ABSTRACT
In 1851 they began to lend to the Corn MiU Society, on account of goods to come in. Unfortunatuly, the goods sent in--namely the flour, was of an inferior quality. This was owing to two causesfirst, the Corn Society being short of capital, was obliged to buy where it could get credit, instead of where it could get the best corn ; being in the power of him who gave credit, they were often compelled to accept an inferior article at a high price. Second, there was a want of skill in the head miller-in the grinding department. The "Equitable Pioneer Society'' decided to sell no flour but the " Rochdale Corn Mill Society's,'' and that being inferior, of course the sale fell off. 1 This is another of those little crevices in the walls of a popular experiment through which the selfishness of human nature peeps out. Of course a man who pays a dearer rate than his neighbour for any article taxes himself to that amount ; but, in a public movement, this is one of those liabilities which every man who would advance it must be prepared to encounter. When the support of the purchasers at the Store began to drop off by this refusal to take the flour, it brought on a crisis in the Co-operative Society. By the end of the third quarter of 1851, the Corn Mill had lost £441. 2 This produced a panic in the Store, which was considered, by its investments, to be implicated in the fall of the Corn MilL It was soon rumoured that the Store would fail, and some of the members proposed that the Corn Mill business be abandoned. Others suggested that each member of the Store should subscribe a pound to cover the loss, an~ clear out of it. But as the Corn Mill held its meetings at the Pioneers' Store, and its leading members belonged to the Store, Mr. Smithies considered that their honour was compromised if they were defeated; and insisted, with much energy, that the name of "Pioueers" must be given up, unless they went on altogether. Had the Mill been brought to the hammer at this time, there would not have been realised ten shillings in the pound. This was the point to try their faith in co-operation. The members did not fail. Some brought all the money they could collect together to enable the difficulties to be conquered; a few, as usual in these cases, fell back. In the first place, amid those who distinguished themselves to avert the disaster of failure, all agree to name Abraham Greenwood, whose long and protracted devotion to this work cost him his health, and nearly his life. How much has depended, in the fate of the Store, on the honesty of its officers, may be seen from the disasters of the Corn Mill, arising from defects of character in some of its servants. One miller systematically went to Manchester, instead of
30HISTORYOFTHEROCHDALEPIONEERS.
