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.