The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-07 00:00:00

7HE CO-OPERA7IVE S 7 ORE.

A. pretentious institution has been established at
28, Haymarket, entitled the Civil Service Co-ope-
rative Society (Limited) As usual, it is divided
into shares, with a portion pail up ; and equally
as usual, it has a list of good names as honorary
directors, such as Farr and Murchison, and a list of
not bad names as working directors, such as haw-
ker and Bowes. We dire say it is intended well,
and perhaps may have been productive of some
good. A 3, however, it publicly announces that it
s designed to " i.roinote in every passible man-
ner the general welfare of the Civil Serv;ce " we
may be permitted to glance at what it does.
"che first question siiggesed is who are the people
it benefits? Some might suppose that such a
society was designed to add a little more to the
daily fire of the working clerk, to supply his wife
or it may be his widow with a cheaper cup of tea,
and his children with warmer and ampler clothing,
but the only persons especially mentioned are Peers,
members of Parliament, and Justices of the peace.
It is true that naval and military officers and
clergymen, as also their widows and orphans, are
admitted as members, but on a calculation peculiar
to this society the benefits only accrue to theta on
payment of a fee: just double that levied
.from
a Peer. The officer's widow is worth to this
association five shillings a year, and the Duke
of Uranium is calculated at half-a-crown. To
understand the working of this company it is
necessary to know the class of customers it supplies,
and this is not only announced as stated, but it is
seen in the carriages at the door, and in the fashion-
able ladies and gentlemen who throng the Store—
we suppose it would not do to call it the Marquis
of S disbury's shop. Having now the people, we
may glance at what this benevolent society does for
them. It commences by stating that it has a capi-
tal of 1,000 shares of £5 each, of which £2 have
been paid,up. The dividend is not, under any cir-
cumstances, to exceed 5 per cent., and the surplus
profits, if any, are to be applied to further
the general objects. Arrangements have bees
made with manufacturers, wholesale houses,
and others, to supply at wholesale or reduced
prices such articles as the society has not in
store. Thus it is enabled to say it can supply its
members with everything from a pin to an
anchor ; and from a lollypop to a wedding cake.
Now this is a grand announcement, and has a fine
effect when speaking of the general beneficence of
the society. What does Mr. Thierry mean by cau-
tioning members not to mention the discount before
other customers when making their purchases? If
the transaction be fair and above board, why this
concealment ? Has Mr. Thierry in his inmost
heart a notion that it does savour of double-dealing
when the customer who thinks him a good boot-
maker and deals for ready money is mulcted in a higher
sum because he does not pay five shillings a year
to his lordship's shop? But putting aside the
arrangements of this society beyond its own
store, let us examine what it does there
for its members. Its long list, neatly confined to
eatables, we have compared with the prices paid by
careful housekeepers, who deal only for ready money
with their grocers, and we find both nearly identi-
cal. All retail houses of that class make a consi-
derable difference between regular customers who
pay over the counter, and charges booked; but we
maintain, after careful inquiry, that any well-estab-
lished family grocer gives the goods as cheap to
those in the habit of dealing with him, as the mem-
bers get their supplies from the store. We make a
shade of allowance for the delivery and for the greater
accommodation of attendance. If this be so, consider-
ing the immense amount of business transacted, con-
sidering that no bad debts can he made, considering
that the society has carefully avoided putting into
the store perishable articles, and, therefore, that
there can be no loss in such a direction, the conclusion
is, that this Aristocratic Charitable Society must be
coining money, or that the grocers work on so
narrow a margin of profit that they cannot be un-
dersold. In either case, always presuming that our
premises are correct, the society is a mistake. If
the former, it is something worse, for it then be-
comes a blatant piece of humbug, which, looking to
its directors, is highly improbable ; if the latter, it
runs an opposition again it a hard-working, econo-
mical, and useful body of tradesmen, to their
serious injury, without effecting any good— for
no good can be effected so long as the grocers, in
common with other tradesmen, deal honestly with
their customers. The present movement originated
in the high prices charged by the tradesmen who
supply people of fashion. The latter transact such
business through their servants who levy contribu-
tions on the shopkeepers, and once the system of
bribery is introduced, the family pay heavily in the

end. What uyttb aebts, what with long credit
and these douceurs, the charges are very high, and
compare most unfavourably with those of the Co-
operative Society. If then that association bad
bees openly announced as a combin ttion of lords
and ladies against their own servants and tradesmen,
the explanation would be clear. But instead of this
it professes to work for the benefit of the humbler
members of the services, and really hits at honest,
valuable shopkeepers, at least until such time as the
fashion changes and their customers discover how
little is the benefitgained. Our chief objection to the
association is that it interferes unduly and improperly
with trade, and will surely lead, if it has not done
5, already, to abuse. We see a clique of tradesmen
and professional men in connection with this so-
ciety who profess to sell cheaper than their neigh-
bours—a profession all make, who have any-
thing to sell. But combinations and " round
robins" are in the nature of monopolies established
for the benefit of a few, and against the public. If
the members imagine that these people are a baud
of philanthropists, desirous of sudplying theca
with the necessaries and luxuries of life, they
will find out their mistake. Nor is it wrong only
on this principle, for it induces tradesmen to in-
fringe a gol len rule in the hope of gain ; that is,
to sell to one class cheaper than to another, the con-
ditions being the same. This alone would prevent
many honourable tradesmen from having anything
to do with such an association, and, holding this
very proper principle, they would be excluded from
the very place they were best qualified to fill. in
view of so great an objection, we would wish the
society to furnish some explanation of what other-
wise, we cannot but think, savours of the under-
hand.—Anglo-American 7inies. .