CHAPTER XVIII.. Baking Under War Conditions.

BAKING UNDER WAR CONDITIONS.

THE EARLY DAYS OF WAR—KEEPING DOWN PRICES: THE DIRECTORS’ VIEW—HALF-PAY TO SOLDIER EMPLOYEES—ARMY CONTRACTS—HORSES AND MOTORS COMMANDEERED—PRICE OF BREAD ADVANCED—DEATH OF BISCUIT FACTORY MANAGER—MORE ARMY CONTRACTS—EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS—M‘NEIL STREET BLOCK COMPLETED—BUSINESS ORGANISATION—TEABREAD AND PASTRY SHOPS—THE PRICE OF BREAD—INCREASING OUTPUT—BISCUIT AND TEABREAD TRADE—THE SOCIETY AND ITS WORKERS—DELIVERY DIFFICULTIES—DEATH OF MR DUNCAN M‘CULLOCH.

On the fourth day of August 1914, Great Britain entered on a new era. There are not awanting cynics who declare that Great Britain is hardly ever out of war, but however that may be, there never has been in the world’s history a war which seemed in its early days to be fraught with so dire consequences for civilisation as did that into which the nations of Europe plunged in those early days of August 1914. For the first few days it seemed as if chaos had suddenly developed. The people seemed to go mad with panic, and rushed to purchase goods wherever these could be procured, careless of the prices which they were called on to pay. To the traders, large and small, it must have seemed like the beginning of a trading millennium, and they took immediate advantage of the position in which they found themselves. Prices doubled, trebled, and quadrupled; yet the eager rush to buy continued. The poor bought what they could, but they soon reached the end of their meagre resources. Not so the rich, however. Amongst them, the panic seemed to be even greater than amongst the poorer sections of the community, and they provisioned their houses as if for a siege, careless as to who must want if only they had plenty in store.

EDUCATIONAL DEPUTATION TO ENGLAND ]

EDUCATIONAL DEPUTATION TO ENGLAND ]

The bakers of Glasgow were also the victims of the profiteering craze which had suddenly enmeshed the trading public, and at a meeting which took place on the afternoon of 3rd August, they proposed that the price of bread should be raised. Mr James Young, manager of the U.C.B.S., had been present at this meeting and had opposed the proposal, with the result that it was not carried out. This action of his was homologated by his board at a special meeting which was held the same evening, while at another meeting, held three days later, the committee decided that they would not raise the price of bread in the meantime. The Baking Society found itself in a very favourable position at this time. In M‘Neil Street there were supplies of flour which would keep the bakery going for nine weeks, while Clydebank had supplies for six, and Belfast for seven weeks. They were thus in a position to view the situation with more or less equanimity. The S.C.W.S. were also in a good position so far as supplies of flour and wheat were concerned, having some nine or ten weeks’ supplies either on hand or on board ship at the outbreak of war, and the rapidity with which the German fleet was bottled up within its own harbours gave security of passage for the time being to food-carrying vessels. Nevertheless, the general panic of that first week of war affected the wheat and flour trade as much as it did many others, and it was not long before flour was selling at a price which had never been asked for it in the whole course of the Federation’s history.

These were conditions under which the two great Co-operative federations were able to show to advantage, and they were conditions also which proved the wisdom of the Wholesale Society in establishing its own purchasing agency in Canada; for while outside millers were asking as much as 65/ a sack for flour in the first week of the war, the highest price quoted by the Wholesale Society was 37/, and ordinary flour was sold by them at 1/6 per sack advance on normal price. Thus the two federations were in a position to see to it between them that on this side of the Atlantic, at least, no undue advantage was taken of the circumstances created by the war. At the meeting of the Baking Society’s board, which took place on 1st September, the committee placed on record their appreciation of the manner in which the crisis brought about by the war had been met by the manager, heads of departments, and employees generally, and desired the manager to convey this expression of the board’s appreciation to the heads of departments and employees. At the quarterly meeting of the Society, the directors had a similar compliment paid to themselves; Mr Shaw, Cambuslang Society, moving, and Mr Glasse, S.C.W.S., seconding a motion which received the unanimous endorsement of the delegates, thanking the directors for the splendid lead which they had given to the purveyors of bread in the city and far beyond. Mr Shaw drew attention to the importance and magnificence of what had been done, and thought that the nation was entitled to recognise what the Co-operative movement had done, not only now but at all times, in keeping down prices and in keeping goods pure.

Perhaps the position in which the Federation was placed by the war and the view of it taken by the directors can be explained most clearly in the words of Mr Gerrard himself. Addressing the September quarterly meeting, he stated that the profits for the half-year which had ended in July had been a little better than usual, but “the future was so indefinite that no one could foresee with any accuracy what would happen. They had been blamed, and were still being blamed in certain quarters, for not increasing the price of bread, but they had resolutely refused, thinking it their duty as a Federation to keep the price of bread and other commodities as low as possible. Notwithstanding, he understood the price of biscuits had been increased in some quarters, and this had brought them some trade that they should have had before. The way in which prices were rushed up at the commencement of the war had seemed to the board most unseemly and unpatriotic, and seemed to show that everyone was trying to make as much as possible out of the war. It was unfortunate that the price of bread would require to be increased before the war was over, but until that step was absolutely necessary they would not increase it, and then only as far as was necessary. They had received several contracts for bread, and the manner in which the manager, heads of departments, and the general body of the employees acted under the stress of these circumstances was worthy of all praise.”

Footnote 3:

(The Scottish Co-operator, 25th September 1914.)

HALF-PAY TO SOLDIER EMPLOYEES.

At the outbreak of war, a number of the employees had been members of the Territorial Forces and had been called up at once, and the board decided to grant them half-pay. Later, when the call for more men came, many of the employees joined up, and the directors decided that those who enlisted should be placed on the same footing as regarded half-pay as were those who had been called up at the outbreak of war. At this quarterly meeting the directors were accused by a representative of the Bonus Investment Society of not being so generous to their employees who were serving with the Colours as were some other Co-operative societies, but the chairman was able to satisfy the delegates that, in those cases where generosity was most necessary—those of wives with large families—the Baking Society’s scheme was the one which gave the wife the larger total income.

This meeting was the one at which the method of giving the minutes in the form of synopses was first adopted, and one of the delegates took occasion to compliment the secretary on having produced synopses of the various minutes which gave the delegates enough information about the business done to enable them to find out what was taking place. At this meeting also a grant of £100 was made to the Belgian Relief Fund, the chairman stating that further grants could be made if occasion demanded. Other donations made were:—£500 to the War Relief Fund, £100 to the Lord Mayor of Belfast’s Fund, and £100 to the fund being raised by the Provost of Clydebank. It was urged very strongly by several of the delegates that the administration of the relief fund should be in the hands of the Government. In the minute of the board meeting of 2nd October, the fact is noted that during the past quarter the Society’s motors had covered a distance of 125,015 miles. It had certainly been a busy quarter.

ARMY CONTRACTS.

Immediately the war broke out, the United Baking Society were inundated with Army contracts. In the first few days they had to make arrangements for supplying camps all over the country, in addition to those for which they had held the contracts. These new camps included those at Perth, Inverness, Falkirk, and Dunblane, and all were supplied at current prices. Yet, notwithstanding the fact that the Baking Society were doing much work for the Army in that first week of the war, they were not allowed to escape from some of the other discomforts which come to the owners of horses and vehicles in a nation at war. On the 6th of August 18 horses, two motors, and one lorry were commandeered for military purposes. Other large bakers suffered in the same way, and on behalf of all of them a telegram was sent to the Officer in Command, pointing out the importance of the work which was being done by the baking firms in the distribution of food, and complaining that serious hardship to the people would ensue if bakers’ horses were removed. With this telegram the committee of the Baking Society associated themselves. To enable them to overtake their work, the Society decided to purchase several motors which had been offered to them, while a circular-letter, explaining the position, was sent out to the societies. That the War Office officials were not ungrateful for the assistance which had been rendered them in the emergency of mobilisation was shown by the fact that at the board meeting which was held on 7th August, letters of congratulation on the manner in which the service of bread to two camps had been carried out were read to the committee.

Among the minor results due to the war may be mentioned the cancelling of a number of social meetings, excursions, marriages, etc., and the closing down of the holiday camp at the end of August. At the beginning of October, another attempt was made by the Glasgow Master Bakers’ Association to have the price of bread raised, but again the directors of the Baking Society blocked the way. At the same time, however, the committee came to the decision that, in view of all the circumstances, they would not raise any objection should another overture be made. At the beginning of October, the situation was again reviewed and, in view of the fact that by the beginning of the year the price of flour would be greatly in advance of that then being used, it was agreed to resist no longer a slight advance in the price of bread. For three months the Society had been the means of keeping the price of bread at the rate at which it was being sold at the outbreak of war. If we assume that their action influenced only two hundred thousand households, and that the average consumption of bread in each household was only one 2–lb. loaf per day, this action of the Baking Society was responsible for saving to these householders in three months no less a sum than £21,250, and probably double that sum, for that only supposes an advance of one farthing per loaf. The first advance in the price of bread took place on 16th November. In Belfast the price of bread had been advanced ¼d. per 2–lb. loaf on 19th October.

DEATH OF BISCUIT FACTORY MANAGER.

Mr John Gilmour took charge of the Society’s biscuit factory shortly after it was commenced, and he continued to manage it until his death, which took place on 9th October 1914. He was highly respected by both directors and workmen for his devotion to business and his tact and kindness in dealing with those under him. He was succeeded by Mr William Ninian, who had the distinction of being a Bakery-trained man and who was acting as Mr Gilmour’s assistant at the time of that gentleman’s death.

At the quarterly meeting, the chairman made fitting and sympathetic reference to the loss which the Society had sustained through the death of Mr Gilmour. He also referred to the retiral from active work of one of the Society’s bread bakers, Mr W. Lees, who had been in the employment of the Society for forty and a half years. During the quarter an electrically-driven motor had been at work in Glasgow for the Society. It was proving very satisfactory and the board, he said, considered that before long these electrically-driven cars would replace horses on the streets, although petrol-driven cars would still be used for the long journeys.

At this quarterly meeting, some of the delegates wished to know why the board had decided that they would no longer resist an increase in the price of bread seeing that in their minutes they stated that their contract for flour was still unbroken. The chairman, in replying, pointed out that flour at the moment was about 10/ higher in price than before the war, and the board thought it better that the price should be raised by a halfpenny now than that it should be put a penny or three halfpence later, when the stock of cheap flour was completely exhausted. He also stated that eighty-six of the Society’s employees were then serving in the Army. At this quarterly meeting, also, the question of granting relief to what were termed “innocent enemy aliens,” in other words, British women who had married subjects of nations at war with Britain, and who through the operation of war were left destitute in this country, was raised through an appeal on their behalf issued by the International Co-operative Alliance executive. A proposal was made to grant £25 to the fund which was being raised, but this was defeated by a two to one majority. The cake show was held this year as usual, but, as was to be expected, the sales were not so great as in some former years. The price had been advanced on the average one penny per pound. In their report to the delegates to the December quarterly meeting, the directors stated that they would regard it as an instruction to make no increase in the prices of their goods so long as they were able to work without actual loss.

MORE ARMY CONTRACTS.

In September, an arrangement had been entered into with the Army Authorities by which the Government supplied the flour and the Baking Society baked it into bread for the troops. In addition, several contracts for biscuits for the Army were received. The first three of these totalled 200 tons. The contracts for the baking of bread for the Army continued until early in 1916, when an intimation was received from the Quartermaster of the Scottish Command that the contract would cease, as the Government were now erecting field bakeries for themselves. Two months later, however, another contract was entered into with the Scottish Command on the same terms as formerly. The contracts carried out by Clydebank and Belfast Branches have already been referred to.

EXTENSIONS AND ALTERATIONS.

For the whole of the first year of war and almost the whole of the second year, the building department of the Society was kept busy with the extension to the M‘Neil Street premises. The principal reason for this extension was the necessity for securing more space for the biscuit factory, and as soon as practicable this extension was carried through. A new travelling oven was installed early in 1915 at a cost of £175, and at the same time a new biscuit cutting machine was got at a cost of £300. A gas-fired travelling oven was also installed before the end of the year and another one, built in accordance with alterations suggested by the bakery staff, was installed in October 1916. In the spring of 1915, it was decided to cover over the space between bakehouses Nos. 11 and 12 for the purpose of providing dressing rooms for the workers, and at the same time it was decided to put fans in each flat for ventilation purposes.

M‘NEIL STREET BLOCK COMPLETED.

Parts of the new block at the Adelphi Street and South York Street corner were occupied as they were completed. Particularly, the ground floor was occupied as an extension to the biscuit factory, but it was not until June 1916 that the entire building was ready for the official opening ceremony. This was of a very modest character, for, as the chairman stated, the directors did not think the circumstances of the time lent themselves to the celebration of the opening of their splendid addition by means of a grand function, and in this he believed the board had interpreted the wishes of the delegates.

The dressing room for the female workers, which was situated on the fourth flat, was fitted up in an excellent manner. Each worker had a locker of her own, made of cast steel, of which she alone held the key. Fourteen wash-hand basins were fitted up and eight spray baths. There was also an excellently appointed sickroom, where a girl who became unwell suddenly could rest, and also a room fitted up with the appropriate scientific appliances, where accidents could be treated at once.

At the quarterly meeting, which took place on the day on which the new wing of the building was opened, the chairman stated that the total cost of the land and the buildings on it had been £11,800, while the total cost of the bakery buildings, including the addition, had been £131,000; which had been depreciated to the extent of £52,000.

BUSINESS ORGANISATION.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, the Canadian Government made a donation to the Mother Country of a large quantity of flour, and in the beginning of 1915 the Baking Society purchased 10,000 sacks of this flour. The committee decided that when the bags were emptied they should be sold as souvenirs, and from their sale the sum of £87 was realised, which was distributed amongst local war charities. In March of this year, the board had a very satisfactory conference with the board of Kinning Park Society and the dairy employees of that society. The subject of the conference was a project of Kinning Park board that the dairy shops of that society should be fitted up for the sale of teabread and pastries. Later, the board of the Baking Society discussed the question of opening shops throughout the city for the sale of smallbread and pastries, but owing to the difficulties imposed by war conditions, the subject was dropped for the time being. Immediately the Armistice was signed, however, the subject was again taken up by the board, with the result that, at the 200th quarterly meeting, proposals were submitted in which were embodied a suggestion that the Society should open a development account and offer to those societies operating in the Glasgow and Suburban area, which were willing to co-operate with the Federation, a proportion of the cost of fitting up shops for the sale of teabread and pastry. In this offer it was provided that the shop, locality, and scheme of fitting should be approved by the directors of the Federation; that only U.C.B.S. goods and confections of Co-operative manufacture should be sold for a period, the period suggested being ten years. If these provisions were agreed to the Baking Society would be responsible for one third of the cost of fitting up the shop, provided that one third did not exceed £150. The scheme received the hearty commendation of the delegates at the meeting at which it was submitted, the only objection taken being to the fact that for the time being it was confined to the Glasgow area.

THE PRICE OF BREAD.

Reference is made above to the part which was played by the Federation in keeping down the price of bread. In November 1914 the price of the 4–lb. loaf was increased by a halfpenny; in January 1915 another halfpenny advance took place; and in March of that year another halfpenny; while by the month of May the price had risen to 8d. per 4–lb. loaf. In February 1916 another halfpenny was imposed, and in May of that year yet another halfpenny; while before control came into operation the price in Glasgow and Clydebank had risen to 11½d. and in Belfast to 1/ for the 4–lb. loaf. A rather remarkable note in one of the board minutes for 1916 is that which states that a letter had been received from a co-operative society, protesting against the action of the Federation in refusing to consent to an increase in the price of bread. The secretary of the Federation mercifully kept the name of the society out of the minute of the meeting.

Prior to the beginning of 1915, the catering for the meals of the employees had been done by a committee of themselves, but in March of that year they approached the board with the request that the Society should take over and carry on this work. During these years the output of the Society was increasing gradually but surely. For the year which ended in January 1915, the output was 230,780 sacks, an average of 4,440 sacks per week for the year, and an increase of 440 per week in three years. On the 3rd of April, it was reported that during the preceding week 5,351 sacks had been baked. This constituted a record week’s baking for the Society, but for some time afterwards, until the coming of Government Regulation flour, record after record was made only to be broken. By the month of September 1916, the turnover had risen to 5,410 sacks per week, or almost a thousand sacks of a weekly increase in eighteen months. In the end of that month, the output was 5,925 sacks, and by the end of February 1917 the record figures of 6,012 sacks were reached. In these increases all three bakeries participated, and the rapid increase for 1916 and the early months of 1917 is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that the amount of baking which was done for the military was not nearly so great as it had been in the earlier months of the war. On the last Saturday in 1916, 21,546 dozens of bread were baked and seventy bridecakes made. There had evidently been an epidemic of war marriages at this Hogmanay.

BISCUIT AND TEABREAD TRADE.

In the biscuit trade as well as in the bread trade, the directors carried out as far as possible their policy of keeping prices as low as was consistent with securing the Federation against loss, but the rapidity with which the various ingredients for these luxuries of the baking trade increased in price caused the prices to the societies to be raised shortly after the outbreak of war. In March 1915, it was decided to reduce the discount allowed on teabread by two and a half per cent., in order to compensate in some measure for the increases in the cost of materials. Toward the end of 1915 the Society found that their stocks of biscuits were falling very low, owing to the shortage of labour, as about 30,000 tins of biscuits were being sent out every week. Systematic overtime was worked in the biscuit factory with the object of overcoming the shortage. The Society were also faced with a serious shortage of biscuit tins, due to the fact that societies were not returning the empty tins promptly, while the manufacturers were not able to supply the demand for new tins. To meet this difficulty the directors authorised the purchase of a machine for the manufacture of the tins. By the beginning of 1916 the shortage of materials necessary for the manufacture of pastries, and especially of sugar, was becoming very marked, and in March of that year it was decided to stop the manufacture of a number of the varieties of which sugar was a considerable ingredient. In May, it was found necessary to advance the price of biscuits by, on the average, nine shillings per cwt., yet, notwithstanding the high price, the Society were having difficulty in fulfilling their orders. Earlier in the year it had been decided to look out for suitable ground for an extension of the biscuit factory, and at the quarterly meeting held in September power was granted the directors to spend up to £9,500 in purchasing land for this purpose. By October, the price of biscuits was advanced other eight shillings per cwt., but as this was four shillings per cwt. below the price which other merchants were charging the societies were getting a very good bargain. In November, it was decided to cease the manufacture of all French, iced, and sugar-coated pastries, owing to the increasing shortage of sugar.

THE SOCIETY AND ITS WORKERS.

At the outbreak of war many employees joined the Army or Navy, and to these the Society decided to pay half-wages. As the months passed, more and more of the younger men joined up, first under the Derby Scheme and later under the Conscription Act, so that the carrying out of the policy of paying half-wages meant the disbursing of a considerable sum every half-year, and by the end of 1916 the sum of £10,628 had been so expended; £7,892 being paid to dependants and £2,736 retained in the hands of the Society at the credit of employees serving with the Colours. At this time, 304 of the Society’s employees had joined the Services, and eighteen had made the great sacrifice.

This drain on the male workers of the Society brought troubles of its own in its train. We have already seen that considerable difficulty was being experienced in meeting the demand of customer societies for biscuits, while the difficulty in meeting the demand for bread was equally great. Toward the end of 1915, the Operative Bakers’ Union consented to allow their members to begin work one hour earlier on Saturday mornings, while a number of men who had been formerly employed as “jobbers” were given full-time employment. In the beginning of the following year an attempt was made to induce the Bakers’ Union to permit the employment of women in the bakery, but this permission they refused, although they admitted that “dilution” was in operation in similar establishments. In July of 1916 an agreement with regard to dilution was reached, whereby it was decided that, after all reasonable efforts had been made to obtain male labour, females should be appointed in the same proportion as apprentices; that two girls could be appointed for every man who left, and that the arrangement was to continue for the duration of the war or of conditions created by the war.

In that year some difficulty was experienced in getting the bakers to come to terms with the employers in the Glasgow district on the question of wages, but the dispute was finally adjusted after notices to cease work had been handed in. The terms finally agreed on were substantially those which had been offered by the Federation, and gave the bakers an increase in wages of four shillings per week. The bakers did not take kindly to the proposal to introduce female labour into the bakehouse, and when the directors proposed to take that step protested strongly, notwithstanding the agreement which had been arrived at on the subject, and although they were working very many hours of overtime each week. The directors therefore decided that the question of the employment of female labour should be referred to the War Emergency Committee, and that committee gave their award in favour of the introduction of female labour into the pastry and smallbread flats, but would not allow them to take part in the baking of loaf bread.

DELIVERY DIFFICULTIES.

We have already seen that the needs of the war transcended all other considerations in the opinion of the War Office officials, who commandeered many horses and vans from the Society at the outbreak of war and later. The difficulties of delivery thus created the directors endeavoured to overcome by the use of motors for delivery. But even machinery will not go on for ever without requiring repairs, and as breakdowns became more frequent increasing difficulty was being found in having the necessary repairs done, because of shortage of labour of the necessary skill, and because also of the shortage of the necessary material. Another delivery difficulty had a different cause. The shortage of labour was general, and the retail stores were as greatly handicapped as were other businesses. In 1916, with the view of overcoming this handicap to some extent and at the same time ensuring as far as possible that the shops should not be open in the absence of skilled supervision, the societies adopted the policy of closing their shops during the lunch hour. To some extent this policy attained the object which the societies had in view, but as soon as it was put into operation the Baking Society found their delivery difficulties increased, for their vans had to stand idle while the shops were closed. Representations on the subject were made to the various societies, which gave very favourable consideration in most cases, and the practice grew up of leaving one employee in each shop to take delivery of goods which arrived during the lunch hour.

Early in 1916 the societies gave tangible form to their recognition of the strenuous work which was being imposed on the directors by circumstances brought about by the war; this tangible recognition taking the form of an all-round increase in salaries and allowances for committee work.

Yet strenuous as had been their work during those first two years of the war, and great as had been their difficulties, the two years on which they were about to enter were to provide even more strenuous work and to produce difficulties which were so great as to prove almost insurmountable. They were to provide conditions of bread baking which were to change loaf bread from being one of the most palatable forms of food into for the time being one of the most detestable and detested.

While the Congress was meeting at Leicester in 1915, the news arrived that Mr Duncan M‘Culloch, who had done so much to build up the Baking Society, had passed away, and fitting reference was made to his decease at the quarterly meeting in June, and also at the annual meeting with the representatives of the Irish societies in July. His death removed a man to whom the shareholders of the Baking Society, and particularly the shareholders in Ireland, owed much, and many were the expressions of regret when the news became generally known.