JUSTIFIABLE PROFITS.
Last week's meeting of the Army and Navy Co-operative Society occurred too late for me to make any comment in the last issue of the Spectator upon the Chairman's speech. I am constrained to do so, however, not merely because once again Lord Ebury was able to disclose a thoroughly satis- factory position from the shareholders' point of view, but because I consider that the profits of the Army and Navy Stores unquestionably fall into the category where they may well challenge that spirit of cavilling against profit- making, which was always so deplored by the late Mr. St. Loe Strachey. The chapter in one of his more recent books on the alleged crime of making profits is well worth perusal. Strachey, of course, maintaining that it was possible for an individual or a concern to make profits and at the same time perform a real service to the community. Such, I think, may fairly be said to be the case with thetArmy and Navy Stores, where a satisfactory dividend is largely due to the smallness of the capital in proportion to the turnover of the business, but where the general margin of profits on turnover is only about 5 per cent. net. In fact, the Society seems able to challenge publicly a comparison of its prices with the general price level, showing that the consumer, so far from suffering, benefits by the enterprise represented by the Society and the eXcellent organizing forces behind it.
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