The co-operative movement now grew with exceeding rapidity. In 1862 the total sales of all the societies of all kinds in the United King dom amounted to #2,333,523; in 1870 to f8,201, 685 ; in 1880 to f23,248,314; in 1890 to 143,731, 669; in 1900 to i81,020,428. In 1914 there were 1,524 retail societies with 3,096,314 members, a total capital of I:64,803,071; total sales of f164, 587,520, and profits of f15,140,960. The obvious advantages of buying in large quantities led to the formation of the North of England Co operative Wholesale Society in 1864 which in 1874 amalgamated with a similar metropolitan body to form the Co-operative Wholesale Soci ety of England, with headquarters at Manches ter. Only societies can be members and each member-society must take up one five-pound share for each 10 of its members, such shares being transferable at par. The general com mittee of 16 sitting at Manchester governs the society with the assistance of two branch com mittees of eight each at Newcastle and London. The final authority resides in the quarterly meeting, which, for sake of convenience, ;s held in three parts at Manchester, Newcastle and London, each member-society being entitled to one delegate for each 500 members. Questions are settled by the total votes at the three meet ings. Goods are sold at slightly over cost price and i the profit divided among the purchasing so cieties in proportion to their purchases. The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, estab lished in 1869, is similarly managed, but the member-societies have one vote in virtue of their membership, one vote for the first 11,000 of purchases, and one vote for each additional 12,000. A bonus is paid to employees at the rate of twice the purchasers' dividend. The two Wholesale Societies do not compete but act as each other's agents. There are sale depots at Leeds, Nottingham, Blackburn, Hudders field, Birmingham, Leith, Kilmarnock and Dun dee, and buying agencies in Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, United States, Canada, etc.
Besides buying and selling at wholesale, the Wholesale Societies carry on a large amount of manufacture boots and shoes, candles, wool ens, clothing, furniture, brushes, upholstery, bedding, butter, flour, lard, jam, tobacco and printing by the English Society; flour, tweeds, blankets, tailoring, shirts, mantles, furniture, boots and shoes, hosiery, brushes, preserves, confectionery, tobacco, fish-curing and printing by the Scottish The two societies own tea plantations in Ceylon, and the Scottish Soci ety purchased a tract of land in Canada for wheat growing. The English Society conducts a banking department for the distributive stores. The Co-operative Newspaper Society is another federal institution owned by co-operative soci eties. It publishes the Co-operative News, the weekly organ of the movement. The Co-oper ative Insurance Society is another 'society of societies" doing mainly fire insurance of soci ety buildings, i22,000,000 of property being so insured. The United Baking Society of Glas gow (capital f130,372), and eight corn mills (capital 1.347,071), are also productive societies, federations of ordinary stores. Production to the amount of several millions sterling is car ried on by ordinary distributive societies, mainly in flour and baking, 19,456 persons being em ployed in production, and much activity is also shown by many societies in building houses to be sold or leased to members. The total invest ments of the stores in 'house property" (includ ing presumably their own buildings) is over seven millions sterling.
A large section of co-operators has always held that co-operation, which did not include a co-partnership with labor, was only a mas querade. To the Owenite communities suc ceeded the Redemptionist Societies 'for carry ing out the practice of associated labor,* which had a brief life about 1850. The Christian So
cialists Kingsley, Maurice, Ludlow, Neale in 1848-52 established some twelve "self-govern ing workshops" in which the employees were to supply capital, management and labor. Next in the early sixties came the 'Oldham Coops.," joint-stock cotton spinning companies in which the shares were mainly held by operatives, but they degenerated into ordinary companies. Ef forts at founding manufacturing societies were persistent, and the wholesale and distributive societies and trade-unions lost large sums of money; 275 soceties established before 1880 were extinct in 1882, leaving only eight corn mills and 25 other societies. In 1884 the Labor Association was founded to promote productive societies on the basis of a co-partnership of labor and capital, the workers being entitled of right to a share of profit and being at liberty to invest their savings in shares. The mortal ity among societies continued high despite brisk propaganda 139 societies disappearing between 1880 and 1898. The Co-operative Production Federation was started to aid the societies with capital and prevent overlapping. A new branch of activity is the 'Co-partnership Tenant's Movement" for building and owning houses, which has established since 1::: many co-oper ative colonies; there are now eight societies, of which four are active with 182,600 capital. In agriculture there were 906 registered societies with a capital of f1,031,397; they consist of farmers and small holders, buy seed and ma nures and sell produce for their members. On the whole they belong to a different class from the ordinary working-class societies. Finally, there is to be mentioned the Co-operative Union, started in 1869, which carries on propaganda through its district committees and the United Board formed of representatives of the sec tional boards. It is also the parliamentary or gan of the movement and devotes much labor to organization and education. Its headquarters are in Manchester. Under its auspices is held an annual congress of co-operative societies at which matters of interest to the movement are discussed, but the resolutions carried thereat have no mandatory force. The Woman's Co operative Guild, started in 1883, has nearly 600 branches and 31,500 members; it has done much education work among woman members of stores and has been specially active in organiz ing special stores in very poor districts. Its principal work is devoted to the housing ques tion, anti-credit, divorce law reform and citi zenship campaign. There is also a Woman's Co-operative Guild in Scotland, which has 174 branches and over 12,500 members. The Inter national Co-operative Alliance for the promo tion of co-operation throughout the world, is a federation of organizations in Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Rus sia, Canada, India, the United States, etc. Con gresses are held in different European cities every two or three years.
Holyoake, G. J., 'History of Co-operation in England) (2 vols., 1885) ; Jones, Benjamin, Co-operative Production) (2 vols., 1894) ; Potter, Beatrice (Mrs. Sidney Webb), The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain' (1893) ; (Co-operative Congress Annual Re port); (Co-operative Wholesale Societies An Lovett, William, (Life and Struggles' (1876) ; Owen, Robert, (1857) ; An Explanation of the Causes of Dis tress' (1823) ; Podmore, F., (Robert Owen' (2 vols., 1906) ; Acland, A. H. D., and Jones, B., Co-operators' (1884) ; Holyoake, G. J., Pioneers' (1893) ; The Co operative News for reports of meetings; Lloyd, H. D., (Labor Co-partnership) (1899) ; Vivian, H., Production' (1900) ; (Co operator's Year Book>