The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 26, 1903, Page 45

- | Pages 4510 48 3 The ~ all. Pages 45 t0 43 ! SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, JULY 26, 1903. HUGE WORKINGMAN'S TRUST IN ENGLAND THREATENS TIME-HONORED SY Co-operative Wholesale Society Embraces One-Sixth of Country’s Population and Represents an Actual Investment of $175,000,000. Dealers, Manufacturers, Bankers, Millers, Printers, Lithographers, Shipowners, Lard on Curers, Fruit Growers, Saddlers, Tea Importers, Packers, Dealers in Gro- Drapery, Woolens, Shoes, Carpets, Furniture Manufacturers of Flour, Biscuits, Sweets, Preserves ied Peel, Cocoa, Chocolate, Soap, Candles, Glycerine, Boots s, Clothing, Flannel Shirts, Man- Underclothing, Corsets, Furni- Brushes.” NOTHING CAN STOP IT. If it were not for the merciful “etes.” he middle of this list it would be ap- Moreover, new branches are be- ided steadily at a rate that will soon enable this very genuine octopus to. take , ‘ete.; r the entire business of a fair-sized y without leaving so much as a corner ews-stand in the hands of an Indepen- dent dealer. Every sort of combination as b n made against it; there have been agitations, boycotts, sermons, ets and even riots, but apparently hing can stop it so long as its army f officers can resist the temptation to make personal profits out of it. Co-operative stores hgve been estab- ched in hundreds of English towns and are now getting a foothold in London. Wholesale companies are reaching out toward international trade and toward the creation of a fraternity of interests between consumers and producers in all houses and factories in Manchester have outgrown several sets of buildings. 1 asked the oldest co-operator in Englgnd the other day how much territory he thought the present set occupied. He said he hadn't the faintest idea and that he wouldn’t pretend to keep track of the new buildings as they went up. But at present the society is spending $3,562,500 on more buildings. The Co-operative Wholesale Society has its own architect- ural and building department and the work of building is all done by co-oper- ative labor. Most of the huge stores have admirable halls connected with them, which are rented to the public when not the Women's Guild of the so- ciety for women's meetings, educational purposes, receptions or the like—for the Co-operative Wholesale Soclety is so far- reaching that it has even taken a hand in management of and the home. A strict cash system has forced the co- operator to keep out of debt and a sys- tem of leaving dividends in the society’s funds has assisted those who would other- wise have saved nothing to save a great deal. Most co-operators buy their homes Payment is simple enough when it means nothing more than leaving one's dividends in the co-operative society to which one belonzs A HAND IN POLITICS. The co-operators own a line of steam- in use by the society ships and have agencies all over the world. Being free-traders, almost to a man, they are up in arms agains: Joseph = ands. The English co-operator hopes for + day when the co-operation of working- men on trade basis will be worldwide. In view of what he has almost silently ished in sixty years the hope esn't seem beyond realization. The societies go to the ' great storehouses in Manchester of which they are the owners and buy their goods on co-operative principles. In turn the indi- vidual co-operators purchase of the re- much lon; n the past it will for ~British 1's tariff plans accom; HUGE INVESTMENT. . ( wW. 8. as this huge isually called, rep- cstment of $175,000,- sockets of compara as some fifty build- g5, m e rmous in size, and tall society in which they are partners. uding largest factories 1be individuals are members only of their { has a hundred thou- Tetall societies, and the retail socleties are 2 But perhaps the most TePresented bodily in the wholesaie so- ignifics is that its stock- Ci€ty, and as co-operators hold its stock nolders now rise almost exactly one- 1 the extent of $75 for each twenty mem- gixth of the pulation of England, bers and‘ have one vote for each 500 The list of enterprises which members in the management of the parent e eoncern has taken on Js so long that COPCer™- would be read it through if GROWTH IS RAPID. were nt. The society Since the formation of the Co-opera- describes itsclfl as ““Wholesale - General tive Wholesale Society the offices, ware- v Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, whose proposed tariff has proved the cul- minating point in & growing distrust the Co-operative Wholesale Society has long felt for him. Now at their annual con- gress, just held, the co-operators have passed a vote of censure and eternal fight on everything anti-free trade. Sir Michael Hicks-Beath, the most ardent free trader in the Government, 4s hailed by the so- ciety as a present-day Sir Rovert Peel, and their allegiance is given to him, Thus by one consolidated act on the part of a body of workingmen are several million votes piled up against Mr. Cham- berlain and protection. In this most im- portant parlimentary issie known of re- cent years the co-operators for the first time show their hands and the hand is crammed full of stirring political pos- sibilities. English conservatives have failed to realize the rapid increase of co-operati: power in ways other than financial and political. Few of the upper tenth have the slightest idea how English co-operat- ors are changing the workingmar’s con- dition socially and economically. Few of that upper tenth have ever heard of the “Women's Co-operative Guild” or of the “Co-operative Union,” which acts as the propagandist, educator and philanthropist of the movement. Co-operators have been their own best helpers. They have grown into the luxury of Oxford University scholarships and convalescent homes in the same way that they have cxtended their industries to Australia and South America. From the United States alone about $5,000,000 worth of prodiucts are bought by the co-operative societies an- nually. This is exceeded only by one European country—Denmark. The .so- clety’s imports from that kingdom, prin- cipally butter and eggs, are paia for at the rate of $10,000,000 a year. e B e | | v §TEM OF INDUSTRIAL COMPETITION ONSVZEZO PUCHESS ///JZE’JO/FOWJZ. T { | < | | i | ? % : | R 4 TWO CO-OPERATIVE WHOLESALE SOCIETY BUILDINGS, A DUCHESS i WHO LONGS FOR A MORE USEFUL CAREER, DUCHESS WHOSE DIAMOND WEDDING WAS LATELY OBSERVED. 2 L8 AND A GRAND ROYAL CELEBRATION OF DIAMOND WEDDING Grand Duke and Duchess of Meck- lenburg-Strelitz Complete Sixty Years of Married Life. LONDON, July 2.—Diamond weddings do not come very often in any walk of life and for that reason a diamond wedding in royalty circles is all the more notable. One such grand affair was celebrated at Neu-Strelitz on June 23—that of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Meck- lenburg-Strelitz. The close connection of the latter with- the royal house of Great Britain gave the occasion a spe- clal interest in high circles In London. She was an English Duchess (Augusta of Cambridge, sister to the Duke of Cam- bridge and the late Duchess of Teck). She was married June 28, 1843, at Buck- jngham Palace to Frederick Willlam, then hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklen- burg-Strelitz. Her husband, who was horn October 17, 1819, succeeded to the throne on the death of his father September 6, 1860. They have one son, George Adolphus, born July. 29, 1848, who married a princess of An- halt in 1877. VANDERBILT'S DAUGHTER FINDS SOCIETY IRKSOME Duchess of Marlborough Longs for Opportunity for More Use- ful Career. LONDON, July 2.—Since the Duke of Marlborough resigned the post of pay- master general of the army, nothing much has been heard of his movements. The story that he will follow Lord Cur- zon as Viceroy of India is again being re- vived in political and social circles and persons who follow diplomatic move- ments do mot hesitate to say that the Duke is studying hard to qualify for the job. It is pretty well understood now that His Grace was appointed to the War Of- fice to test his business capacity. The work was neither technical nor labor- ious, but what he was called upon to do he did well according to the views of Earl Roberts, the commander in chief. Lord Roberts saw that there was useful mateMal in the young man and he sug- gested that he ought to qualify himself for a more responsible position.i That is the secret of the Duke's somewhat sud- DR. KOCH ENTERTAINS DELEGATES President of Reichsbank Gives Dinner to Americans. ERLIN, July %.—Dr. Koch, presi- B Consul General Mason will give a dinner to the commissioners to-night. Representative Burton, chairman of the Rivers and Harbors Committee of the House, went to St” Petersburg to-day, ac- companied by Major Frederick Mahan (re- tired) of the Engineer Corps, to study the Russian waterways. While here Mr. Burton received every courtesy from the officials, who assisted him in making his observations and placed an electric launch at his ‘disposal for the examination of Berlin's water front. ———— Sings at Covent Garden. * LONDON, July 25.—Miss Carrie Bride- well, the American contralto, . appeared at Covent Garden this week in “Rigo- letto.” dent of the Reichsbank, gave 'a dinner “to~ the American and Mexican Monetary Commissioners vesterday evening. United States ———— Wins King’s Prize. BISLEY, England, July 25.—The King's prize and gold medal were won to-day by Color Sergeant Davis of the Third Gla- morgan Volunteers, with a score of 311 den disappearance from general's office. Lord Roberts has been for years a close friend of the Marlborough family, and it was through him that the Duke was ap- pointed. If his influence czn carry any weight the Duke and Duchess will go to India. The Duke would rather stay at home, but it is the Duchess' ambition to go to some place where she can find a wider field for the display of her munifi- cence and generosity. She is not afraid to say that she is tired of idle social func- tions and those who assoclate with her can see that she is bored by many of the gatherings and entertainments she is call- ed upon to patronize. “I like to be doing some useful work,” she remarked to a snurse at one of the London hospitals a few days ago, and after lifting up a sick child she continued, “Fow + would love to be a nurse!” Miss Florence Hayward, special repre- the paymaster MRS. GUILD GUEST OF PRINCESS American Sculptor Wins Honor in German Capital. + ERLIN, July 25.—Mrs. Cadwallader B Guild, the American scufptor, re- cently returned here from Kiel, where she went to attend the re- as the guest of Princess Henry of While there Mrs. Guild made a e Princess, which the artist in- tends to exhibit at the St. Louis Exposi- tion. . The'bust is now being cut in mar- ble in Italy. "Dr. Lewald, the exposition commissioner of Germany, wanted a copy for the Deutsche Haus, but the éxposition authorities informed Mrs. Guild that American artists living abroad can ex- hibit' only in the American art depart- ment. 'Discussing her visit to the Prin- cess, Mrs. Guild gives a charming picture of Prince Henry's family life. Mrs. Guild recently finished a bust of President Lincoln which greatly pleases the traveling Americans who have seen it. —_——— ¥rench Legislators Return. LONDON, July %.—The French legis- lators forming the arbitration group who had been visiting here left London for Paris to-day. Sir Henry Campbell-Ban- nerman and other members of Parliament bid them farewell at the railroad station. sentative here for the St. Louls Expvosi- tion, has returned to London from Italy. She has taken her former apartment in Marlborough Mansions, Victoria street. Mrs. Potter Palmer of Chicago is auto- mobiling from Paris to London. She ex- pects to stop for a little while at Trou- ville and then come on to England. She has engaged a suite of rooms at the Carl- ton Hotel. An American party now in London—on their way to Norway, Sweden and Rus- sia—includes the Misses Matilda H. and Jean M. Smith of Alleghany, Pa.; Mrs. Miss Chapman, of A. Howe, of Marl- Mrs. J. L. Mason, of Oak- Mr. and Mrs. Thomas M. Montgomery, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and John M. and Mrs. Joshua Reynolds, of Las Vegas, N. M. The party left New York June 9 and expect to be back im the United States early in September. Sarah A. Weir of Brookline, Mass.; c. Andover, B. Gould and lIsabel S. Mass.; F.