Page 466 - 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. —
observations, and perhaps a further remark may be added. For
democracy everywhere the problem of an efficient body of con-
trollers, responsible yet sufficiently in sympathy with the controlled,
is not likely to decrease. Ability is as essential as faithful service;
in the Balkan War there was nothing wrong with the Turkish rank
and file, but the heroic quahties of the Anatolian peasant soldiers
were lost through a lack of organising ability behind the human
material. This need of quickened inteUigence, of will and force,
the modern commercial world intensely reahses. But the system of
private industry creates its own limitations, in that its freedoms
tend to disappear with success, and its posts of honour to become the
monopoly of a class. At the centenary of the C.W.S. a future
historian may be able to refer no small part of a larger progress to a
steady enhsting of that excluded abihty which already exists
democratic, socially-minded, and in protest against its disinheritance
through monopoly.

The Sick and Burial Club, which is maintained amongst the
employees at the various chief centres, began in 1887 with the
institution of the club at Balloon Street. Spasmodic collections
previously had arisen in the departments after the deaths of
employees, and the club was designed to meet the evident need.
The first annual meeting of the club was held in December, 1888.
There were then 255 members. £132 had been collected, one death
benefit of £10 paid, and three sick benefits granted, the whole
cost totalling £9. A repayment to members therefore figured in
the next balance sheet, and the annual bonus remained a feature
of the fund down to 1908, when increasing liabihties demanded a
change. The paying of bonus is now suspended, and the twopences
collected weekly go entirely towards meeting sick claims and
the club's habihty in case of death of £20 per member. It is the
practice of the C.W.S. to pay wages for at least a fortnight to every
staff employee (distributive and clerical) during sickness, and no
claim can be made against the sick club during the receipt of wages.
At Newcastle, London, and Bristol sick clubs also have been formed
since 1888, and these work upon similar lines; while at London the
Anchor Savings Bank Society Limited enables employees to save
sums of 3d. and upwards, and to provide against the cost of summer
holidays. This latter society commenced at the end of 1896.
The sick club obviated the special collections at Balloon Street
in certain circumstances, but the hat still went round whenever
368