W.E.A. RAILWAY CLASS

Evening Star, Issue 23038, 17 August 1938, Page 2

W.E.A. RAILWAY CLASS

The meeting of the above was held in the Hillside Social Hall.-. The subject of the lecture, which Was given by Professor R. W. Souter, was ‘ Clash of Interests - Between Buyets and Producers.’ This clash, he said, was one of many that could only be solved by seeking the right blend of two principles—just as we had to seek a blend between liberty and order, between’individualism and Socialism, between competition and co-operation. All producers were also consumers. In simple and unrestricted competition- the- consumers’ interests were safeguarded by the rivalry to meet the consumers’ needs, and wants both in the matter of the goods and the prices. But to discuss the matter in such terms to-day was unreal. ; Even the older economists like March all recognised that combination and co-opera-tion had entered into the system for good and ill, even in the middle of the nineteenth century. The growth' of combination among employers and employees had sharpened the problem, particularly as consumers were comparatively weakly organised. A system of free competition need not be a disadvantage to producers, since they all as consumers might get_ the benefit really through the lowering of prices. Conversely it was doubtful whether universal combination would really necessarily be disadvantageous to consumers, since they would in turn benefit as recipients. However, there was actual conflict of interest, both in regard to efficiency and in regard to the more democratic organisation of economic society. The growth of consumer co-operatives hud tended to eliminate the middle men and to keep prices down, and this movement was furthered by large-scale buying. Finally their influence expanded to the field of production. Such organisations naturally appealed to the wage earner, because when he gained higher wages by organising he was often faced with higher prices for the good" he_ wanted, the employer passing on the increased labour cost.

Co-operation had developed differently in different countries—in Prance through producers’ societies, in Germany through co-operative societies, in Britain through consumers’ societies. The principles of modern consumers cooperation were that goods were ■ sold at current prices, and that the profits were distributed to the members, not in proportion to investment, but in proportion to purchases. The development had been remarkable, and in England more than one-third of all families had been in membership, and sales had amounted to £104,000,000. while the sales of the wholesalers’ operatives amounted to £216,000,000. They had also developed the producing side. However, the employees were not the controllers of the stores. They were simply wage earners. Here arose again the question of democratic control. In organising as consumers the co-operators had come to the problem of producer and consumer in another form. At the conclusion of the lecture Professor Souter was accorded a vote of thanks.