Page 63 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

CHAPTER VI. —

Established at Balloon Street.
Boycotting and the Grocer—In Balloon Street—Proving a " Failure "
Years 1868-70.
IT is frequently said that the C.W.S. came into existence because
of a general boycotting of co-operative societies by wholesale
merchants. The foregoing pages prove this to be an over-statement.
The founders of co-operative stores did not wait to learn from hostile
action the wisdom of further combination. Indeed, in the 'North-East
of England, where Cowen's friendship was usually sufficient to secure
the respect of a sufficient number of wholesale dealers, boycotting of
this kind seems to have been rare; while co-operative custom
in Lancashire and Yorkshire was too well worth having. At the
same time, some boycotting by merchants undoubtedly occurred in
various places during the early sixties. The Leicester Society, for
example, has recorded that in 1868 it found the doors of local
merchants closed, and, therefore, sent a deputation to Manchester,
which, however, bought privately, contenting itself with "a peep
in " at the strange new co-operative wholesale society. " When the
committee sent up a buyer to London to make large purchases of
tea and groceries," said Mr. Owen Balmforth, of the Huddersfield
Industrial Society, in the Huddersfield Congress Handbook, " some
wholesale dealers refused to do business with a ' co-op.,' and even
when they were promised ready money they were still reluctant
to have any dealings with such a strange and revolutionary
institution."
The Cramhngton history, also, in an interesting passage, has
given the experience of that society in detail. About 1864 it
obtained quotations for flour, but could not get the article, except
from a Newcastle merchant on condition that his identity was kept
secret, and " this was but a typical instance of what happened in
the purchase of other goods." In the case of this society, however,
" " "
active hostility soon was replaced by evils of a more subtle
character." High prices, indifferent quahty, and short weight
drove the Cramhngton co-operators in October, 1864, to purchase
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