It was towards the end of 1891 that the Society inaugurated that hospitality to other organisations for which it has since become so justly famous. The half-yearly meeting of the Scottish Convention of Co-operative Societies took place in Glasgow in September, and it was decided that the delegates should be shown over the bakery premises and afterwards entertained. Later in the same year an invitation was extended to the ladies of the Co-operative movement and the members of the women’s guild to visit the bakery and be entertained to tea. The meeting was a great success, over 400 ladies attending. About the same time photographs of the buildings and plant were taken, and lantern slides were prepared for exhibition purposes, a set being presented to the Central Board of the Union, while a set was retained. Two thousand show cards for distribution amongst the societies were also purchased, and it was decided to exhibit the Society’s biscuits again at the Congress Exhibition.
In order that the biscuit factory might be equipped on the most up-to-date lines possible, the chairman, secretary, and foreman baker were appointed a deputation to visit the C.W.S. biscuit factory at Crumpsall. On their return the chairman reported that much valuable information had been gained from the visit by both the foreman baker and himself.
The Society has ever been noted for its generosity to deserving causes, and it is not surprising, therefore, to find that when the delegates were called upon to choose between a donation of £200 and one of £100 to the funds of the Seaside Homes Association they decided on the larger sum. In order to interest the employees in the Bonus Investment Society, to establish which power had been granted by the delegates at the December quarterly meeting, the directors decided to have a social meeting with the employees, which took the form of a concert and assembly. At this meeting the benefits which they would derive from becoming members of the new society were eloquently portrayed by various speakers.
The oatcake trade was now becoming a feature of the Society’s work, and four hot-plates were erected specially for this trade. The scone trade was also developing at a rapid rate, and sixteen hot-plates were erected for it. In order that space might be found for the extensions which were proposed, Mr Geddes, who had been using as a boat shed a shed which was the property of the Society, was induced to give it up, and it was fitted up as a temporary stable, with accommodation for eleven horses. About the same time the Society reduced the hours of their women workers by five per week.
A PURVEY DEPARTMENT.
There were and are large numbers of Co-operators in Glasgow who require to take at least one meal per day away from home, but until this time no attempt had been made to cater co-operatively for their wants. Co-operators, also, had many pleasant little functions—marriages, social meetings, etc.—for the creature comforts dispensed at which they had to be dependent on non-co-operative sources. For some time prior to the autumn of 1892 this fact had been receiving the attention and consideration of the directors of the Baking Society, and in August of that year the sub-committee were empowered to get all the necessary plant to enable them to do a purveying business for soirees, marriages, etc. At the September quarterly meeting the directors recommended that premises should be rented in the centre of the city suitable for first-class tearooms, and by a small majority this recommendation was agreed to by the meeting. The purvey department was started immediately, a manager being engaged, and it was decided that members purchasing through that department should get full dividend. Unfortunately the committee at the beginning of their experiment were not happy in their choice of manager; first one and then another having to be dismissed, and it was not until Mr Robert Watson was engaged that the department was set thoroughly on its feet. Early in 1893 premises were taken in Renfield Street for the purpose of opening first-class tearooms there. Even before the tearooms were opened a deputation from the West of Scotland Club and Institute was forward with a proposal to have a portion of the building set apart for their use, but after having a look over the place it was decided that the matter be left in abeyance meantime. The purvey department by this time was in full operation, and was being much praised for the style in which the work was being conducted. By June the tearooms were ready for opening, and it was decided at the quarterly meeting that twelve tickets be sent to each society so that members might visit the premises and have a cup of tea there. It was also decided that, in order to advertise the tearooms, a small map of the city, showing the railway stations and the position of the tearooms, and containing on the other side an advertisement for the tearooms, be sent out to all the societies in Scotland.
A NEW FORM OF BOYCOTT.
In connection with the purvey department a boycott in another form than the usual was experienced at this time. It is well within the recollection of many readers that, on the occasion of the marriage of the present King, Glasgow Corporation entertained 10,000 of the poor of the city to a dinner. The Baking Society wrote to the City Chamberlain asking for permission to quote for part of the purveying, and even called on the chamberlain, pointing out that the Society was a large ratepayer in the city as well as a large purveyor, and stating that it was considered that it had a right to be given a chance to quote. No notice, however, was taken of the application. Since that time the U.C.B.S. has been able to compel orders for purveys, and the failure even to acknowledge the letter showed a petty meanness on the part of either the committee in charge or of the officials, which was not at all in keeping with the ostensible object of the dinner. This was, however, but one out of many illustrations of the lack of public spiritedness which has been manifested by the councillors of the Corporation of Glasgow when the claims of any section of the Co-operative movement have had to be considered. In all cases of public contracts the committees of the Council do not give Co-operation a chance if they find it possible to do otherwise, and cases are on record when contracts have been given to middlemen in preference to Co-operative societies, in which these middlemen filled their contracts with goods purchased from Co-operative sources at prices higher than those which the Co-operative Society had quoted to the Corporation in the first instance. With the object of popularising the new tearooms it was decided to institute a series of social and literary evenings there once a fortnight.
FEEDING THE HUNGRY.
It has always been widely known that the ears of those responsible for the conduct of the Baking Society’s business are ever open to a call of distress from whatever quarter it comes. When the Society was young and struggling it granted a donation from its all-too-meagre funds to those left desolate by the Udston Colliery disaster, and on various other occasions similar action was taken. The winter of 1892–93 was one of the worst on record for the people of Glasgow and district. Work was so scarce that it was almost unprocurable, and the result was that thousands in the city were on, or over, the verge of starvation. There is no more hopeless position in which a man can find himself than that of being able and willing to work and yet having to trudge about day after day and week after week unable to find anyone willing to employ him, while those dependent on him are slowly starving. When to this lack of food and soul-destroying idleness are added the rigours of an almost Arctic winter, life becomes practically unbearable, and many hitherto honest and industrious men are driven to crime by despair. It is doubtful whether any more formidable and damning indictment can be framed against the present unco-operative system of society than is contained in the regular periodicity of these unemployment crises. A system of society which fails to provide means for the maintenance of all the individuals who comprise it is a system of society which contains within itself and provides with sustenance the seeds of its own decay.