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.