CHAPTER XII.. Continuous Development.

CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT.

PROPAGANDA IN IRELAND—MR M‘CULLOCH READS A PAPER—SEEKING TRADE IN ENGLAND—C.W.S. OBJECTIONS—THE SOCIETY AND ITS EMPLOYEES—A GENERAL MANAGER—THE TEAROOMS—THE DELIVERY QUESTION—GLASGOW EXHIBITION—IRISH VISITORS—EXTENSIONS—A PROVIDENT FUND DISCUSSED—STABLE INSPECTOR RESIGNS: POSITION ABOLISHED—IMPROVING FINANCIAL POSITION.

The development, which had been so marked a feature of the Society’s business ever since the removal from St James Street to M‘Neil Street, continued during the next four years, if not with such markedly rapid progress as during those which have just been reviewed, at least at a rate which must have proved eminently satisfactory to directors and shareholders alike. One of the results of the slight slackening down of the rate of growth was that the directors had more time to devote to the thorough reorganisation of the business and to bringing all the knowledge and experience which they had gained to bear on its extension. They were not unmindful of the need for extension and reorganisation at the bakery itself, and this work received a good deal of attention during the period, but they also kept in view the desirability of bringing in new trade from every quarter where it could be procured, and so we find strenuous efforts being made to develop connections in England and Ireland, as well as to widen the scope of their operations in Scotland.

PROPAGANDA IN IRELAND.

The first attempt to do business with Irish societies was made in the summer of 1898, when Mr Petrie, traveller, and Mr Hamilton, director, visited a number of societies in the North, with the object of inducing them to do business with the Baking Society. This visit proved to be an eminently satisfactory one. Several good orders were secured, and at the Irish Conference, which had been attended by Mr Hamilton, it had been agreed that the president of the Baking Society should be invited to read a paper on “Federated Baking Societies” to a later conference. This conference took place on the 27th of August, when, in addition to Mr M‘Culloch, Mr Deans of the Scottish Section was present, and, at the request of the delegates, gave a report of the position of the boycott in Scotland. In the course of his report, Mr Deans pointed out that Mr Robert Walker, the organising secretary of the Traders’ Defence Association, had already turned his attention to Ireland, and had held in Belfast a preliminary meeting with the merchants of that city. He had received an invitation to address a larger meeting at an early date, but Mr Deans expressed his confidence that, if an attempt was made to introduce the boycott there, the Co-operators of the North of Ireland would know how to deal with the situation.

The address of Mr M‘Culloch was published in full in the local Wheatsheaf of the Lisburn Society, and from that report it appears that he began his address by quoting from Ben Jones: “If Co-operation is to be as rich in benefits to working people as its advocates have always expected it to be, it must be successfully and universally applied to the production and manufacture of all the commodities that are used or consumed by the human race.” With this as his text he proceeded to develop his theme by pointing out that bread was the safest and best commodity with which to begin production, for it was the most important of all commodities. In times of dull trade they could do without everything which might be considered a luxury, but they could not do without bread. “The question which was before the conference that day,” he proceeded—“Is it possible or is it desirable to have a Federated or United Bakery?”—depended so much on local circumstances that he was sure they would not expect him to give a definite answer, and what he proposed to do was to tell them what had been done in Scotland. After describing the progress of the U.C.B.S. from its inception, he examined the position in the North of Ireland. There, there were five societies—Belfast, Lisburn, Portadown, Cullybackey, and Londonderry—with an approximate membership of 919 and a trade of £5,930 a quarter. Of these societies Londonderry was 101 miles distant, and it might be better at present not to consider that society, but, if they took the other four, they found an approximate trade in bread and smalls of £720 a quarter. This represented a trade of 20 sacks per week to start with. Their distributive expenses, if they decided to start, would be greater because some of their trade would be 7, 25, and 32 miles away; but on the other hand the possibilities of Belfast itself were so great that he thought they need have no difficulty in answering in the affirmative the question which they were considering, and saying that a Federated Bakery was both possible and desirable. Continuing, he said that if they decided to begin he would advise them to lease a small bakery with two ovens or more. They would thus require so much the less capital, and would gain time to acquire experience and confidence in themselves, and to inspire their members with the necessary confidence to invest their capital. If, on the other hand, they could not get a bakehouse, or preferred to build, he had prepared a plan for a bakehouse with two ovens, a barm cellar, flour store, stable, and van shed, which would cost approximately £600.

After some more practical hints had been given by Mr M‘Culloch, the paper was thoroughly discussed, and the conference committee recommended that the paper should be read and discussed at a general meeting of each of the societies. This paper is of very considerable interest in a history of the United Co-operative Baking Society, for it may be claimed for it that it was the foundation of that bond of unity between the Co-operators of the North of Ireland and the U.C.B.S., of which the magnificent building at Ravenhill Avenue is the outward and visible token.

Meantime Londonderry Society had become a member of the Baking Society a week or two before this conference was held, and was followed a little later by Lisburn Society. Belfast Society did not join up until the end of 1900, and was followed by Armagh in June 1901.

SEEKING TRADE IN ENGLAND.

The work in England proceeded on somewhat different lines. There the Society worked on the plan of appointing travellers on commission. These activities of the Society, however, were not viewed with favour by the C.W.S. directors, and in May 1899 a meeting of representatives of the two boards took place, at which the situation was discussed. The English Society complained of the action of the Baking Society in putting travellers on the road, and stated that from the report of the quarterly meeting which had appeared in the Co-operative News they had learned that it was the intention of the Baking Society to alter their rules so as to permit of the admission of English societies to the Federation. They contended that hitherto there had been a clear line of demarcation, and they regretted that the Baking Federation now saw fit to overstep this. In reply the representatives of the U.C.B.S. stated that they were not going into England for the purpose of competing with the C.W.S., but with the object of getting the Scottish trade there which was going past the movement at present, and they stated that if the C.W.S. had consented to become agents for the Baking Society when the last interview took place the present difficulty would not have arisen. The Baking Society representatives were pressed to withdraw their traveller, and, although they would not consent to do this, they promised that before any English society was admitted a member of the Baking Federation, the Wholesale Society would be acquainted with the fact.

Again in September of the same year a request that the Baking Society’s travellers should be withdrawn from England was received from the Wholesale Society, but this the directors refused to do. Instead of withdrawing, two additional representatives were appointed in the following year, and, some time later, Mr Forshaw, the Society’s traveller in the East of Scotland, was sent on a visit to Newcastle-on-Tyne and Gateshead, which resulted in good orders being received and shortly afterwards in Newcastle-on-Tyne Society joining the Federation. At the quarterly meeting, which was held on 2nd September 1899, the rules of the Federation were altered to permit societies which were not customers for loaf bread to become members on taking out not less than fifty shares in the Federation, and at the same meeting it was agreed to raise the value of the shares from 15/ to 20/ each. The date of the quarterly meetings was altered from the first Saturday to the third Saturday of the month, and the basis of membership was altered so that, instead of a second delegate being allotted for £160 of purchases, the purchases of the largest society, divided by fifty, formed the basis of representation. It was also agreed that in future the balance-sheet be issued half-yearly instead of quarterly.

THE SOCIETY AND ITS EMPLOYEES.

Hitherto the relations of the Society with its employees had been cordial, but with the growth of the Operative Bakers’ Trade Union restrictions began to be applied which sometimes worked a little unfairly against the Society, particularly in its competition with firms in which the bakers were not well organised. The directors always came to an amicable arrangement with the Union, however. A rather remarkable decision by the Union is referred to in the minute of 19th August 1898, which states that “A deputation from the Bakers’ Union had waited on us anent our foreman having suspended thirty men for two half-days. This had been done owing to our stock accumulating, and this was explained to the deputation, who stated that the Union preferred the dismissal of men and jobbers taken on when required.” The minute proceeds, “Although this was much against the wish of the committee, they had no alternative but to dismiss eight men from the smallbread department.” The question was raised at the next quarterly meeting, and the chairman somewhat amplified the statement contained in the minute by stating that the difficulty had been with the biscuit bakers. At that season of the year, the trade in hand-made biscuits went down owing to the holiday season, and as it was not desirable that these biscuits should be kept too long in stock the foreman had suspended the men for two afternoons. The usual procedure was to do the pastry in the mornings and the biscuits in the afternoons, and the foreman thought it better to suspend the men than to do without the services of any of them. The Union pointed out that their great difficulty was to prevent this practice creeping in all over the city, as it might become a serious thing for the men. The sub-committee had a meeting with the men, and a vote was taken on whether they preferred to be suspended or that some of their number should be dismissed, when, by a very large majority, they voted in favour of suspension. The following week, however, they held another meeting under the auspices of their Union, at which they reversed their former decision, and intimated that they were now unanimously in favour of dismissal, so that the committee had no alternative but to agree and engage “jobbers,” although this meant increasing this class of worker.

At this time there was also some friction amongst the workers in the oatcake factory. When the oatcake factory was started, the women engaged mixed their own meal, but, later, with the object of introducing machinery into this section of the factory, a man was put in to do the mixing, as an experiment. The man was mixing for twenty-four women, who had only to do their own cutting and firing. The chairman explained that, as the result of a week’s experiment, the foreman had fixed the number of parcels to be baked by these women at nineteen, which was the average of the numbers produced by all these women. All the women said the mixing of the dough was the heaviest part of the work, and the result was that those who were getting their dough mixed for them were finished before those who had to do their own mixing, and, in addition, with the new arrangement, the dough was more evenly mixed. The subject was not pursued further at that meeting, but from what took place at the following meeting, it seemed that it had been much canvassed in the interval, especially in Kinning Park Society. According to the chairman,

“There had been some discontent after the last general meeting, and they were just getting over it when certain statements were made in Kinning Park Society which again caused discontent amongst the girls. Previous to this question being raised, the girls were doing all that was asked of them without complaint. The system was an experiment, and would have been past that stage now had the question not been raised. It was the intention of the committee to consider the girls’ wages in event of the trial being successful, but even that had been prevented now. As a result of the discussion, the work was not being done. The Society was not getting one third of the work which was being got by other bakers in this department. It had been stated also that the department was in an insanitary condition, and the gentleman who made the statement confessed that he had done so simply from report. It had been said that the girls were being slowly poisoned. The books of the Society, however, showed that that was not so, but that the average sickness here was not half of other departments where extreme heat had not to be contended with.”

Footnote 2:

Co-operative News, 10th December 1898.

After some discussion and an expression of opinion that the chairman had vindicated the position of the board, the subject was again dropped. At a later period it was stated that the arrangement referred to had proved so satisfactory that the wages of the girls were increased by 1/ per week.

At this meeting the appointment and wages of the engineer were discussed at some length, and it was suggested that the wages which were being paid to him were not enough for the job, but it was explained by the chairman that his wages would be raised after he had proved his capacity.

A GENERAL MANAGER.

The directors were gradually coming to the opinion that it was not possible for them to keep in that close touch with the work of all the various departments in their spare time which was necessary, and had discussed the subject on several occasions. The result was that a definite motion “to appoint a general manager” was tabled and was discussed on two or three occasions, after which a special committee was appointed to go into the whole question of the management of the Federation. When this special committee brought in their report, it was adopted in principle in the somewhat vague form, “that someone be appointed to represent the committee during working hours.” Naturally, this gave rise to several questions at the following general meeting of the Society, but no definite expression of opinion for or against was forthcoming from the meeting, so that the committee were left to pursue their own way unfettered. This they did at a later meeting by advertising for a general manager, who should be possessed of a good, general knowledge of business, and be in sympathy with the movement. As to his duties, it was agreed that all goods should be purchased by the committee through him, and invoiced to one centre, and that he should conduct all correspondence and see that the instructions of the committee were carried out, as well as maintaining discipline, regularity, and good order. Mr James Bain, secretary, and Mr James Young, director, were amongst the applicants for the position, and, perhaps for that reason, it was decided to take a ballot vote on the seven candidates who had been interviewed. The result was that Mr Young was appointed, and it was agreed that he take up his duties on 29th May 1899.

THE TEAROOMS.

The tearoom adventure was proving only moderately successful, and, in reply to a question, the chairman admitted at one meeting that the profit shown on the balance-sheet had all been made by the purvey department. At another meeting, he stated in reply to a question about electricity that at M‘Neil Street, where they generated their own current, they found electric lighting to be cheaper than gas, but where they had to take their supplies from the Corporation it was more costly, his reply being—“In West Nile Street, where we get our supply from the Corporation, it is nearly killing the place.” The organ of the Traders’ Association made great fun of this remark, stating that “the tearooms in West Nile Street must be in a perilous condition when the difference in the cost of gas and electricity is nearly killing the business”; and went on to point out that “tearooms must have a practical proprietor.” “Here, then, is an excellent example of the fact that where overcharges cannot be made on the goods sold, Co-operation cannot prosper.” Doubtless the Commercial Record man was entitled to his little chuckle, but his premises being faulty, his conclusions were equally faulty. There were other factors than overcharges which entered into the failure of the U.C.B.S. to make a commercial success of their tearoom business, and led to its being finally abandoned. It is probable that the West Nile Street place was too large and too heavily rented to permit any firm, however experienced, to make tearooms a success in a back street. Then, the people who acquire the tearoom habit are business people, and are therefore not too friendly disposed to any Co-operative enterprise and, having a very wide choice of such establishments, their prejudices took them elsewhere. That Co-operative tearooms can be made a success, even in Glasgow, the Drapery and Furnishing Society has proved, but it is questionable whether Co-operative tearooms anywhere, which are not conducted as an adjunct to other businesses, and very near to central drapery or similar premises, have ever proved successful, and there is no place in Great Britain where the ordinary tearoom is so good as in Glasgow, and, therefore, where a Co-operative tearoom which is called to stand on its own legs, so to speak, has such strenuous competition to face.

In August 1899 Mr Robert Watson resigned to take over the management of the S.C.W.S. dining and purvey department, and a Mr J. M. Picken was appointed his successor. The management of the purvey and tearoom departments were also separated. Mr Picken did not prove a success, however, and was succeeded by Mr Thomson. At the end of the lease, the Society decided to give up the Main Street purveying branch, but to keep on the tearooms. At several general meetings suggestions had been made that the Society should open tearooms of a cheaper class, to suit the pockets of the workers, and the committee made some inquiries about this but found that the rents in the city were very high. A place in Clydebank was considered but abandoned owing to the lack of accommodation, and also because of opposition to the project from the committee of Clydebank Society. It was decided finally to fit up the Main Street shop for this purpose, but, after a short trial, the tearoom there was given up.

THE DELIVERY QUESTION.

For some unexplained reason the people of Glasgow and district have always been particularly addicted to the consumption of new bread. Time after time efforts have been made to wean them from this indigestion-producing habit, but all in vain until the Great War came and with it a shortage of grain, necessitating the husbanding of the nation’s bread supplies. Then, without any fuss, with scarcely a murmur even, the people submitted for two years to a restriction which prohibited the sale of bread until it had been out of the ovens for a period of at least twelve hours. This demand for new bread had always been a source of worry to the Baking Society. There was, on the one hand, the restrictions imposed by the Operatives’ Union as to the hour of commencing work, which regulated the hour at which the bread came out of the ovens; on the other hand, there was the demand of the members of local societies for new bread at an early hour and, as a consequence, the demands by the societies for early delivery of bread. These demands for early delivery the Society was only able partially to meet; and the distance of some of the shops from the centre made it quite impossible that they should be supplied with bread which was steaming hot from the oven. Hence, week after week, the committee had to deal with complaints about lateness of delivery. Time after time the chairman appealed to societies at the quarterly meetings to be less insistent in their demands for hot bread, but without avail, for no sooner did one society respond for a little to these appeals than others began to demand that they get the bread hot and early.

At length, toward the end of 1898, the subject was taken up by the Convention of City Societies, and the Baking Society’s board being only too willing to render all the assistance in their power, a representative meeting was held in the Union Hall, West Nile Street, at which Mr James Bain, secretary of the U.C.B.S., read a paper. Mr Bain entitled his paper “Our Bread Delivery,” and dealt at length with the craze for new bread and the difficulties which it imposed on bakers and baking firms. He began by describing the evil conditions which it had introduced into the baking trade, the principal of which was probably the “jobber,” or half-day man. Alluding to a correspondence which had been going on in a Glasgow paper for some time, he said that they, in M‘Neil Street, could not describe the jobbers as anything but clean, respectable, intelligent tradesmen, the majority of whom were only waiting until a regular opening occurred for them. Under a more humane system, however, they could all be dispensed with, and all the men required could be employed regularly. Mr Bain pointed out that the limited time between the hour when the bakers started work and that at which societies demanded that they should have their bread delivered was too short to allow the bread to be thoroughly and carefully prepared. The rush did not allow the bread room workers the time necessary to pack the vans carefully, so that it frequently happened that the bread was crushed and bruised into shapes it was never intended to assume. The demand for new bread also entailed great hardships on the bakers because of the early hour at which they had to begin work, and he was convinced, he said, that bread baked in the morning and delivered in the afternoon, and bread baked in the afternoon and delivered next morning, would be healthier and more suitable for use. All the medical opinion was against the use of new bread; certain chemical changes took place in the bread after it was baked and before it was fit for consumption, and some hours were necessary to permit these changes to take place. He suggested, as a remedy, that the Co-operative societies should lead the way in fostering a demand for stale bread, and that the bakers, through their Union, should assist in educating the general public into a more rational system.

Commenting on this subject, the Scottish Co-operator said:—

“It is the duty of co-operators to make arrangements which will allow those who produce the bread to work under conditions which will allow them to live more enjoyable lives than they do at present. There are no reasons why they should not begin work at 6 a.m., and the first delivery of bread might be made by 11 o’clock, while that baked in the afternoon could be kept until next morning, and delivered as soon as the stores are open. All that is required to make this possible is a little rational co-operation between the Baking Society, the distributive societies, the salesmen, and the members.”

Unfortunately, this rational co-operation was not forthcoming; the practice continued, and it required a world war, which accustomed the people to many other and greater inconveniences, to bring about a reform which practically everyone believes to be desirable.

GLASGOW EXHIBITION.

The Society had guaranteed £500 towards the expenses of the Glasgow Industrial Exhibition, and the directors were desirous of taking every advantage of the Exhibition as an advertising medium. At first it was proposed that there should be a joint Co-operative stall, in which the two Wholesale societies, the Paisley Manufacturing Society, and the Baking Society should take part. The S.C.W.S. had been trying to obtain a plot of ground, and had succeeded, on the understanding that they should pay £2,000 of the cost, and the U.C.B.S. £1,300, but this arrangement was departed from, on the ground, as stated in the Baking Society’s minutes, that neither the English Wholesale Society nor the Paisley Manufacturing Society were taking part. The Baking Society then decided to proceed themselves and, after having made arrangements with two bakery machinery manufacturing firms, they made an offer for the right to erect a model bakery in the Exhibition. This offer was not accepted, however, although it was considerably higher than the offer which was finally accepted, the reason given being that the exhibit offered by the Baking Society was not likely to be so interesting as that of either of the two other firms which offered. The affair caused a considerable amount of discussion at the time, and the opinion was freely expressed that, while no doubt could be cast on the good faith of the Exhibition committee themselves, they had been misled by the experts whom they had consulted, and that the most interesting of the proposed exhibits, as well as the one which would have paid the Exhibition committee best to accept, was that of the Baking Society. However, if they were unable to exhibit a model bakery in full working order, and including a biscuit oven as well as bread making, they were able to secure a stance where they were able to make a display of goods which attracted much attention.

Among other methods which they adopted to advertise their goods and to keep the salesmen of the societies in touch with new departments and new goods, was a monthly letter, which they issued to salesmen, in which attention was called to anything which was new. During this period, also, they began to pack their biscuits in fancy, enamelled tins, and these had a great sale. The cake shows also were proving of great value in increasing the trade in this Christmas luxury; each year’s show meaning a big increase in sales; that for 1901 showing an increase of 6,255 large cakes and of 629 dozens of small cakes over the sales of the preceding season.

In the autumn of 1901 the delegates to the Irish Conference Association were the guests of the Federation in Glasgow, which provided them with lodgings and took them for visits to Shieldhall, the Bakery, and the Municipal Buildings, as well as for a drive round the principal places of interest in the city. In 1901 the Society won first prize for oatcakes at the Bakers’ Exhibition held in the Agricultural Hall, London. Earlier, too, as a result of a discussion which had taken place at a meeting of Glasgow Town Council, the committee sent one of their loaves to the City Analyst to be analysed. The analyst’s report was to the effect that the loaf had been weighed before being analysed; and he stated:—“We are of opinion that this is a loaf of the best quality. It contains an extra large proportion of albuminous compound and the minimum of water.”

At the beginning of 1902 the directors agreed to furnish one of the bedrooms at Seamill Home, while another was furnished by the heads of departments, and, at the quarterly meeting immediately following, the delegates voted £500 as a donation towards the building fund for the Inland Home at Galashiels. Other donations were:—£20 to the Gladstone Memorial, £50 to the Festival Fund, £40 to the Indian Famine Fund, £50 to the Lord Provost of Glasgow’s Special War Relief Fund, £25 to the Owen Memorial Fund, £500 to the Glasgow Technical College Fund, and £20 to the Thomas Slater Testimonial, as well as smaller sums to many other deserving objects.

EXTENSIONS.

During this period the extensions were neither so numerous nor so extensive as in that which immediately preceded it, for the increase in trade did not continue at a rate quite so rapid, but, nevertheless, several rather important extensions were made. Entry into the workshops, which were in course of completion in the summer of 1898, was secured in the autumn of that year, and to the new stables shortly afterwards, and about that time it was agreed to extend the biscuit factory and to utilise the old stable building, after reconstruction, as a biscuit warehouse and packing department. A considerable number of new machines were also purchased, these including fourteen or fifteen “dough-dividers” of a new pattern, manufactured by Werner, Pfleiderer & Perkins Ltd., at a cost of over £200 each, and a machine for the manufacture of sugar wafers. Three new travelling ovens were also procured for the biscuit factory. At the June 1899 quarterly meeting power was given to complete the South York Street building, operations on which had been suspended for nearly two years. At a later period it was agreed to roof in the north end of the courtyard and build a new reel oven there. It was also decided to increase the accommodation for the oatcake factory, so that the number of hot-plates might be increased from 80 to 140.

A proposal which occasioned some discussion at one or two of the general meetings of the Society was that of the directors to begin a provident fund for the employees. A number of employees had a sick benefit fund of their own, but it was proving inadequate to meet the demands on it, and those in charge approached the directors for assistance. This was granted, but, as the directors recognised that unless it was placed on a more or less compulsory basis it was not likely to secure the necessary stability, they had several consultations with representatives of the employees, and then took a ballot vote of the whole of the employees on the proposals which were submitted to them. This vote showed a majority of three to one of the employees in favour of the scheme, which was then brought before the delegates for their consideration and approval. Permission to hold a special meeting of the Society for the purpose of altering the rules to permit of a provident fund for the employees being established was granted, but at the special meeting the vote for the alteration of the rules was one less than the number necessary to give the requisite two-thirds majority, and so the proposal was defeated for the time being.

In the autumn of 1898 Mr Ballantyne resigned from his position of stable inspector, after having acted in that capacity for the long period of 28 years. At the quarterly meeting he was thanked for the long service he had given to the Society. The committee decided that the office should be abolished. Just at the end of this period it was decided to open a distributive depot in Falkirk, for the purpose of supplying the societies in that district. It was reported to the committee that there were altogether nineteen societies within a radius of twelve miles having 38 shops, which were purchasing over 500 tins of biscuits and 5,000 lbs. of oatcakes weekly. The new system was going to be more costly at the beginning, but the committee were under the impression that the trade would so increase under the new system that it would more than compensate for the additional cost.

At the end of 1901 the value of the Society’s property, including land, buildings, and fixtures, was £145,450, while the share capital, reserve, and insurance funds amounted to £102,441. Thus 70·5 per cent. of the total value of the buildings was covered. At the end of 1889, only 23 per cent. of the value had been so covered, and, notwithstanding the great increase in the value of the properties which had taken place since that time, the capital, reserve, and insurance funds had increased so much more rapidly that this very desirable result had been achieved in twelve years. The trade had grown very rapidly also in the same period, and, just at the close of the period, permission was granted to the directors to hold a demonstration for the purpose of celebrating a turnover of 3,000 sacks per week.