Page 79 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Causes and Effects.
The famine passed, trade revived, and almost at the height of the
revival the G.W.S. began business. A depression was reached in
1868, but it was followed by a revival in 1869-70. The latter 3^ear
saw the commencement of a long period of prosperity; and the
Wholesale Society, having withstood the previous inclemency,
enjoyed the fuU advantage of this favourable season. In 1872 less
than 1 per cent of the trade unionists of the country were
unemployed. From 1872 to 1875 a slight decline was experienced,
which became more marked in 1876; but it was not until the
following year that the real descent began into the depths of hardship
of 1879. In that year nearly 11 per cent of all the British trade
unionists were out of work.
The fatness of the early seventies had several contributing
causes. It was a period of world-wide advance. The first Atlantic
cable was laid in 1866; the Suez Canal opened in 1869. In America,
after the war, a period of intense industrial activity began. At the
other extreme of the globe, Japan opened her doors to Western
commerce with the revolution of 1868. A great development
of railways was taking place in India; and Canada, Australia,
and the Cape were striding forward. On the continent of Europe
Russia was developing under a Uberal Czar, who had emancipated
forty million serfs in 1861. Italy had become united; and if France
in 1871 was disabled by Germany, the immediate effect of the war
was to inflate English trade, while Germany after the war applied
herself to that industrial development which has made her
England's best customer. At home the harvests were uniformly
good. For the lean years of the late seventies, however, it is not so easy
to account. Marx, as we know, held that such depressions resulted
from the good periods leading to an artificial over-production
resulting from the laggard consuming power of an under-paid
working class. Others have taken an opposite view, and see the
cause in a temporary exhaustion of capital during the busy periods.
Shortages of world harvests, fluctuations in the world's gold output,
and diversions of capital to warHke expenditure have also been put
forward. However this may be, the abnormally good and bad times
centering in 1872 and 1879 respectively had a direct effect not only
in advancing the C.W.S., but upon the starting and subsequent
failure of such enterprises as the Ouseburn Engine Works and the
co-operative coUieries. And, when the dark days set in, the
distributive societies and the C.W.S. were able themselves to produce
effects by mitigating the rigours for the working people. Fortunately
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