ABSTRACT
The tendency towards a decline in the real value of average capital holdings is, however, due also to another factor—the great increase in alternative openings for the investment of working-class savings. The Wholesale Societies draw most of their capital from the local Consumers’ Societies, which look to them for dividends on their purchases as well as for interest. Out of the total of 2,271,000 persons employed in distribution, the retail Co-operative Societies employed about 218,000 and the Wholesale Societies another 12,500—but these figures include transport workers employed by the retail societies. Co-operative experience in competing for licences has been an important factor in strengthening Co-operators’ opposition to any proposal for permanent licensing of shops, designed to keep their number down to what is really needed for efficient service of the public.
