Page 72 - 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.

were not large sums in themselves, but, considering the circum-
stances of the time, much higher figures now would only stand
as their equivalent. Together with these names one other may be
included. At its first Quarterly Meeting of 1871 the Society had
to record the further loss of "their highly-esteemed manager and
buyer, the late Mr. Samuel Ashworth . . . whose name will
be held in grateful remembrance by all who have known him."
When Mr. Ashworth joined the C.W.S. as buyer in 1866 the annual
sales were struggling painfully up to £175,489. The total for 1870
was only £677,734, but almost every step towards this tripled and
nearl}?^ quadrupled figure meant slow travelling up a gradient heavier
than at any time since. It was a melancholy coincidence that
these two first employees of the modern co-operative movement.
Cooper and Ashworth, both died practically in the midst of their
work at the same age of 46.
The remaining events of moment, up to the commencement of
the Newcastle Branch, may be summarised briefly. When the
co-operative movement, which the C.W.S. Committee had aided,
resulted in the first Co-operative Congress (1869) the North of
England Society stood forth as the chief guarantor (£10), and was
represented both at the Congress and Congress Exhibition. Similar
help was given at the next and subsequent Congresses, £50 being
given to the funds of the " Provincial Section of the Congress
Board " in 1871. Early in this latter year £50 also was granted to
the Midgley Co-operative Society, then in distress. Turning to
internal affairs, the much-discussed question of dividend or no
dividend on sugar was finally decided in favour of dividend. Early
in 1870 the steady growth of the large C.W.S. trade in the salt
Irish butter, which at that time had not been ousted by the mild
produce of Denmark, led to the establishment of a further depot
and new headquarters at Limerick. About this time also the
question of cattle buying was taken up, but dropped. By a
resolution of the Quarterly Meeting of May, 1870. it was demanded
that all goods purchased from the Society should be paid for in
seven days or under, but if not in fourteen days, then no more
goods were to be delivered before the payment of the overdue
account. In August, 1870, Mr. Abraham Greenwood, who had
occupied the chair continuously since the founding of the
" Wholesale" as on the committee that did the preliminary work,
resigned his office to become the cashier of the Society. Mr.
James Crabtree, of Heckmondwike (who in 1913 still is an occasional
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