Lord Grey delivered an admirable address at the opening of
the Ninth Congress of the International Co-operative Alliance at Glasgow on Monday. After welcoming the 600 dele- gates, who represent over twenty million members of 130,000 societies in the twenty-four nations incorporated in the Alliance, Lord Grey reviewed the growth of the movement since the first International Congress, which he opened in 1895. It was now within their power, he believed, to secure the triumphant realization of a future co-operative international common- wealth, which would one day be co-equal and co-extensive with the whole civilized world. To achieve that end involved the carrying out of certain essential principles—above all, that the movement should not be a class movement, nor a political movement, nor a sectarian movement. It was a movement of a purely social and voluntary character, unfettered by State control, with no resemblance to either trust or combine, which met the wants of both producer and consumer more effectively and at less cost, which increased the fund avail- able for higher wages and which eliminated every unnecessary middleman. The moral advantages of co-operation, he added, were not less conspicuous or important, since co-operation showed how the warring forces of labour and capital could be reconciled with advantage to all concerned.
Previous page
