THE DAWN OF CO-OPERATION.
CO-OPERATION IN PREHISTORIC TIMES—EARLY TEUTONIC CO-OPERATION—THE
SCOTTISH CLAN SYSTEM—THE PRESENT CO-OPERATIVE SYSTEM—FENWICK AND
OTHER CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES—EARLY CO-OPERATIVE BAKERIES—THE
GLASGOW BAKING SOCIETIES—EARLY METHODS OF CONTROLLING
PRICES—STIRLINGSHIRE AND THE HILLFOOTS—BAKING SOCIETIES IN FIFE
AND THE NORTH—CO-OPERATIVE BAKING IN THE BORDERLAND—GLASGOW
SOCIETY—CO-OPERATIVE BAKING IN 1866—THE FIRST FEDERATED BAKERY.
The Co-operative principle is as old as human intelligence. As soon as
man became possessed of the first faint glimmerings of reason he began
to seek communion with his fellows, and began, also, to take concerted
action with them for mutual protection. It was natural that this should
be so. The world must have been a terrible place for the human race in
those early days. On land, in the sea, and in the air it was peopled
with monsters, against whose attacks the unaided strength and skill of a
solitary human were of no avail. Only by combination could he hope to
survive. Results have proven that combination—Co-operation—is the law of
life; that the men, the animals, the insects even which have learned to
combine, have progressed in the scale of evolution; while the solitary
monsters of past ages have disappeared, and are known only from a bone
found here and a partially complete skeleton there.
That the human race gathered together in communities very early in its
history there is abundance of evidence. In some of our cliffs there are
caves which bear traces of human habitation; while scattered here and
there over the world are immense mounds of shells, extending sometimes
to a depth of many feet and acres in width, on what is believed to have
been the seashore of prehistoric times, which show that, for a long
period, these places were frequented by communities.
This community living has continued all down the ages. The “commune”
system in vogue amongst the Teutonic races was an imperfect system of
Co-operative farming by an agricultural community, which finally ceased
in Germany during the nineteenth century. It was introduced into this
country by the invading Teuton races in the early centuries of the
Christian era; and, with various modifications and adaptations, was
still in being at the time of the Norman conquest. From that date it
gradually declined, until, by the end of the sixteenth century, it had
all but died out in England, but was still alive in parts of Scotland in
the clan system. There the old community spirit continued to prevail
until after the rebellion of 1745, when the common lands of the clans
were given to the chiefs. In the lowlands, also, some trace of this
principle continued to be visible amongst the farming community.
CO-OPERATION AS WE KNOW IT.
When or where Co-operation, in the sense in which the word is used
to-day, first came into being there is no means of knowing. Mr Maxwell,
in his “History of Co-operation in Scotland,” tells the story of the old
society originated by the weavers of Fenwick one hundred and fifty years
ago, before Robert Owen was born; but, although this is the oldest
Co-operative society of which any record remains, it by no means follows
that others did not exist even earlier. Indeed, Mr Maxwell himself
mentions that traditions of other old societies exist in various parts
of the country. Of these, no records remain. It is only ten years since
there vanished from the ken of the people of Govan a society which kept
proudly painted over its door a record of the fact that it was
established in 1777—eight years later than Fenwick. There still exists
in Glasgow a society which dates back to the first year of the
nineteenth century, and the Lennoxtown Society celebrated its centenary
seven years ago. All over Scotland there exist societies which are
nearing a century of life, and Mr Maxwell has rescued from oblivion the
names, and sometimes part of the records, of others which long ago
disappeared.
In their practice these old-time societies differed in material points
from the practice which takes its name from the Lancashire weaving town
where it originated—Rochdale—but the spirit which inspired those
pioneers and the broad principles of self-help in Co-operation under
which they worked, are the spirit and principles of the Co-operators of
to-day. They were, in fact, the spirit and principles which combine to
make progress possible, and in the absence of which come stagnation and
decay.
CO-OPERATIVE BAKERIES.
Like the inception of Co-operation itself, the beginnings of baking
Co-operatively are lost in the misty past. Where the first Co-operative
bakery was started, or when, there is no means of knowing.
Research has shown that, in the early years of last century, bread was
being produced and distributed by Co-operative bakeries in Glasgow, but
how many in number these bakeries were, where exactly they were
situated, or what turnover they had it is not possible to discover;
indeed, it is probable that we should never have known of their
existence, except as a tradition, had it not been for the fact that a
Glasgow writer, who published in 1816 a book in two volumes dealing with
the affairs of Glasgow, thought it necessary to defend the private
bakers of the city at that time against any possible accusation of
overcharging for bread, by describing the methods which were adopted by
the Co-operative societies, and emphasising the fact that they sold
bread at the cost of production, and only to their own members.
This Glasgow author, Mr Cleland by name, had been describing the means
which had been taken by the Governments of George II. and George III. to
regulate the price of bread in accordance with price of wheat. His
description is very interesting, if only for the fact that it shows that
steps had to be taken to regulate the exactions of the profiteer, even
in those early days. It shows, also, that the methods of our various
“Controllers,” “Food Committees,” etc., are not new, but are very much
along the same lines as those devised to keep down the price of bread a
century and a half ago. The price of bread was regulated in accordance
with the price of wheat, and the baker was allowed a fixed sum per sack
of flour for his expenses of baking and distributing.
In the various cities and towns the application of this Act was in the
hands of the magistrates; and, in Glasgow, bread prices were fixed at
various intervals until 1800, when it was decided at the last Bread
Court held to cease the practice, as, in the opinion of the magistrates,
such a course was unnecessary; but the weight of loaves continued to be
standardised at 4 lbs. 5 oz. 8 drams for the quartern loaf, and 2 lbs. 2
oz. 12 drams for the half-quartern loaf. In view of the price of bread
to-day, it is interesting to note that the price of the half-quartern
loaf was fixed by the last Glasgow Assize, held in 1800, at 10d. for
fine wheaten bread and 7½d. for household bread, which was evidently of
a much coarser and poorer quality.
Some of the Bread Assize regulations were peculiar. For instance, the
baker had to produce eighty loaves from the sack of flour, and sell
these eighty loaves at the exact price which they cost him, in
accordance with the cost of flour. “As, however,” says Mr Cleland, “they
usually were able to get two loaves more from the sack, and these two
loaves were clear profit, the price at which they were sold was a
consideration.” At the beginning of the nineteenth century the expenses
per sack allowed to the bakers were 14/, but by 1816 this sum had been
increased to 16/9.
It was within the right of any two bakers to call the attention of the
magistrates to the fact that the price of bread or flour had risen or
fallen, and to offer proof. When this was done the magistrates or
Justices of the Peace were obliged to take evidence as to the current
prices, and, if they found any variation from the last price fixed,
“they shall immediately set a new price, which shall remain unaltered
until a new Assize has been held.” One wonders whether the magistrates
of those days were as difficult to convince that any alteration was
necessary as have been the Food Control officials during the last year
of the war.
“In 1801 no Assize was held, and it was left to the bakers to sell bread
at such price as they could afford.” It is probable that in the results
of this decision the reason for the starting of Co-operative societies
is to be found, for human nature and the practices of the times being
what they were, we may be sure that the bakers saw to it that, however
much their profits might increase, they did not go down at all.
Mr Cleland goes on to say:—
“During the last fifteen years, when no Assize has been fixed in
Glasgow, the bakers have uniformly proportioned the price of bread
to the price of wheat, similarly to what it would have been had the
Assize been sitting. There are instances, however, of individual
bakers selling their bread somewhat lower than the general run of
the trade; and baking societies have been established in the suburbs
who uniformly sell their bread one penny, twopence, and sometimes
even threepence on the quartern loaf lower than the bakers’ price.
These societies do not sell their bread to anyone but their own
members; they give no credit and receive neither profit from the
concern nor interest on their capital; besides, the members are
subjected to the risk of loss incident to the breach of trust in
their servants. The greater part of these societies make no
household or coarse bread, and no loaf less than quartern; by which
arrangement it is evident the lower classes are excluded, as they
neither can advance their share of capital nor at all times purchase
a quartern loaf. Moreover, the bakeries belonging to these societies
being all situated outside the royalty, the flour is exempt from
‘multures,’ a tax to which the flour baked within the royalty is
subject, amounting to one eighty-fourth of the whole. As the Assize
laws wisely determined (for the sake of the lower classes of the
people) that bread shall be baked from a peck loaf down to a
quarter-quartern loaf, in exact proportion, and that the twopenny
and penny loaves shall be of a weight exactly corresponding to the
price of the quartern loaf, it is evident that the person who
manufactured the small and the coarse bread, from which the
labouring classes of the community are generally supplied, all
bearing the same proportion to the wheaten quartern loaf, cannot
sell so cheap as the societies; among other reasons because the
additional labour is very considerable, and in weighing out the
aliquot parts, unless some allowance is made in the dough, the small
bread will be deficient in weight when it comes out of the oven;
besides, the regular baker must support his family, pay his
business, and pay local taxes; he has also to run the risk attending
credit, and frequently to give one penny to the shilling discount to
chandlers who retail his bread.”
The above is the sum of our knowledge of these early Glasgow baking
societies, but the fact that they were able to sell their bread a penny
to threepence per quartern loaf below the prices charged by the private
bakers, at a time when the quartern loaf cost 1/8 and 1/3, is
significant. It meant that the baker was getting from 6/8 to 20/ per
sack of flour over the cost of production of the societies, and that,
therefore, the cost to the consumer was extortionate. Doubtless, also,
the conditions which led to the formation of Co-operative societies in
Glasgow prevailed elsewhere, and it is quite likely that baking
societies existed at that early date in other parts of Scotland, had
their day, and passed out of existence without a trace remaining. Even
of those of the existence of which we do know particulars are absent; in
most cases the name alone remains, and often not even that but only a
tradition.
STIRLINGSHIRE AND HILLFOOTS SOCIETIES.
Early in the nineteenth century Co-operation found a home in
Stirlingshire. In the thirtieth year of the century the Bannockburn
Co-operative Society came into being as the result of a lecture on
“Co-operation,” which was given by Mr William Buchanan, a resident
medical man. So impressed were members of his audience with what they
had heard that a committee was formed immediately to draft rules and
take the steps necessary for the formation of a society. The rules were
agreed to at a meeting which was held on 27th November 1830. Bannockburn
Society still exists and flourishes to-day, after an unbroken career of
eighty-nine years.
About the same time—it may have been earlier or a little later, for no
information about its beginning can be found—a baking society was formed
in Bannockburn, and continued to flourish for a number of years. Of the
fact that the members of the other Bannockburn Society were interested
in the doings of the baking society evidence is given in a minute of
that society in the early ’thirties, in which it is noted that the
baking society had agreed to supply Alva Society with bread.
Incidentally, this entry would seem to fix a period at which the Alva
Baking Society was not in existence. The Bannockburn Baking Society was
amalgamated with the Bannockburn Society in 1846.
In the year 1847 one of the most flourishing baking societies in the
country came into existence, for on the 23rd June in that year the
Bainsford and Grahamston Baking Society was formed. Notwithstanding that
general societies have grown up all round the town of Falkirk, this
society continues to maintain a separate and flourishing existence, its
latest balance-sheet showing a membership of 4,733 and an average output
of 371 sacks per week.
Other baking societies were formed in the same district. Quite recently
one of these, Stenhousemuir Baking Society, was amalgamated with the
Stenhousemuir Equitable Society, after a separate existence of many
years. Another baking society was situated in the little village of
Carronshore. In the Hillfoots district some time in the late ’forties
baking societies came into existence at Alva and Tillicoultry. The
baking society at Tillicoultry amalgamated with the Tillicoultry Society
in 1905, and the Alva Society with the Alva Bazaar Society a few years
later.
BAKING SOCIETIES IN FIFE AND THE NORTH.
In Fifeshire, also, baking societies were coming into being; indeed, the
earliest baking society whose name is known was formed at Leven in 1828.
In 1840 Kingskettle Baking Society was formed, and it remains strong and
vigorous to-day. It is one of the few of these early baking societies
about which it is possible to give a little information. The society was
only a small affair at the beginning; indeed it is not very large even
to-day; but what it lacked in size it made up for in vigour, and since
its formation it has never looked back. It is recorded that in its early
days the bread was delivered by the aid of a donkey cart; to-day the
society has several vans on the road and supplies a population of
several thousands with bread.
Somewhat earlier than the formation of the society in Kingskettle a
baking society was formed in the village of Leslie, situated a few miles
from Kirkcaldy. The reason for its formation was the same as that
responsible for the formation of others in these early days—small wages
and the extortionate charges for their bread made by the local bakers.
The success which attended the baking venture led in 1840 to the
formation of a general society. In later years this society split over
the question of adopting the Rochdale system of disposing of the
surpluses, and a new society was formed which continues strong and
vigorous; and with this new society the baking society finally
amalgamated. Later still a society was formed in Dunfermline, which in
1866 showed a surplus on working of £493.
Meantime Co-operation was going ahead in the North. Societies had been
formed in Kirriemuir, Brechin, Arbroath, and Forfar, and very early in
its history Kirriemuir took up the baking of bread. Arbroath West Port
Association began the baking of bread in 1846, while in the year
immediately preceding—1845—Arbroath Guthrie Port Association, in
altering their rules, placed first in the list of the objects of the
society “to make bread and to deal in bread,” so that it is evident that
the society was then baking or had baking in contemplation. This is the
society which is now known by the name of Arbroath Equitable Society.
BAKING IN THE BORDERLAND.
Co-operation does not seem to have found a footing in the South quite as
early as it did in the North and West, but the Borderers were not far
behind, and they have proved that having once started they believed in
perseverance. It was in 1839 that Galashiels Store Company was formed,
and the question of bread supply was soon under consideration. In its
earliest years the society seems to have had considerable difficulty in
getting a satisfactory supply of bread, with the result that by 1844
they had established a bakery of their own. An interesting fact which is
related by Mr Maxwell in his “History of Scotland” is that they applied
for information about baking to two societies, long disappeared, Coupar
Angus and Alyth. Probably some one connected with the society was a
native of Forfarshire, and, knowing that these societies had bakeries,
suggested that information be got from them. The number of these efforts
to cheapen the staff of life must have been very great, for references
to them keep cropping up in old newspapers and pamphlets, showing that
Co-operative activity, much of it inspired doubtless by the teachings of
Owen, was widespread in Scotland.
Hawick Store Company began a few months later than the Galashiels
venture, but it was not until 1851 that the members added baking to the
list of their enterprises.
GLASGOW SOCIETY.
Turning again to Glasgow, where the first Co-operative bakeries of which
there is any record were established, we find that many attempts had
been made in the interval to establish Co-operative trading on a firm
foundation, but in vain. How many of these early Co-operative failures
were due to the fact that the surpluses accruing from the trading
transactions were divided in proportion to the capital held, without any
regard being paid to the trade done with the society by the holders of
the capital, it is not possible to say, but the system was bound to have
a disturbing effect on the minds of those members who, although too poor
to invest much capital, were loyal purchasers from the store.
However that may be, after a lecture by Holyoake, a fresh attempt to
establish Co-operation in the city was made, and for a time the new
venture seemed to flourish, only to perish eventually like its
predecessors. What makes this society interesting at this point is that
of it is recorded the fact that it possessed “a modern baking
department,” and is said to have supplied the neighbouring societies
with bread. The society came to an end in 1865, and with it ended
Co-operative baking in the city for the time being. When next we hear of
it it is in a new, and as it turned out, a stabler and more permanent
form.
At this point it may be interesting to note some particulars of the
Co-operative baking societies in existence in Scotland in 1866, as taken
from the returns sent in to the Registrar of Friendly Societies in
Scotland. It is probable that the list is far from complete, and it
takes no account of the societies having bakeries of their own who dealt
in other goods as well. These societies were:—
Value of Property. Profits.
Airdrie Bread No property. £252
Alva Baking £l,184 331
Bainsford and Grahamston 1,484 788
Coatbridge Bread 857 466
Dalry Baking 20 50
Dunfermline Baking 116 493
Edinburgh Bread 422 271
Leven Baking 200 120
Roslin Baking — 82
Stenhousemuir Baking 782 350
A notable absentee from the above list is the name of Kingskettle Baking
Society.
THE FIRST FEDERATED BAKERY.
As it was in Ayrshire, in the little village of Fenwick, that, so far as
is known, the first Co-operative society was established, so also to
Ayrshire belongs the honour of having established the first federated
bakery. Co-operation in Fenwick had died in 1801 with the demise of the
old Meal Society, and it was not until 1840, when Darvel Industrial
Society was founded, that it again secured a footing in the land of
Burns. The society founded 79 years ago continues to flourish, but for
the first twenty years it had to flourish alone. Then, in 1860,
Kilmarnock Society was founded, and following it there came in quick
succession Crosshouse, Auchinleck, Mauchline, Galston, Newmilns, and
Catrine. In 1867 five of these societies—Kilmarnock, Crosshouse,
Galston, Mauchline, and Newmilns—combined to form a baking society,
while three other societies—Troon, Catrine, and Darvel—although not
members, took bread from the federation. In 1870 premises were built for
the federation, and the trade increased steadily. Gradually, however,
the more distant societies began to erect bakeries of their own, and in
the early ’nineties of last century the bakery was taken over by
Kilmarnock Society, who erected a new and up-to-date bakery for
themselves on the site of the old one.
[Illustration:
COBURG STREET PREMISES
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[Illustration:
ST JAMES STREET PREMISES
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[Illustration:
M‘NEIL STREET PREMISES (1886–1890)
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[Illustration:
M‘NEIL STREET PREMISES (1890–1894)
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