They had faith in the Co-operative principle, however, and what they could not do as individuals they fancied they would be able to do in combination. They reasoned that, if a number of people by combining together could procure the goods they needed more cheaply than any one of them alone could do, there was no good reason why a number of societies by combining together could not do what no one of them acting alone was strong enough to do. It is to Mr Gabriel Thomson of St Rollox Society, then treasurer of the newly formed S.C.W.S., that the honour of first bringing the idea of a federated bakery publicly before the co-operators of the West belongs. The first idea was that the work should be undertaken by the recently-formed Wholesale Society, but a little consideration showed that this plan was hardly feasible. It was thought that it would scarcely be right to adventure the capital of societies scattered all over Scotland in an undertaking from which many of them could not possibly derive any direct benefit, and so this idea was dropped, and finally it was decided to start a federated baking society. In the new venture St Rollox Society was the prime mover. In those days the men who controlled St Rollox Society believed in the infinite possibilities of the application of Co-operative principles. They were joined with other Glasgow societies in a drapery federation. They took up shares in the St Rollox Cooperage Society, in the Ironworks, and in the Oakmill Society, each as it arose, and to Co-operation they looked for escape from the exactions of the master bakers of Glasgow. A meeting was convened by them in the month of October 1868, and to that meeting Mr Gabriel Thomson read a paper on “Federation,” in which he dealt at length with the principle as it could be applied to the baking of bread. This paper so strongly influenced the delegates that there and then they approved of the principle, and went back to their societies to report. In a few weeks another meeting was called, which was attended by representatives from Barrhead, St Rollox, Paisley Provident, Paisley Equitable, Glasgow Eastern, Anderston, Parkhead, Johnstone, Howwood, Glasgow Southern, Motherwell, Lennoxtown, and others. At this meeting the proposal was discussed further, and at the close the delegates pledged themselves to go back to their societies and do all in their power to get these to take part in the formation of the federation. THE SOCIETY FORMED.