The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-07-17
London Cooperative Congress.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS. BY THOMAS HUGHES,
ESQ. MP.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. BY THOMAS HUGHES,
ESQ. Mp.
When | undertook, at the request Of the
promoters Of this Congress, to preside and
deliver an Opening Address at the present
meeting, almost the first thing which | felt
bound to do, was-to refresh my memory
az to former gatherings Of the kind, that
might give you some trustworthy evidence
as to the progress Of the Cooperative
movement. The retrospect which | accord
ingly made, was in some respects diseoura-
ging. fnd the last Cooperative Conferences
in London was held so long back as the 9th
of July, 1852, in the hall belonging to the
Working Taiiors' Association of that day.
That association is broken up, and the hall
has passed into other hands; and ou going
through the list Of working associations as
disting guisbed from cooperative stores)
which were represented at that meetiug-I5
in number ind only one which has sur
vived to the present sime,-the uatters'
Association Of Manchester.
That Conference was called for the spe-
cisl purpose Of considering how the Indus
trial and Providsns Societies Act-which
bad Just been passed-cOuid be best turned
to profitable account for the advancement
Of co. operation. That Act Of 1852 has
proved III may saw the Magma Charta Of
the movement; and under it-or hose who
have from time to time replaced i. On the
Statute B10k-have been registered a num-
Der Of the most successful associations and
societies which have been founded IN our
day. The last return, for tie year 1867 (by
n 0 means, | have reason to think, full or
correct one and which, of course, omits all
societies registered as joint-stock compan-
ies). gives 577 societies, numbering IL | ,S07
members, and doing business Of E6 DOL,
l53 at an average cost Of little more than
per cent. on the turnover. At the date OF
the last London Conference, Of course there
was no society with a legal existence, as
there had been no time for registration
the Act having only been passed for few
weeks; and il is not easy to give more than
an approximate estimate of the total num-
ber of societies then existing in England.
But from the reports sent 10 TO that Confer
ence, and other sources, reckon that there
could not have been more than 10 estab-
Ished societies-mOst of them in their in
fsucg-and Numbering, perhaps, at most
80, 900 members. In the face Of these
tigures-of this enormous increase aud de-
vel0pmeut--I may reasonably be asked why
the reference to these old reports il in any
respect disc0uraging2 In this respect dis
eOuragiug, answer-that in spite Of the
extraordinary success, in a commercial point
Of view, Of the greater number of co-opera-
/ tive stores, and the consequent enormous
/ increase OF the number of persons directly
/ interested 10 cooperation, in all other res
/ poets we, at that Conference ia 1852, were
I Just as far advanced as we are to-day. We
were considering pre- ecisely the same ques-
I tions-the best means Of bringing the Yari-
Gus scattered societies and associations into
closer union, the establishment Of Co
4 operative Bank, Of a general Cooperative
Friendly Society, OF Wholesale Central De-
! pots, Of Cooperative Education, and the
starting of Cooperative Newspaper. All
these are on our programme to-day; aud /,
with the exception of the wholesale depot,
nothing has been done with respect to them
/ since 1852. In one respect, indeed, there
7 has 1en an apparent backsliding; for at
I that time there were certainly in London
far greater number Of productive associa-
Gions-in proportion to the whole number Of
societies-than there are now. Admitting,
as | DO at onrA, that the successful estab-
\ lishment Of y Wholesale Purchasing As
sociation in Manchester has been a remark
able step in advance in one direction, and
4 leaving aside for a moment the Industrial
Partnership system, in my Judgment, the
most important development Of co opera
tion we have yet seen in England say,
again, that we are much where we were in
I 1852
I What has been the cause u this? II
seems to me, my friends, not far to seek
/ In the past IL years we have not been
living up to the principles with which we
started. la 1850 and 1851, any one who
will take the trouble to refer to the records
Of those years, will find that every society
which started, put the horse before the cart,
/ (if may use homely proverb) while from
1852, they have for the most part been put
ting the cart before the horse. | mean, that
in those days they recognised, as their main
! object, the making men of their members
training them to feel their relationship to
each other, the worth Of fellowship in work,
the duty Of aiding and training their weaker
brethren and regarded the making OF pro
fits, the production Of wealth, az a means
only to this end while, since that time,
they have, to a great extent, given in to the
prevailing heresy of our day, and have
treated the making Of profits and the pro-
ductlon of wealth as the end, and not the
means. 10 proof of this, will only refer
to the latest deVelopmsat of cooperation,
and the one most familiar to LOndoners-the
establishment of the Civil Service Cooper
ative Store, and other similar bodies, Ia this
city Amongst these, 90 far as know, the
full benaft of membership is obtained By
the simple purchase Of hAlf-crown ticket,
which gives the holder q right to buy his
goods at certain shops at cheaper rate
than lie could get them elsewhere, but the
possession Of which binds him to nothing
whatever. | do not, Of course. mean TO
deny that such stores may be of great use
to those who belong 70 them but the7 can
lead to nothing except the cheaper z Of