Page 55 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Hills of Difficulty.
Credit, or, rather, the non-payment of accounts due, was a minor
difficulty. By July, 1864, it had become necessary for the secretary
to wait upon a certain society, by instruction of the Committee, and
" demand the payment of our account." At various times during
the next few years defaulters were " written " or " visited,' or even
threatened with legal proceedings. Although it had been decided
that societies should not be obliged to buy from the federation, it
was still the rule that those who bought should pay.
Internally there was the problem of securing the skill and zeal
sufficient to build up so novel a business. " From the pecuUarity of
our trade," pleaded the Committee in their second report, " we have,
at present, difficulties to contend against which do not interfere with
the operations of private traders." At the beginning the Committee
had offered the position of buyer and manager to Samuel Ashworth,
of the Rochdale Society. The Rochdale committee, however,
promptly discovered an extra value in Ashworth and induced him
to stay. He had been one—the youngest—of the famous twenty-
eight. He had sold in Toad Lane the first packet supplied by the
Pioneers' Society, which was the pound or so of sugar so indifferently
wrapped that, for safety, the purchaser preferred to carry it in her
apron. Since those amateurish days Samuel Ashworth had remained
manager of the Rochdale stores; and little wonder if his committee
almost identified the success of the society with the possession of its
reticent, tactful, upright, business-like servant. So by means of
public advertisement the Wholesale Committee engaged its buyers,
trying first one and then another in the search for ability with
trustworthiness combined. Besides having their separate and
definite duties, the cashier, the buyer, and the very small staff were
under regular supervision. The Committee—coming from other
towns, and meeting usually on Saturday afternoons, fortnightly or
monthly—naturally could not exercise a close oversight; but each
month one of their number was appointed as visitor. Nevertheless,
all was not judged to be well. As late as October, 1866, when nearly
two hundred societies were in membership, and the turnover was
approaching a quarter of a million yearly, the auditors filled five
foolscap sheets with a severe, if not alarming, report on the conduct
of the business. In July of that year, also, William Nuttall wTote
to James Smithies proving that different prices had been charged
to different societies for the same articles, the variation having
amounted to as much as six shillings m the £. . , . Two years
later the then senior buyer and the cashier resigned, to come out m
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