W.S. trade departments, enabhng them to make huge seasonal
purchases without causing any anxiety to the Finance Committee,
and to reduce stocks between seasons without tlixowing capital out
of vv^ork— ^these advantages the bank has secured. Further benefits
have been pointed out from time to time in the official reports of
the department. In November, 1907, for example, when the Bank
of England rate for money—the " Bank Rate "— ^v.'as 7 per cent, the
C.W.S. Bank was in a position to advance money to co-operative
societies at 3J per cent net. And this was not an exceptional
circumstance ; it represented simply a fairly close adherence to general
rates, notwithstanding fluctuations in the great speculative world.
In short, the bank, generally speaking, regularly has enabled the
smallest co-operative store to obtain money on shghtly better
terms than those enjoyed by great municipal corporations. Another
illustration was reported in the Wheaisheaf at the time. During
the bad trade of 1908, when the out-of-work capital of the wealthy
was accumulating at their bankers, the C.W.S. Bank was busy helping
societies to withstand a heavier working-class drain upon their
funds, so that lesser profits in other parts of the co-operative world
found some small indirect compensation in the shape of generous
and easy terms from the bank and a goodly savins; of " profit " in
addition.
A number of trade unions are to be numbered with the
co-operative societies as corporate bodies using the C.W.S. Bank.
The great coal strike of 1912 affected the funds of the bank to the
extent of £750,000. This notwithstanding, after a loan to the
Northumberland Miners' Association had been refused in April, 1912,
by one of the great joint-stock banks, an application to the C.W.S.
for £70,000 was promptly met, a fact which made a considerable
impression upon trade unionist co-operators. Earlier in the same
year a substantial sum was lent, also, to the cotton operatives
of North-East Lancashire, during their strike at that period.
Following upon these disputes there was some talk of a general
concentration by trade unions upon the C.W.S. for banking; and
one or two very premature statements were reported. Certainly no
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