United Co-operative Baking Society

“ Ever since its formation he has acted as president of that beneficent Co-operative institution, the Co-operative Veterans Association. In his work for the Bakery he has always been conscientious and clear, and has also done much work which lies outside his special work as secretary. For example, he read a paper a number of years ago at a conference of representatives of the Glasgow societies, in which he advocated strongly the desirability of establishing a system of bread baking which would enable the bakers to begin their work at a reasonable hour. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every opportunity of exhibiting the Society’s productions was also seized with avidity, and at the 1906 Congress sufficient space was secured to enable an oatcake baking plant to be set up, thus advertising still further the Society’s products amongst the Co-operators of the South. In 1907 a conference was held with representatives of society members and their employees for the purpose of stimulating the pastry trade. Toward the end of the same year, a society in Amsterdam was granted the use of lantern slides of the bakery for propaganda purposes. ”

“ They have to set up, not only good businesses in sanitary buildings, but also a new industrial system, where labourers are recognised as human beings entitled to share in the results and direction of their own lives. Because the leaders of the United Baking Society have recognised this, and have not allowed prosperity to poison aspiration, all men will wish them well, and we may say with an inner meaning to the words that we hope in time great multitudes may eat their bread and be thankful.”
BELFAST ADVISORY COMMITTEE ”

“ Fortunately, the milk of human kindness is not quite dried up in Co-operators, and so soon as genuine cases of distress are known steps are taken to ameliorate the condition. In this process of amelioration the Baking Society has always played a big part. We have already seen that during the miners’ and engineers’ strikes and during periods of distress due to unemployment the Society distributed thousands of pounds worth of bread, and now, during 1904–05, the same policy was pursued. ”

“ A NEW VENTURE. In September, after the new bakery was opened, the Society began the baking of morning rolls, a branch of trade which immediately became popular with the members of the societies. For this trade two light vans and two fast horses were purchased, and the result was that not only was a large trade in breakfast rolls done, but the bread trade increased rapidly also. The baking of rolls had, as a matter of fact, cut the last link which chained some of the societies to the private baker. The bakers did not surrender the trade of the societies without a struggle, however. ”

“ Twenty vehicles were sent out to take part in the Co-operative demonstration held in connection with the Co-operative Festival in the beginning of 1908, while every year for a time an inspection of the Society’s horses took place in Glasgow Green on an evening in the summer, 206and prizes were given to the employees for the best groomed horses and best kept and cleaned harness. During a bakers’ strike at Lanark in the early autumn of 1908, the Bakers’ Union applied to the Baking Society for bread, which they purposed to sell in opposition to the local bakers. ”

“ This demand for new bread had always been a source of worry to the Baking Society. There was, on the one hand, the restrictions imposed by the Operatives’ Union as to the hour of commencing work, which regulated the hour at which the bread came out of the ovens; on the other hand, there was the demand of the members of local societies for new bread at an early hour and, as a consequence, the demands by the societies for early delivery of bread. These demands for early delivery the Society was only able partially to meet ”

“ In welcoming the visitors, he referred to the inception of the Society in a little back court in Coburg Street, with a bakery capable of doing a trade of forty sacks a week, and contrasted that small beginning with the size and strength of the Federation that day; the possessor of plant capable of dealing with 3,500 sacks each week. He laid stress on the fact that the building 127had been done by the Society’s own workmen, and that over £11,000 had been paid in wages to the builders.
Mr Peter Glasse said the Society had proved to the world the power of the Co-operative movement. ”

“ The subject crops up in the minutes again and again, and the manager is unable to get out enough bread early in the day to meet the demand.
Still, the committee are cautious. They have now discovered that the Society can be made a success; they have also gained some knowledge of the difficulties which are to be 30encountered; and so, not content with applying to the Alva Baking Society for information, they also get into communication with the Dunfermline Baking Society, and receive a letter in which that society’s bakery is described. ”

“ Indeed, so long as Mr Borrowman continued secretary of the Baking Society, the committee continued to meet frequently in the Wholesale’s premises, although the sub-committee usually met in a small room, 10 ft. by 6 ft., fitted up in the bakery premises at St James Street. At times the full committee of sixteen met here also, packed together like herrings. Such were the conditions to which those heroes of the Co-operative vanguard accommodated themselves in order that the cause they had at heart might prosper. ”

“ But the day of small things is past; the society has grown into one of the largest as well as one of the most important in the movement. The trade last year—1896—was £220,536; but in case that sum should not convey a definite notion of the work involved it should be remembered that the U.C.B.S. carries on the largest business of its kind in the United Kingdom. At present 340 sacks of flour are baked into 65,300 loaves every day, while 25 sacks are made into pastry and hand-made biscuits, 20 sacks into machine-made biscuits, and the oatcake department requires 13 sacks daily ”

“ Thus the second attempt of the Baking Society directors to introduce a natural working day into the baking trade came to naught, through no fault of theirs, but because of a public who would insist on having bread steaming from the ovens.
190 PROPAGANDA AND PUBLICITY. During these years the directors continued to adopt every reasonable method of keeping the Federation and its productions before the public. They took advantage of every opportunity offered by exhibitions to show the quality of goods which were produced by the Society ”

“ He suggested, as a remedy, that the Co-operative societies should lead the way in fostering a demand for stale bread, and that the bakers, through their Union, should assist in educating the general public into a more rational system. ”

“ Primitive though the arrangements were, they appealed to the campers, who were unanimous in their praise of the beautiful situation, the pure air, the perfect catering, and the small outlay for which they secured a perfect holiday. Thus encouraged, the committee which had promoted the camp proceeded to organise a Co-operative society to work it, and in this Co-operative society the U.C.B.S. took out twenty-five shares. The farm was purchased for £600, and in September the Baking Society increased the number of their shares to 100. ”

“ Pie-heaters had been supplied to one society in the Glasgow area by the Baking Society, and these having been found exceedingly useful in stimulating the sales of this variety of the Society’s productions, it was agreed by the directors that any other society which was desirous of using them should have similar facilities. ”

“ What makes this society interesting at this point is that of it is recorded the fact that it possessed “a modern baking department,” and is said to have supplied the neighbouring societies with bread. The society came to an end in 1865, and with it ended Co-operative baking in the city for the time being. ”

“ Doubtless, the members of committee were looking forward to the time when other societies at a distance from the centre would begin baking on their own account, but they knew also that the membership of the societies in the immediate vicinity of the Bakery was increasing, and hoped to recoup themselves in this way. At the quarterly meeting a general discussion on the question of building new ovens, in view of the fact that Johnstone Society was withdrawing, took place, but no decision was come to. ”

“ They have the ever-increasing urgency of the transport problem to deal with, and on them falls, also, the duty of counteracting the ever-present tendency on the part of societies at the outskirts to break off and begin baking for themselves. That is to say, they have ever before them the problem of making the huge organisation which they control more and ever more efficient, while maintaining those good relations with their employees which have been such a noteworthy feature during the long life of the Society ”

“ The members of the educational committee had not been long at work before they came to the conclusion that the Society owed a duty to its younger workers which it could not afford to neglect. The Society employed over a hundred young people under eighteen years of age, and it was the wish of the committee that they should find some method by means of which they could assist these young people. Their first step was the convening of a meeting of the young people in the London Street tearooms, where they were addressed by Dr Henry Dyer and Mr James Campsie ”

“ This action of his was homologated by his board at a special meeting which was held the same evening, while at another meeting, held three days later, the committee decided that they would not raise the price of bread in the meantime. The Baking Society found itself in a very favourable position at this time. In M‘Neil Street there were supplies of flour which would keep the bakery going for nine weeks, while Clydebank had supplies for six, and Belfast for seven weeks. ”

“ It meant that the baker was getting from 6/8 to 20/ per sack of flour over the cost of production of the societies, and that, therefore, the cost to the consumer was extortionate. Doubtless, also, the conditions which led to the formation of Co-operative societies in Glasgow prevailed elsewhere, and it is quite likely that baking societies existed at that early date in other parts of Scotland, had their day, and passed out of existence without a trace remaining. Even of those of the existence of which we do know particulars are absent ”

“ It is the duty of co-operators to make arrangements which will allow those who produce the bread to work under conditions which will allow them to live more enjoyable lives than they do at present. There are no reasons why they should not begin work at 6 a.m., and the first delivery of bread might be made by 11 o’clock, while that baked in the afternoon could be kept until next morning, and delivered as soon as the stores are open. ”

“ When the question came before the delegates at the quarterly meeting, however, the scheme for a branch in Greenock was not adopted, and it was decided to proceed with the erection of two additional ovens at St James Street.
In 1884, however, the trade was again outgrowing the accommodation, and in November of that year the committee decided to rent a bakehouse in Scotland Street in order to relieve the congestion. The membership of the Federation was again up to 26 societies, and the output at the end of 1884 was 281 sacks per week. ”

“ The facilities provided for an output of some 700 sacks per week, and when the new premises were planned it was thought that there would be ample accommodation to meet the requirements of the Society for a number of years, but so great had been the development of the Society’s business while the bakery was in course of erection, and so rapid was the increase when the new premises were opened, that soon the question of extensions was again to the front. ”

“ At this time the financial position 63was improving every week. The profits on working were well over £30 per week, and the committee were not so chary of spending money as they had been in earlier years. Among other donations to which the Society agreed was one of £20 towards the expenses of the Co-operative Congress which was to be held in Glasgow in 1876. Several of the societies which were affiliated with the Baking Society were in a bad way at this time. Blairdardie Society had had their premises destroyed by fire, and a deputation was received by the Bakery directors. ”

“ In the spring of 1898 the Society became members of the Scottish Co-operator Federation. Owing to the large proportion of employees, particularly in the stable department, who were going off ill, a medical man was engaged to call at the factory regularly and supervise the health of the employees. This year the Society started the manufacture of plum puddings, and were making strenuous efforts to develop the pie trade. An expert piemaker was engaged, the societies were circularised, and a small van and a fast pony were purchased so as to ensure quick delivery. ”