CHAPTER IX.. M‘neil Street: Rapid Developments.

M‘NEIL STREET: RAPID DEVELOPMENTS.

A BISCUIT FACTORY—FURTHER EXTENSIONS—THE U.C.B.S. AND THE S.C.W.S.—AN ACCIDENT—RESIGNATION OF FOREMAN BAKER—CO-OPERATIVE FAILURES—THE MANAGER RESIGNS—FIRST GLASGOW BOYCOTT—A NEW PRESIDENT—MAJORITY CELEBRATIONS—THE DINNER—STILL MORE EXTENSIONS—THE INFLUENCE OF CONGRESS—EXTENSIONS AGAIN—ST JAMES STREET PREMISES SOLD—NEW BUILDING COLLAPSES—MORE BUILDING—BUILDING DEPARTMENT STARTED.

The Baking Society had now entered on a period of extraordinary development. Department was added to department and extension followed extension with marvellous rapidity. It seemed, indeed, as if the spirit of Co-operation had only been waiting for a suitable habitation in order to show the great things of which it was capable. In the six years—1888–1894—the output of the Society rose from 466 sacks per week to 1,254, and the number of departments in the bakery from two to seven, while tearooms had been opened, a purveying department was being carried on, and a workshops and trades department was in operation. The sales for the 77th quarter were £12,438; by the end of the year they were £16,490, and by the 88th, which, however, was a fourteen week quarter, they were £27,210. The trade had more than doubled in three years. In the same period the membership, which had been thirty-six societies at the end of the 77th quarter, had grown to forty-six at the end of the 88th.

Before the Society had been six months installed in M‘Neil Street the committee were beginning to have visions of congestion such as they had experienced in St James Street, unless they took time by the forelock and made arrangements which would enable them to grapple with their ever-increasing trade before it again overwhelmed them. The first business they decided to tackle was that of erecting a biscuit factory, where they could produce fancy biscuits of all kinds. Hitherto they had been getting such biscuits as they were able to sell from a firm of manufacturers in the city, and were having them invoiced through the S.C.W.S. Investigation showed that this mode of procedure was one which was not profitable to the Society, but, at the time when the investigation was made, the directors were not in a position to do anything; and when they secured the ground on which to build their new factory the congestion in their bread department made instant provision for that department the premier necessity. But now that they had the bread difficulty settled for a short time they turned their attention to the question of biscuits. Provision had been made in the new building for a travelling oven, but its installation had been held over while the more important work was being carried out. Early in 1888, however, it was decided to purchase a biscuit cutting machine, and one similar to the working model which was being shown in Glasgow Exhibition was ordered, at a cost of £258. They did not act without caution, however, for before the machine was purchased they wrote to the manager of Crumpsall bakery for his opinion of the biscuit machines made by the firm from which they proposed to purchase. With the object of ensuring that everything possible would be done to promote the sale of the biscuits when they were made, the committee also approached the directors of the Wholesale Society as to the likelihood of that federation becoming agent for the U.C.B.S. in the biscuit trade. They were informed that the Wholesale Society viewed the proposal favourably, and were likely to adopt it when the occasion arose. The societies were all circularised with the view of ascertaining what was the aggregate trade in biscuits which might be expected.

FURTHER EXTENSIONS.

Hitherto the committee had only the erection of a biscuit factory in mind, and plans for that building had been prepared, and in January of 1889 were considered by them. By February, however, they came to the decision that a biscuit factory was not enough. The trade now exceeded 600 sacks per week, an increase of 200 sacks inside the year, and they were of opinion that further extensions were necessary to meet the growing demand for bread. They therefore asked the quarterly meeting for permission to spend between £3,000 and £4,000 on the erection of a new wing to the bakery. This power was granted readily.

They were now ready to proceed, but they had learned something from their experience while the first portion of M‘Neil Street premises was being erected, so they decided to consult with the architect as to whether it would be advisable to put the whole of the work in connection with the erection of the building into the hands of one contractor, so as to get a time limit inserted in the contract. The architect, however, was not in favour of placing all the work in the hands of one contractor. The firm of masons who had built the earlier section were again successful in obtaining the contract for the building work. The contracts for the whole of the building work were fixed for a total sum of £5,532. A few weeks later a contract was fixed up for the erection of a travelling biscuit oven, at a cost of £200.

The new building when completed added very considerably to the Society’s productive power. It contained on the first flat the pastry bakehouse with four ovens; on the second flat the fancy biscuit department with one travelling oven and four ordinary ovens; the third flat was devoted to the operations of the biscuit and pastry packing workers; while on the fourth flat was the new oatcake bakery. The whole of the new wing was finished and ready to start operations at the beginning of April 1890, and not before it was required, for the average output had grown by then to 715 sacks per week, fifteen sacks more than the first building in M‘Neil Street had been erected to produce.

THE U.C.B.S. AND THE S.C.W.S.

At the end of 1888 the Wholesale Society had become members of the Baking Society, and had taken out 240 shares. This was done, doubtless, in view of the fact that the Wholesale Society had consented to act as agents for the Baking Society’s biscuits. On the other hand, the trade which was being done in flour with the Wholesale Society was far from satisfactory, and at a meeting of the Baking Society’s committee, which took place in February of 1889, attention was called by the sub-committee to the fact that, of over 2,000 sacks of flour which had been purchased during the month, only 300 sacks had been bought from the Wholesale Society. It was agreed to call the attention of the Wholesale directors to this fact, and to state that the trade was going past them because their price was higher than the same flour was being purchased at elsewhere. As a result of this letter, the Wholesale Society appointed a deputation to meet with a deputation of the directors of the Baking Society for the purpose of considering the trading relations between the two societies. Exactly what the result of the meeting was, however, is not shown in the minutes; all that these contain being the statement that Mr M‘Culloch gave a very full report of what had taken place. From the frequency with which this subject had been cropping up in recent years, however, it was evident that there was something wrong somewhere. At this late date it is not possible to do more than guess at the reasons why the Wholesale Society was not in a position to compete, but it was probably owing to the fact that the Baking Society was now so large a purchaser of flour that it was able to buy from the millers on as good terms as the Wholesale Society itself could do.

AN ACCIDENT.

Notwithstanding the large number of vehicles which the Society had on the road, it had been wonderfully free from accidents of a serious nature. Hitherto the killing of the Tramway Company’s horse had been the most serious, and the results of that accident had been serious, not so much because of the accident itself, as because of the litigation which followed. Early in 1889, however, an accident occurred on the Albert Bridge, which although, fortunately, not so serious as it might have been, yet served to impress on the vanmen in the service of the Society the necessity for caution when driving through the streets of the city. Two men were run down on the bridge by one of the Society’s vans and injured, and the vanman was arrested and fined. The Society agreed to pay the fine, and also settled with the injured men for £10, but the vanman was dismissed from the service of the Society.

About this time a petition was again received from the vanmen with reference to holidays and Sunday labour. The men wished the three days’ holidays which they were allowed increased to six days, while they also wished payment for attending to the horses on Sundays. The committee could not see their way to make any further concession of holidays, but they agreed that men who had to spend a full day in the stable on Sundays should receive a day’s pay. This was probably the first occasion in Glasgow on which it was recognised that wages paid to vanmen and carters were for a six-day week, and that work on the seventh day should be paid for. In this matter as in so many others the Baking Society were pioneers, and it was not until more than twenty years had passed that the trade union was able to enforce all over the city the rule that Sunday work in the stables should be paid for.

RESIGNATION OF FOREMAN BAKER.

At the end of the 79th quarter Mr Lang, who had been foreman baker with the Society during all the time they had been in St James Street, resigned his situation, and a Mr Marshall was appointed. Mr Marshall came to the Society with excellent testimonials, but, somehow or other, after his appointment the number of complaints with regard to the quality of the bread increased steadily, and at times came in from a dozen societies at once. He was interviewed repeatedly by the committee and the necessity of maintaining a high standard in bread was impressed on him, but little improvement took place. At length it was discovered by the sub-committee that he was absent from work without leave, and he was suspended by them, and at the next meeting of the full committee was dismissed, and Mr Robert Fraser was appointed. From Mr Fraser’s appointment complaints became much less frequent.

There were districts where Co-operation was not yet firmly established, and through the policy of the directors, which made for helping societies wherever possible, small sums were still being lost occasionally. The next society to close its doors was Clippens. For some time it had been in low water, and as the Federation was finding it impossible to obtain payment the supply of bread was stopped. The committee of the Renfrewshire Co-operative Conference Association undertook, however, to try and get that association to become security for payment, and supplies were again granted, but only for a short time as, when the matter came before the Conference, the delegates refused to accept any responsibility. It was then arranged that payment should be made for the bread on delivery, and that payments should be made periodically for the purpose of reducing the debt of the society. In a very short time this arrangement also was departed from, and the society shortly afterwards collapsed, the assets only paying ½ per £ of the debts owing. There were other societies which were not paying their accounts regularly, and on several occasions these were written to and requested to make prompt payments. About this time, also, Cessnock Society went into liquidation, but were able to pay about twenty shillings in the pound.

RESIGNATION OF MANAGER.

Mr David Smith had been manager of the Society from the time when Mr Robert Craig resigned, in the summer of 1875; while prior to that time he had acted as secretary, and he had been a member of the committee from the first year of the Society’s existence, having been the representative of St Rollox Society. He had thus an unbroken acquaintance with the work of the Society as member of committee, secretary, and manager for almost twenty years; but the time had now arrived when he decided to sever his connection, and so, in October 1889, he intimated to the committee that he was resigning in order to commence business for himself. His resignation was accepted, and at the same meeting a special sub-committee was appointed to make inquiries from the heads of the various departments with the object of ascertaining whether it was possible to carry on the business without a general manager. The result of this inquiry was that the committee decided to rearrange the methods of business by giving each departmental manager full control of his department under the committee, thus obviating the necessity of appointing a general manager in the meantime. Instead of a general manager it was decided to appoint a cashier and accountant who should have full control of the office, and Mr James H. Forsyth, from the accountancy department of the Wholesale Society, was appointed.

THE FIRST GLASGOW BOYCOTT.

It was in the later years of the ’Eighties that the first Glasgow boycott took place, and it struggled on spasmodically for several years. It had very little evil effect on the progress of the Co-operative movement, but here and there it served to teach the members and directors of societies a much-needed lesson as to the value of Co-operative federal institutions. Particularly was this the case with one society mentioned in the last chapter as receiving exceptional conditions from private bakers. As a result of the boycott two out of the three baking firms which had been supplying the society with bread refused to do so any longer, with the result that the directors had to appeal to the Federation to come to their rescue. This the directors of the Federation were quite ready to do, and so the society joined the Federation and had bread delivered to its members at a cost of 1/3 per hour, instead of getting it delivered free and being relieved from responsibility for bad debts, which were the terms given by the firms which had failed it when the strain came. Another society which was suffering through the application of the boycott by the bakers who supplied it was High Blantyre, which also appealed for assistance, and shortly afterwards became a member of the Federation. The membership of the city societies was also growing very rapidly, and this growth was being reflected in the sales of the Federation, which showed a progressive increase every quarter. At the beginning of the 78th quarter the number of societies affiliated was thirty-six; when the coming-of-age celebrations took place two years later the membership had increased to forty-two societies notwithstanding that Clippens and Cessnock societies had ceased to exist.

A NEW PRESIDENT.

Another important change which took place at the end of 1889 was the retiral from the presidency of Mr John Ferguson and the appointment of Mr Duncan M‘Culloch in his place. This change marked the beginning of a period of unexampled expansion in the growth of the Society. Just about this time, also, the Federation was asked to supply Dumbarton Society with bread while that society’s own bakery was being rebuilt. The Federation at the end of this year was making a big bid for the trade of the societies in cakes and buns for the New Year trade. They had embarked on this trade on a small scale some time earlier, but the business done for the season 1889–1890 was important enough to find a place in the minutes as being 25 per cent. greater than that of the previous year.

MAJORITY CELEBRATIONS.

Early in February 1890, when the new buildings were approaching completion, it was decided that the opening of these for trade should also be taken advantage of to celebrate the coming of age of the Society, and somewhat elaborate provision was made to have a function which would advertise the business of the Society. It was agreed that five tickets should be sent to every society doing a trade of £250, ten tickets to those societies whose trade was between £250 and £500, and fifteen tickets to societies whose trade was over £500. At a later meeting it was agreed that one bottle of beer be supplied to each guest attending the celebration.

The celebration of the majority of the Society, combined as it was with the opening of the new wing of the bakery premises, was a notable demonstration of the progress of Co-operation. The opening ceremony was on a grand scale, as in addition to the large number of delegates who had been invited there were also present a number of visitors, including some from England. Mr M‘Culloch presided, and the opening ceremony was performed by Mr Glasse, secretary of the Society, declaring the premises open in a brilliant speech in which he traced the history of the Federation from its earliest days, and commented on the wonderful progress it had made. The occasion, he said, was one of which the Co-operators of the West of Scotland should be proud. They were met in buildings which were magnificent, and which were a fine example of what might be done by working men. He reminded his audience that only three years had elapsed since they had met at the same place to open the original buildings. At that time the committee did not think that an extension would be required so soon; the only difficulty they had anticipated being that of finding sufficient trade to keep the bakery fully occupied. That difficulty was soon overcome, however, and the trade had increased so rapidly that they were forced to proceed with the buildings they were met to open that day. How necessary the new buildings were he illustrated by pointing out that while M‘Neil Street original bakery had been erected to do a trade of 700 sacks per week, the quarter which would end on the 27th April would show, he anticipated, an average output of 715 sacks per week. When they had started in St James Street it took fourteen years to work up to their full capacity of 400 sacks per week, but now they had increased their trade by over 300 sacks a week in rather less than three years. He hoped that the biscuit factory which they were opening that day would prove as great a success as the bread baking factory had done, and that many societies outside the Federation’s radius for bread would avail themselves of its products. The United Co-operative Baking Society was one of the grandest examples of Co-operation which they had in the country, and it was fast becoming one of the largest producers of bread in the West of Scotland. He referred to the conditions under which the baking trade was carried on in the small bakeries, quoting the Lancet as having stated that many of the workmen had to work under conditions that were abominable, and he invited those present to walk through the bakery and see that everything there was clean and sweet. He pointed out that, of the 140 bakeries in Glasgow, three did as much trade as the whole of the remainder. It was gratifying, he continued, that during the whole twenty-one years of its existence the Baking Society had not had a single dispute with its employees. They had always paid the best wages and employed the best hands. Besides the usual discount, also, the Society had paid £34,170 as dividend on purchases, and that fact in itself spoke for the value of the Federation.

Mr Glasse then, by pulling a lever, set the machinery in motion and declared the premises open.

THE DINNER.

Mr M‘Culloch presided also at the dinner, at which more than 400 guests were present, including Mr Ben Jones. In his address of welcome the chairman asked the delegates to project their minds into the future and ask themselves what would be the magnitude of that branch of the Society’s business which they were starting that day when they met to celebrate the coming of age of the biscuit factory twenty-one years hence. He also referred to the fact that all the presidents of the Society but one were present with them.

Speeches were delivered by Messrs J. Lochhead, Ben Jones, William Revie, Gabriel Thomson, Donald Cameron (two ex-presidents), Mr Glasse, Mr J. Ferguson, Mr J. M‘Murran, Mr William Barclay (another ex-president), and Mr Malcolm Neil. Mr Jones described London, from which he had come, as “a Co-operative desert,” while, in proposing “Retail Co-operation,” Mr Glasse said that in the Second City of the Empire retail Co-operators were nearly as bad as they were in the first, although during the past five years some headway had been made in the city.

STILL MORE EXTENSIONS.

The year 1890 was the year in which the Co-operative Congress was last held in Glasgow. There had been an earlier Congress held in the city—in 1876—but it passed without much note being taken of it, and seemingly without having had much influence save on those who were in close touch with it. It was different with the Congress of 1890, however. It gave an impetus to Co-operation in the city which was felt by every society, and the effects of which have not died out even yet. It was like that first strong push which overcomes the inertia of a snowball at the top of a steep slope, and sends it rolling down hill, ever increasing in speed and in size as it rolls on. To some extent the ground had been prepared for the Congress by the Wholesale Society in its erection of the buildings at Shieldhall; an evidence of the life of Co-operation in the city which could not fail to appeal to the imaginations of a commercial people like the Glaswegians; and by the opening of the new bakery at M‘Neil Street, and the big Co-operative demonstration which accompanied that opening. Shieldhall and M‘Neil Street might be likened to the gentle rain which watered the feeble plant of Co-operation in the city, and the 1890 Congress to the sun, the warmth of whose rays caused it to blossom and grow strong.

Co-operation made itself manifest in various ways during Congress week. The Bakery was thronged with visitors; flags floated gaily from the tops of the buildings, and a grand Co-operative procession took place through the city, during which the lifeboat “Co-operator” was launched on the Clyde. The directors of the Baking Society were not slow to take advantage of all this enthusiasm for Co-operation. They took a stall at the Congress Exhibition of Co-operative productions, and attracted much attention by the high quality of the goods shown. The result was that the trade of the new biscuit department received a send off it might not otherwise have secured. Many orders were booked during the Exhibition week, and others came flowing in for weeks afterwards.

At the 85th quarterly meeting, held just at the close of Congress, the chairman made the new biscuit factory the text of his opening remarks to the delegates, pointing out the facilities which the Society now enjoyed for carrying on this trade, and impressing on them the desirability of fostering it in the societies by every means in their power. The result was that the trade developed at a rapid rate. At first the committee had been in doubt as to whether sufficient trade could be secured to keep the one travelling oven which they had erected fully employed, but almost from the start these doubts were resolved. Another source of gratification was to be found in the fact that the societies were well pleased with the quality of the biscuits which were being made, and that a fair return was being secured on the trade done. Arrangements had been made with the Wholesale Society at the beginning of the new department, whereby that society became agents for biscuits, but some misunderstanding seems to have arisen, for towards the end of the year the society wrote to the Baking Society’s committee, complaining that the terms of the agreement between the two societies with regard to the biscuit agency were not being adhered to. This led to meetings between the two boards, as a result of which all the difficulties were removed, and an immediate increase in the trade in biscuits amongst the societies in Scotland followed.

STILL FURTHER EXTENSIONS.

The bread trade of the Society also continued to increase at an extraordinary rate. So much so that, by the beginning of 1891, nine months after the opening of the last addition to the bakery, the trade was within fourteen sacks of the full output capacity of 1,000 sacks per week. The directors saw that some steps must be taken at once to increase baking capacity, and applied to the quarterly meeting for power to take over or to sell St James Street property, and at the same time for power to acquire land for the purpose of extending the bakery. Power in both directions was granted, although a director of the Wholesale Society, acting, he stated, on the authority of his board, moved that power be not granted. Evidently, however, this gentleman had misunderstood the attitude of the Wholesale Society’s directors, for subsequently a letter was received from the secretary of that federation, in which it was stated that they had given no instructions to oppose the extension of the Baking Society’s premises, and that, in fact, they were in favour of this course being taken.

St James Street premises were offered for sale at £3,960, and again at £3,600, but there were no offerers. Ultimately, however, they were disposed of for £3,100.

The intention of the committee was to purchase the block of ground adjoining the bakery at the corner of Govan Street and South York Street, but as they considered that the price which was being asked was too great, it was decided to proceed with the erection of an addition at the north end of the present property in M‘Neil Street. The plans of the extension, when completed, showed provision for twenty-seven ovens additional, which would allow a trade of 1,650 sacks per week to be done. At the same time, steps were taken to add another flat to the stables, and to remove the office to the first flat of the biscuit factory.

NEW BUILDING COLLAPSES.

Satisfactory progress was being made with the new building and the addition had been nearly completed when a disaster occurred which caused much of the work to be done over again. One of the tie-rods in the north portion of the building broke, with the result that the whole arch gave way, falling through the two floors beneath and carrying them with it, as well as the first and second floors in the southern section of the building. The result was that a large portion of the walls had to be taken down and rebuilt, the cost of the damage being at least £1,000, in addition to the delay occasioned. Investigations into the cause of the collapse did not result in any definite cause being discovered, although the engineers who made the investigation reported several points which, in combination, were likely to have been responsible. This collapse had occurred in August, but so expeditious were the builders that by the beginning of December the Society was getting the use of five ovens, and by the beginning of March 1893 the whole of the addition was ready for occupancy.

MORE BUILDING.

At the same time another addition, which included duplicating the stable accommodation and carrying both sections a storey higher, was being carried out. By this time also, new ground had been secured in South York Street, and it was decided to utilise the buildings there for a new biscuit factory, in which one double travelling oven and six hand ovens would be built. It was also agreed to put in a hoist into the building, so as to enable it to be used for packing and storage purposes.

It is worthy of note, in connection with the alteration of the old building to make it suitable for a biscuit factory, that it was decided to have the work done by means of labour employed directly by the Society. This decision marks the inception of the building department of the Society, a department which has since then carried out some of the most important work done by the Society. The block of land, which had been the most recent purchase, and which cost £8,500, made the Society the owner of the whole of the M‘Neil Street-South York Street block, and gave space for expansion which has only been completely utilised in comparatively recent years.

The most recent addition to the Society’s premises was not completed any too soon. The membership by this time consisted of 51 societies, although several of these, including the Paisley and Johnstone societies, were customers for biscuits only. The trade being done amounted to over 1,200 sacks per week, or 15,700 a quarter, while about 450 sacks were being turned into biscuits in the quarter, and over 360 sacks of oatmeal into oatcakes. The progress which was being made in those two departments was remarkably rapid, and must have been most encouraging to the directors, and the general progress made showed that only a very short time was likely to elapse ere still another extension would be called for.