“Cheapness”

The principle of co-partnership is capable of an adoption that is more or less complete, and it is, in its most perfect form, also the most perfect realization of the principles of co-operative industry. The place that the South London example is taking in the minds of many of those who are most keen for industrial and social progress, is reflected by the references made to it by Mr. E. O. Greening, a co-operator of nearly fifty years' standing, in his inaugural address delivered to the Co-operative Congress of 1904. Mr. Greening claims that the South Metropolitan Gas Company now constitutes a 'complete co-operative co-partnership' in which 'capital, custom, and labour are united by a bond of common interest'. The South Metropolitan Gas Company is the most conspicuous illustration of the successful adoption in capitalistic undertakings of the principle of co-partnership that this country can show, and its example is probably destined to be followed in many directions.