WE find romance
where we least expect it, lurking round the corner of everyday
affairs.
The history of
every co-operative society we know of begins In this manner. A few
working men (sometimes miners, sometimes weavers, sometimes
railwaymen, sometimes potters) met together at the house of one of
their number to discuss the Idea of co-operation. They decided to
canvass their friends and neighbours with the object of Inviting
them to subscribe towards the capital to enable them to open a
smalt shop. Frequently the subscriptions were made In pennies and
twopences, sometimes it was shillings, very, very rarely, was It
In pounds.
After weeks of
propaganda and canvassing and collecting and discussing, a small
shop was opened. Usually, it was In a back street away from busy
thoroughfares where rent was low and risks of losing money were
less. Sometimes the first shop failed, but more often than not It
succeeded.
WITH those simple
beginnings they laid the foundation of a democratic business, a
business which thev did not keep to themselves but which they
tnrew open to everyone who cared to join.
The early
pioneers were full of enthusiasm and faith (faith was the more
Important quality, for the difficulties were sufficient to kill
enthusiasm) that they gave generously and willingly not only their
money but also their time to make the/r shop a success. When their
usual employment was finished, they helped in the shop without pay
(they would have scorned payment, for was not the shop their own
?) they painted the shop, built the fixtures, prepared the goods
for sale, while their women folk delivered parcels to members who
could not fetch them.
OUR own Society's
beginnings were no exception to this general rule, and many of our
oldest members still have happy memories of the days, thirty-one
years ago. when they helped to start the Burslem Co-operative
Society.
There were two
hundred members, who had each subscribed 4s., and had promised to
make this 4s. into a £1 as soon as convenient. They
appointed their provisional
committee to inspect premises and recommend a suitable shop. They
opened their shop on 22nd February, 1901, ac 8 Newcastle Street,
Burslem.
We could quote a
lot of figures to Illustrate how the Society has grown since those
days, but we refrain, except for mentioning this one fact. In the
first balance sheet Issued by the Society In 1901, the amount of
share capital plus Interest was £175. In the balance sheet issued
for the year ending March, 1932, the amount of share, loan, and
penny bank capital was £1,209.533.
MUCH of this
money represents accumulated savings made by working men and women
in the Potteries from dividends paid to them by the Society. They
themselves have created the Society, and they still control it.
It seems a long
way from the humble beginnings of thirty-one years ago to the
proud position the Society now occupiesÑfrom one shop to 112
shops, and from 200 members to 50,000. But these are the facts
(facts that create a romantic story) that working men have woven
into the history of the Potteries.
Every year, more
particularly since the war. the Society has erected new shops, has
enlarged its business operations and Its membership. It stands
to-day as the custodian of the largest business concern in North
Staffordshire, demonstrating not only the sound common sense of
co-operative principles, but also the ability of democracy to
arrange its own affairs.
THE new emporium
is the culmination of a policy the Society has had for a number of
years - to build a large emporium In each of the principal towns
of the Potteries. Not many persons
30 years ago thought that such a ullding would be needed to supply
co-operative members with goods. Only in the wildest Imagination
of dreamers was such a thing thought possible. But the emporium Is
here, sound and solid, justifying the dreamers. There are still
dreamers amongst us. The Burslem Emporium is not the end of
the book of progress. It but closes a chapter, and before the ink
of this chapter is dry, the paragraphs of the chapter which is to
follow are already being prepared.
