BARRHEAD, JOHNSTONE, AND PAISLEY PROVIDENT WITHDRAW.
Meantime the Barrhead bakery was ready for work and baking was commenced in the last week of the year, but the society, although it had withdrawn a large proportion of the loan capital invested with the Baking Society in order to pay for the erection of its own bakery, retained membership of the Federation until requested by the committee to withdraw as the interest on the share capital was an unnecessary burden on the Federation’s funds. The society was allowed to withdraw without any of its capital being retained, being the first of the withdrawing societies to which this privilege was extended. In 1894, after fancy biscuit baking had been firmly established by the Baking Society, Barrhead Society rejoined again, taking up 1,500 shares.
Another withdrawal which occurred in a comparatively short time, and which was doubtless influenced to some extent by the refusal to establish a branch in the West, was that of Johnstone Society. At a meeting of the committee which took place on 15th February 1879, the minutes record a conversation which took place regarding a decision of that society, come to the previous evening, to start baking for themselves. The effect of the information that they were likely to lose Johnstone Society’s custom so soon after having lost that of Barrhead had a damping effect on the spirits of the committee, and it was decided that in the meantime the erection of the new ovens which they had proposed to build be not proceeded with. With the withdrawal of Paisley Provident Society at the end of 1880, consequent on having a bakery of their own ready for occupation, the controversy with respect to the branch, and also its effects on the welfare of the Federation, may be said to have ended.
The Federation had lost three of its best customers, but it had succeeded in keeping its business centralised. It must always remain a matter of argument whether it would have been better to branch out at an earlier date and do for the societies in Renfrewshire that which in later years it has done for Clydebank and the North of Ireland. The question of branches is still one on which there is considerable controversy, and, at any rate, it is certain that the committee, and latterly the delegates, played for safety, and chose to conserve the strength of the Federation at a time when all its strength was needed rather than weaken it by widening the scope of the society’s energies. The majority of the committee, it is quite evident, were opposed to branching out, for had this not been so, they would have gone ahead when two general meetings of the Society gave them the mandate.
It is difficult to see that any great harm was done by the course which was adopted. The growth of the three societies has been so great that each of them is large enough to maintain a bakery of its own, and although the Federation had one or two temporary setbacks, none of them was serious enough to affect its stability or its efficiency. It is possible, therefore, to argue that either decision would have had equally good results. There we may leave what was undoubtedly a stirring controversy while it lasted, the importance of which at the time forms sufficient justification for the space which has been devoted to it.
CHAPTER VI.
ST JAMES STREET: DEVELOPMENTS.
IMPROVED MANAGEMENT—PRIVATE LOANS—IRREGULARITY OF ORDERS AND OTHER DIFFICULTIES—A NEW FOREMAN BAKER—SHORT WEIGHT IN FLOUR—DELIVERY DIFFICULTIES CONTINUE—UNINFORMED CRITICISM—AN ECHO OF THE IRONWORKS FAILURE—NEW MEMBERS—AMENDING THE RULES—EXTENSIONS—MANAGER RESIGNS: SECRETARY APPOINTED—OAKMILL SOCIETY—APPEAL FOR FUNDS—TRADE AND FINANCIAL POSITION IMPROVING—ANDERSTON SOCIETY’S FAILURE—GOOD NEWS—MACHINERY INSTALLED—BECOMING RICH—TEN YEARS’ WORK.
In tracing the development of the agitation for and against the establishment of a branch bakery we have been running ahead of the calendar. A new cashier, who was virtually manager of the business, had been appointed in the last days of 1872, and during the next two and a half years he carried on the business with as much success as the conditions under which he was compelled to work permitted. In these two and a half years he inaugurated a system of private loans to the Federation for the purpose of increasing the working capital of the Society; the smallness of the capital having been until then the greatest difficulty under which the Federation laboured; and so successful was this venture that by April 1875 the Society was in a position to deposit £500 on loan with the S.C.W.S., while six months earlier he was in a position to recommend to the committee that the acceptance of private loans except from those who had already deposits with the Society, and from the employees, be discontinued; a recommendation which was put in force by the committee a month later.
In other ways, too, Mr Craig brought prosperity to the Federation. He found it in a position of peril. For a long time after his appointment he found himself in the position, meeting after meeting, of having to present to the committee accounts which had been incurred by his predecessor without being able to check them in any way. One of these, presented in 1874, had been incurred from 1870 to 1872, and the explanation offered by the contractor was that he thought the U.C.B.S. and the S.C.W.S. were all the same, and had kept the invoice back until the building was finished. Mr Craig was given the job of arranging on the best terms possible. For several years the difficulty already alluded to, that societies did not pay their accounts promptly, continued. This was particularly the case with two of the societies which were in very low water about this time, one of them eventually succumbing. There was also continuous difficulty about the maintenance of sales. Sometimes a society would take bread for a number of weeks or months, and then cease all at once without any reason being given. At other times there would be a series of complaints about the quality of the bread and the reluctance of members to purchase, and investigation showed that these complaints emanated from the shopman and had very little foundation in fact. In some cases the shopman was the society, the committee seeming to exercise little or no supervision; while in other cases there was, of course, genuine cause for complaint owing to bad or irregular deliveries or to barm going wrong with the baker. Such causes were not sufficient to account for the constant stream of complaints which were launched at the heads of the committee, however, and doubtless close investigation would have shown that many of them had their origin in a desire on the part of salesmen to do business with firms which made it worth their while. With the appointment of Mr Lang as foreman baker there was certainly a decrease in the number of complaints, and the sales improved.
A discussion which took place at a committee meeting in June 1873 showed that there was not only a dispute with Barrhead Society, a deputation having been sent to that society’s meeting and been refused admission to the meeting, but also that the Baking Society’s committee had not yet been placed on a satisfactory basis. The chairman stated at the committee meeting that his committee had only heard of the Barrhead meeting casually, and expressed the opinion that it was the duty of the member of the board from Barrhead Society to have informed the Bakery board of the fact that it was being held. On the other hand the Barrhead delegate said that he had forgotten all about it, and that in any case he had no authority from Barrhead committee to say anything on the matter. It would appear that a long discussion took place on the subject, and especially on the position of members of the Baking Society’s committee in relation to the work of that society, the opinion being freely expressed that to members of the board of the Baking Society the affairs of the Baking Society should be the first consideration. The subject was ultimately dropped, on the understanding that it was the duty of any member of the Baking Society’s committee to inform that board forthwith of anything which affected the interests of the Society.
About this time, also, some trouble was being experienced with one of the millers who were supplying them with flour. Several sacks of flour had been weighed by the manager, and each had been found to be short in weight to the extent of several pounds. The result was that the committee determined to purchase a “beam and scales” in order that the flour might be weighed as it came into the bakery, and meantime it was decided that at present no more flour be purchased from the defaulting miller. At the same time a claim was made against him for short weight. About this time, also, some difficulty arose with respect to the delivery of bread to Lennoxtown Society. For some time the committee had been of the opinion that they were losing money by delivering bread to this society, and several suggestions had been made as to the most economical means of delivery. No one of these seemed to find favour with the Lennoxtown people, however, and that committee ultimately decided to ask the Bakery board to supply them with bread by means of the van as usual, and, if necessary, to retain the dividend. The Bakery committee, however, after considering the matter, came to the conclusion that, apart from the principle, this method would not pay them, and decided to make no alteration. The secretary was instructed to reply to this effect, and also to state that the Bakery would stop supplying bread to Lennoxtown as soon as that society was able to make other arrangements.
At the quarterly meeting the attention of the delegates was called by the chairman to the cases of one or two societies in Glasgow which were members of the Federation, but which purchased little or no bread from the Society. At this meeting, also, attention was again called to the needs of the Federation for more capital. The work of Mr Craig in securing individual depositors had not yet begun to have any noticeable effect on the finances of the Society. At this time propaganda work was engaging the attention of the committee, and a conference of societies in and near Glasgow was held for the purpose of inducing them to become better customers of the Federation. At one of the meetings about this time the chairman suggested that another meeting place be got for their committee meetings, as the business was being overheard where they met at present. Societies were now beginning to join up more freely. Applications from some of the outlying societies were held up for consideration, but in November 1873 Kinning Park joined the Federation, taking up 100 shares, and a short time later London Road Society became a member.