The difficulties of transport were experienced by the branch, however, in a much more marked degree than by the parent body. All coal, flour, sugar, etc., used in the bakery had to be imported, and as transport costs went up so also did prices, until bread was being sold in Belfast at one shilling for the 4–lb. loaf. So short did the supply of coal become that in 1915 Belfast Corporation was unable to supply the Bakery with coke for firing purposes and a supply had to be sent over from Glasgow. Flour and sugar also became very scarce, but notwithstanding those facts the output of the Bakery continued to increase rapidly until the coming of Government Regulation flour, with its huge proportion of offal and other nastinesses, created a distaste for bread amongst the public. At the outbreak of war the output of the Bakery averaged 766 sacks per week, while by the end of 1916 this had risen to 892 sacks per week, an increase of 16½ per cent. in two and a half years. From then it gradually declined, until at the end of the 63rd quarter of the working life of the branch it was only 683 sacks per week. From that time and during the next six months the trade again increased, so that by the end of the period with which this history deals, although it had not reached the high-water mark of 1916, all the evidence went to show that that point would soon be left behind.
In 1918, with the object of relieving the congestion at M‘Neil Street, it was resolved to establish an oatcake baking department at Belfast, and for this purpose several hot-plates were transferred to the Belfast bakery, as well as several girls from the M‘Neil Street oatcake factory. This department has since proved a valuable adjunct to the branch, the plant having had to be augmented and the number of bakers employed increased.
Just at the end of the period Belfast became involved in one of the most widespread strikes in the history of the Labour movement, and practically all work except that of bread baking was brought to a standstill. The electricity workers of the Corporation came out on strike along with the other workmen, but fortunately for the branch it had a power-generating plant of its own, and so was able to continue at work. By this means the trade of the branch was materially increased. The fact that the Federation has always been willing to meet the requests of the employees in a reasonable manner has always enabled the branch to maintain its popularity with the Belfast workmen, and so impressed were the executives of the Operative Bakers’ Society with the fairness and even liberality of the committee that on one occasion an official letter was sent from the union in which the board of management were thanked for the assistance which their prompt action in agreeing to the request of the union for a shorter working week had been in enabling that concession to be imposed in the baking trade of the city.
When the branch was established in Belfast the distinct understanding on which the U.C.B.S. took action was that as soon as convenient it should be taken over by the local societies, but as the years pass the likelihood of this being done seems to become more remote. As has already been stated, the branch has been of great assistance not only to Belfast Society but also to the majority of other societies in the North. It has fostered the Co-operative spirit and Co-operative idealism. From a weakling which was very much in need of the fostering care of the movement in Scotland Co-operation in Ireland, and especially in the North of Ireland, has grown to be a strong and healthy organisation, with its centre in Belfast and with branches scattered all over Ulster. It is probable that the Irish societies are strong enough now to take over the branch if they were so disposed, but the farseeing spirits amongst them see that there is other work lying to their hand to which, relieved of the working of the bakery, they can turn their undivided attention.
On the other hand, the proposal, adopted in 1917, that the Federation should proceed, as and when expedient, to plant branches in other centres of Co-operation in Ireland, will in course of time cause the U.C.B.S. in Ireland to cease to be an exclusively North of Ireland concern. It will do much, just as the other federation in Ireland, the I.A.W.S., is doing much, to weld together into one united movement the whole of the Co-operative societies in the country. It will serve for Ireland, as it and its kindred associations in Scotland and England are serving to-day, as an illustration of the fact that Co-operation is not merely a principle for adoption by a few farmers or a few workmen in a given district, but is also a principle on which these isolated groups can be united into one powerful whole, by becoming an institution where all can meet on a common platform.
CHAPTER XV.
A NEW PRESIDENT.
A GREAT DEMONSTRATION—A NEW TYPE OF OVEN—ST MUNGO HALLS—TEAROOMS BURNED DOWN—MR M‘CULLOCH RETIRES; MR GERRARD ELECTED PRESIDENT—AN AMALGAMATION PROPOSAL—PURVEY AND CONTRACT DEPARTMENT—THE FIRST MOTOR VAN—A BREAD EXPERIMENT—PROPAGANDA AND PUBLICITY—UNEMPLOYMENT—THE EFFECT ON CO-OPERATION—CO-OPERATION THE REMEDY—SOME BUSINESS ITEMS—THE SOCIETY’S POSITION.
In tracing the history of the two branches at Clydebank and Belfast we have wandered far ahead of the general development of the Society, and must now retrace our steps to the main road of our story at the point at which we left it. In the period which began with the beginning of the thirty-third year the directors were kept very busy with business which was connected with the development of the two new branches, but the parent institution was not allowed to suffer from neglect. The great demonstration which was held in the summer of 1902 to celebrate the attainment of an average output of 3,000 sacks per week proved a great success. The demonstration was in two parts. In the first place, the employees and their families and friends, to a number which filled three special trains, went picnicing in the morning to Milngavie. In the second place, a gigantic vehicular procession, which included about 100 vehicles and 150 horses, paraded through the city and out the Milngavie Road as far as Canniesburn Toll, returning to M‘Neil Street by another route. This procession was headed by a charabanc containing the members of the Society’s band, and the gaily decorated lorries and vans attracted much attention as they passed through the streets. All the mottoes displayed in the procession had some reference to Co-operation.
But, while it is good to demonstrate and advertisement has certainly its uses, bread must also be baked, and the object of a Co-operative society is, or ought to be, to produce the best possible bread at a minimum cost. This was a fact of which there was not much danger that the directors would lose sight, and even if they did the representatives of the societies would very quickly remind them of the lapse. They were about to build a new bakery; and, with the view of testing the efficiency of a type of oven then practically unknown in Scotland, they decided to erect two draw-plate ovens at M‘Neil Street. The tests seem to have been satisfactory, for in both Clydebank and Belfast branches this type of oven formed the majority of those installed.