LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF, CALIFORNIA. 
 doss 
 
PROFIT-SHARING AND THE 
 LABOUR QUESTION 
 
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
PROFIT-SHARING 
 
 AND THE LABOUR QUESTION 
 
 BY 
 
 T. W. BUSHILL 
 
 M 
 
 A PROFIT-SHARING EMPLOYER 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SEDLEY TAYLOR 
 
 LATE FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE 
 AUTHOR OF "PROFIT-SHARING BETWEEN CAPITAL AND LABOUR" 
 
 " Our measures should be healing.'" BURKE 
 
 18 BURY STREET, LONDON, W.C. 
 1893 
 
 [All Rights Reserved] 
 
TO 
 
 F. B. 
 
 CO-OPERATORPATIENT AND TRUE. 
 
 109454 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 AT Mr. Bushill's request, I very gladly write a few words 
 introductory of his work. The sole justification I possess 
 for doing so lies in my having, in 1884, published the first 
 English book containing anything like a general survey of 
 profit-sharing undertakings in industry, agriculture and 
 trade. 
 
 The fact of my being personally unversed in "practical 
 business " was in some quarters seized on in order to 
 weaken the effect of my representations, although these 
 largely and avowedly consisted of direct translations from 
 statements made by foreign profit-sharing employers and 
 employed. It gives me, therefore, especial pleasure to be 
 allowed now to introduce an account of a particular instance 
 of successful profit-sharing by a writer whose position 
 absolutely excludes this form of depreciation, while the 
 fact of his firm being an English one cuts a second string 
 of the detractory bow, that profit-sharing "may be 
 all very well on the Continent, but will not do in this 
 country." 
 
 A treatise on, or history of, profit-sharing would be alike 
 out of place in this introduction, but I ask the reader's 
 attention to a few general remarks on that mode of re- 
 munerating labour, made solely on my own responsibility. 
 
 Mr. Mill has said that one of the modes in which the 
 Co-operative movement tends to increase the productiveness 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of labour, consists in "placing the labourers, as a mass, 
 in a relation to their work which would make it their 
 principle and their interest at present it is neither to 
 do the utmost, instead of the least "possible, in exchange 
 for their remuneration." 1 Profit-sharing in a private firm 
 or public company is a system which aims at effecting as 
 much of this change of relation as is compatible with 
 retaining in unimpaired efficiency the function of the trained 
 entrepreneur. It therefore would appear to appeal, not 
 only to employers who are willing to see a purely capitalistic 
 organisation of industry gradually replaced by one of a 
 completely associative character, but also to those who, though 
 they regard the entrepreneur's function as permanent and 
 indispensable, are prepared for reforms of a democratic 
 tendency which do not menace or undermine its authority. 
 Thus, enlightened and unterrified supporters of the existing 
 regime, and collectivists of all shades who recognise syste- 
 matic training of the working classes as an essential pre- 
 liminary to the realisation of their plans, might well accept 
 profit-sharing as the next step, which perhaps is all that is 
 definitely within the ken of any but our youngest and least 
 disillusioned social reformers. 
 
 There are, however, particular groups whose point of 
 view legitimately constitutes them the foes of profit-sharing. 
 Employers who conceive it to be their mission to extract 
 from " their hands " a maximum of work for a minimum of 
 wage, will rightly resist all modification of the existing 
 regime, which has too, in their eyes, the merit of " keeping 
 the workman in rib place." Similarly, workmen who 
 conceive the whole class of employers to be their natural 
 and unalterable enemies, will only be consistent in rejecting 
 1 Principles of Political Economy, Book iv. chap. vii. sec. 6. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 profit-sharing as presumably but a veiled attempt at further 
 exploitation of their labour. 
 
 The legitimate opponents of profit-sharing are thus those 
 employers, and those workmen, who agree in desiring what 
 the French call " la lutte des classes" and who only differ 
 from each other in wishing that in every bout of the 
 encounter their own class may fall uppermost. 
 
 As it is hardly fair to characterise the standpoints of 
 others without indicating one's own, I may be allowed to 
 say here that I regard profit-sharing, as I did at the time 
 of the 'Industrial Remuneration Conference' in 1885, 
 "not as a final solution of the labour-question, but as a 
 stage on the road towards co-operative production and the 
 emancipation of labour." 1 In support of this view, I will 
 quote, by way of conclusion, a passage from Mr. Mill 
 which still deserves, I think, not less than when it was 
 written, the attention of those whose industrial position 
 calls on them first for thought, and then for action : " In 
 the present stage of human progress, when ideas of equality 
 are daily spreading more widely among the poorer classes, 
 and can no longer be checked by anything short of the 
 entire suppression of printed discussion and even of 
 freedom of speech, it is not to be expected that the 
 division of the human race into two hereditary classes, 
 employers and employed, can be permanently maintained. 
 The relation is nearly as unsatisfactory to the payer of 
 wages as to the receiver. If the rich regard the poor as, 
 by a kind of natural law, their servants and dependents, 
 the rich in their turn are regarded as a mere prey and 
 pasture for the poor ; the subject of demands and expecta- 
 tions wholly indefinite, increasing in extent with every 
 1 Report (Cassell & Co., 1885), p. 335. 
 
io INTRODUCTION. 
 
 concession made to them. The total absence of regard 
 for justice or fairness in the relations between the two is 
 as marked on the side of the employed as on that of the 
 employers. We look in vain among the working classes 
 in general for the just pride which will choose to give 
 good work for good wages ; for the most part, their sole 
 endeavour is to receive as much, and return as little in the 
 shape of service, as possible. It will sooner or later become 
 insupportable to the employing classes, to live in close and 
 hourly contact with persons whose interests are in hostility 
 to them. Capitalists are almost as much interested as 
 labourers in placing the operations of industry on such a 
 footing that those who labour for them may feel the same 
 interest in the work which is felt by those who labour on 
 their own account." 1 
 
 SEDLEY TAYLOR. 
 
 1 J. S. Mill, Principles of Political Economy, Book iv. chap. vii. 
 sec. 4. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As an apology for placing a book before the public an 
 apology specially called for in the case of a business man 
 the writer would plead the advice of Mr. Sedley Taylor, 
 who, after reading a report of the evidence on Profit- 
 Sharing recently given before the Royal Commission on 
 Labour, wrote : " I hope you will publish the matter in a 
 separate form ; such a publication would have one palpable 
 recommendation, viz. that of being the work of an employer 
 of labour who himself practises successfully the system 
 about which he writes, and who gives the opinions of his 
 own employees." Further, the receipt of numerous inquiries 
 from business firms for information respecting profit-sharing 
 has created a special occasion for the present publication. 
 
 Business men will, it may be hoped, recognise the draw- 
 backs inseparable from such a proceeding, necessitating, 
 as it does, the unveiling to a large extent of the internal 
 economy of the writer's establishment. Only a swarm of 
 exceptionally well-behaved bees should be exhibited under 
 a glass hive. And one is only too often reminded that, 
 under the existing state of competition, business life is 
 almost necessarily attended with many failings. In the 
 attempt, however, to do one's duty towards the community 
 at large, one is often called on to face the possibilities of 
 misunderstanding and misinterpretation. 
 
 A business man has at least the advantage of being 
 under no necessity to apologise for the absence of literary 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 style in his book ; the writer's efforts have been concen- 
 trated upon the endeavour to give a truthful representation 
 of the experiment which is the basis of the work, and to 
 avoid the intrusion of any rosy colouring upon his canvas. 
 
 The writer has pleasure in making grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of the very important help rendered to him by Mr. 
 Sedley Taylor in the preparation of this publication; he 
 also feels indebted to the Rev. W. J. Henderson, of 
 Coventry, for his kindness in looking through the proof- 
 sheets, and to Mr. D. F. Schloss, of London, for supplying 
 him with much valuable information respecting Trade 
 Unions and other matters. 
 
 A summons to give evidence before a Labour Commis- 
 sion naturally led to the endeavour to appreciate, as 
 comprehensively as might be, the trend of the forces now 
 operating in determining the social condition of the people. 
 Thanks to the generous nature of his active partner, and to 
 the loyalty of his staff, an opportunity has been afforded the 
 writer to step aside for a time from the mill-round of daily 
 duties. The review of the situation which he has thus been 
 enabled to take has led him to form increased hopes as to 
 the measure of comfort attainable by the honest members 
 of all classes. 
 
 On the one hand, from observation, the writer has noted 
 the modest livelihood which, with thriftiness, may admit of 
 a thoroughly comfortable life to the artisan; and, on the 
 other hand, from experience he can testify to the moderate 
 style of expenditure which may provide for the employer an 
 abundant degree of real enjoyment. But this is not all. 
 
 The social reformer has hitherto based his hopes of 
 ameliorating the lot of the mass of the people on curbing 
 the greed and checking the thoughtlessness whereby undue 
 proportions of wealth have been clutched and enjoyed 
 
PREFACE. 13 
 
 by a comparative few. He has sought, whether through 
 labour combination or legislative action, to arrest or even 
 to reverse all tendencies which would make the rich richer. 
 But there is a new hope dawning, based on the discovery 
 that under modern achievements of invention and of 
 moralised economics, the concerted energies of employers 
 and employed may be made productive of an immensely 
 increased sum of wealth. All results, therefore, of mere 
 arithmetic e.g. the present total national income divided 
 by the number of the existing population seem, in the 
 light of this consideration, to be utterly beside the mark. 
 
 It is with deep satisfaction that the practical student of 
 industrial life begins to distinguish an increasing group of 
 indications which prove the inhuman course to be, in reality, 
 the senseless course, the unhealthy labour condition to be 
 the wasteful condition, and the ill-educated, ill-fed, ill- 
 housed, ill-paid, overworked " hand " to be the " unprofitable 
 servant." The benign bearing of this consideration upon 
 the results of competition, which at present seems to be a 
 necessary dispensation, will not be overlooked. 
 
 The logical deduction from these premises is, that 
 employers who have viewed in an unsympathetic way all 
 attempts on the part of working men to increase their 
 wages, or to improve their labour conditions, have pursued 
 a mistaken policy. As a counterpart to this reflection, it 
 should be further stated, that it is most desirable that 
 friends of the working classes should endeavour following 
 Carlyle's advice to distinguish between " what the people 
 need, and what they think they need." 
 
 Profit-sharing is not herein advocated as a panacea, or 
 as equally desirable in every case. The main purpose of 
 the publication is to induce the cultivation of the sane and 
 enlightened spirit which has usually been the actuating 
 
14 PREFACE. 
 
 motive of profit-sharers ; if this be cherished, its manifesta- 
 tion and application can safely be left to the conscience of 
 the individual. But while still desirous of avoiding the 
 style of the self-engrossed " faddist," the writer is bound to 
 say that his recent critical examination of profit-sharing has 
 led him to place a higher estimate on the plan than he had 
 held before. If only the system be granted by workmen 
 and masters an unprejudiced examination, he ventures to 
 anticipate that both classes will admit that profit-sharing 
 offers a most simple, practicable, and efficient means for 
 elevating, both economically and morally, the lot of the 
 worker, and for preserving the essential functions and the 
 fair remuneration of the employer. 
 
 It will be observed that, in the letters now published 
 for the first time, there is testimony of a character generally 
 favourable to profit-sharing, from co-operators, Trade 
 Unionists, employers, and capitalists. Perhaps a still more 
 striking testimony is furnished by the secret plebiscite of 
 the employees primarily concerned in the experiment, in 
 which an unanimously favourable verdict was given by a 
 staff of a mixed character, comprising society and non- 
 society men. 
 
 As the writer does not propose to divest himself of the 
 role of a " witness," readers may needfully be reminded that 
 a man in such a position is, by common consent, absolved 
 from charges of egotism. He will count himself fortunate, 
 and rewarded above his deserts, if he receives from public 
 opinion as attentive a hearing as that which was granted to 
 him, with so much courtesy, by the Royal Commission on 
 Labour in Westminster Hall. 
 
 T. W. B. 
 
 BRANTWOOD, COVENTRY, 
 New Year's Eve, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION (BY MR. SEDLEY TAYLOR), . 7 
 
 PREFACE, . . . . . .11 
 
 MAIN DIVISIONS. 
 
 ON PROFIT-SHARING IN THE WRITER'S FIRM, CHAPS. I. to IV. 
 ON THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM GENERALLY, ,, V. to VII. 
 ON LABOUR SUBJECTS GENERALLY, . ,, VIII. to XII. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING AS PRACTISED BY THOMAS BUSHILL 
 & SONS, COVENTRY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS 
 
 History of Firm Nature of Business Conditions of Labour 
 
 Remuneration, ...... 23 
 
 2. CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING UP TO PROFIT-SHARING, . 24 
 
 3. DESCRIPTION OF SCHEME 
 
 Method of Profit-Sharing Beneficiaries and Allotment of 
 Bonus Rights of Employees who Leave Withdrawal of 
 Provident Fund Provident Fund Interest and Security 
 Consulting Committee Partnership not Conferred, . 25 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. EFFECTS OF SCHEME FROM POINT OF VIEW OF THE 
 
 EMPLOYEES 
 
 Plebiscite taken to obtain Unconstrained Opinions Ballot 
 Opinions of Employees Financial Results to Employees 
 Temporary Retention of Provident Funds Bearing of 
 Provident Funds upon National Pension Schemes Weak 
 Point in Provident Funds Precaution against Fluctua- 
 tions from Bad Debts Bonus not intended to affect 
 Ordinary Wages Relations with Trade Unionism 
 Stimulus to mutual Good Feeling, . . .28 
 
 5. EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYERS' POINT OF VIEW 
 
 Economical Gains Moral Gains Qualifications Jottings 
 
 of Experience from Note-Book, . .40 
 
 6. CAUSES ASSIGNABLE FOR SUCCESS ATTAINED, . . 47 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 "CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER BEFORE THE 
 LABOUR COMMISSION. 
 
 EVIDENCE GIVEN IN REPLY TO QUESTIONS BY 
 
 Mr. Dale Mr. Tait Professor Marshall Mr. Courtney 
 
 Mr. Livesey Mr. Tom Mann, . . -49 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO EMPLOYEES. 
 
 AT INAUGURAL MEETING, October 13, 1888, . . 71 
 
 AT ANNUAL MEETING, September 28, 1889, . . 77 
 
 20, 1890, . . 83 
 
 19, 1891, 85 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 
 
 From Business Men. Robert Duncan Richard Tangye C. J. 
 Angus Chas. P. Newman R. A. Hadfield Sir Henry 
 Stephenson W. T. Shaw C. R. Drysdale Chas. Shuffle- 
 botham F. W. Franklin R. Hilton Alex. Horn 
 Wm. Allan Thomas Burt A. F. Hills Albert Grey, . 89 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 PAGE 
 
 From Preachers and Teachers. The Archbishop of Canterbury 
 Dr. Clifford Sedley Taylor, Esq. G. J. Holyoake, Esq. 
 Thomas Hughes, Esq., Q.C. N. P. Oilman, Esq., . 108 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. 
 
 1. DEFINITION,. . . . . . .113 
 
 2. CLASSIFICATION, . . . . . .117 
 
 3. METHODS, . . . . . . .119 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STATISTICS RESPECTING PROFIT-SHARING FIRMS. 
 
 1. GROWTH OF THE MOVEMENT, . . . .121 
 
 2. LIST OF PRESENT PROFIT-SHARING FIRMS, . . 122 
 
 3. INCREASE OF REMUNERATION UNDER PROFIT-SHARING, 126 
 
 4. DISCONTINUED CASES, . . . . .127 
 
 5. PROFIT-SHARING SOCIETIES, . . . .129 
 
 6. SUGGESTED LINES FOR A SOCIETY IN GREAT BRITAIN, . 132 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING IN RELATION TO OTHER SYSTEMS. 
 
 1. PROFIT-SHARING AND GAIN-SHARING, . . .135 
 
 2. PROFIT-SHARING AND TRADE UNIONISM 
 
 Profit-sharing no substitute for Trade Unionism Cases with 
 Anti-Strike Clause Cases explicitly providing for Trade 
 Union Membership No Essential Antagonism High 
 Wages under Trade Unionism sometimes increase Price 
 of Product High Weekly Wages a Qualified Benefit- 
 Fair play for Profit-Sharing, .... 136 
 
 3. PROFIT-SHARING AND CO-OPERATIVE PRODUCTION 
 
 Profit -Sharing retains Service of trained Entrepreneur 
 Working Men often Deficient in Mutual Confidence 
 Social Influence of Employer worth conserving, . .143 
 
 2 
 
i8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 4. POSSIBLE FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS, . . .145 
 
 5. ESTIMATE OF PROFIT-SHARING, . . . .146 
 
 6. RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE STARTING OF SCHEMES, 147 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SHORTENING OF WORKING HOURS. 
 
 1. REDUCTION OF HOURS WITH WRITER'S FIRM, . . 151 
 
 2. MEANS ADOPTED TO MAKE UP LOST TIME, . . 153 
 
 3. RESULTS so FAR SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYERS, . 153 
 
 4. RESULTS so FAR SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYEES (Ballot 
 
 Opinions), . . . . . * 154 
 
 5. ON THE "EIGHT HOURS DAY," . . . .156 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DESIRABLE LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 
 DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 1. BONUS TO BE RECOVERABLE LIKE WAGES, . .159 
 
 2. NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME, . . . .159 
 
 3. EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS, . . . . .161 
 
 4. AN EFFECTIVE LABOUR DEPARTMENT, . . .161 
 
 5. ALTERATIONS IN POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK REGULA- 
 
 TIONS, ....... 163 
 
 6. A DECIMAL SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTS, . . .164 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE LINE OF DELIVERANCE. 
 
 i. As TO THE ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF WORKMEN 
 
 Need for Thrift and Temperance Need for Study of 
 
 Economics, etc. Need for Reasonableness, . . 167 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2. As TO THE ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS 
 
 A Simple Mode of Life Desirable Attitude towards Work- 
 men Interest in Industrial Questions Attitude towards 
 "Paid Agitators," . . . . 174 
 
 3. CONCLUSION, . . . . . ..184 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 PRESS EXTRACTS ON LABOUR AND PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 1. ON LABOUR AND THE LABOUR COMMISSION, Daily 
 
 Chronicle, February 25, 1891, .... 186 
 
 2. ON THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE, BY N. O. NELSON, in 
 
 Employer and Employed, October 1892, . . .190 
 
 3. ATTITUDE OF SOME SOCIALISTS TOWARDS EMPLOYERS, 
 
 The Christian Socialist, November 1890, . . 194 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OBITER DICTA ON LABOUR SUBJECTS. 
 
 1. BEARING OF A BETTER DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL 
 
 INCOME UPON "THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION," . 199 
 
 2. TECHNICAL EDUCATION FOR THE Entrepreneur, . .201 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Copy of Profit- Sharing Rules (T. Bushill & Sons), . . 206 
 
 Forms for necessary Account Books, . . . .213 
 
 Copy of "Equitable Charge" (Security for Provident Fund), . 216 
 
 Remainder of Ballot Opinions respecting Profit- Sharing, . 218 
 
 Coventry Times on the Labour Commission, . . .231 
 
 General Form for Simple Profit -Sharing, . . . 233 
 
 List of Publications on Profit-Sharing, etc., . . . 238 
 
 Rules of Works (T. Bushill & Sons), . . . .240 
 
 Notices to Employees respecting Fees, Holidays, etc., . 245 
 Rules of Sick and Benevolent Funds, . ...... 247 
 
 Sanitary and other Factory Recommendations, . . . 255 
 
 INDEX, ' . .259 
 
t( A question arises here : Whether, in some ulterior, perhaps some 
 not far distant stage of this 'Chivalry of Labour,' your Master-Worker 
 may not find it possible, and needful, to grant his Workers permanent 
 interest in his enterprise and theirs? So that it become, in practical 
 result, what in essential fact and justice it ever is, a joint enterprise ; 
 all men, from the Chief Master down to the lowest Operative, 
 economically as well as loyally concerned for it ? Which question I 
 do not answer. The answer, near or else far, is perhaps, Yes ; and 
 yet one knows the difficulties. Despotism is essential in most enter- 
 prises ; I am told, they do not tolerate 'freedom of debate' onboard 
 a Seventy-four ! Republican senate and plebiscita would not answer 
 well in Cotton Mills. And yet observe there too : Freedom, not 
 nomad's or ape's Freedom, but man's Freedom ; this is indispensable. 
 We must have it, and will have it ! To reconcile Despotism with 
 Freedom : well, is that such a mystery ? Do you not already know 
 the way? It is to make your Despotism just. Rigorous as Destiny ; 
 but just too, as Destiny and its Laws. The Laws of God : all men 
 obey these, and have no 'Freedom' at all but in obeying them. The 
 way is already known, part of the way ; and courage and some other 
 qualities are needed for walking on it " (Past and Present, Carlyle, 
 1843). 
 
ROYAL COMMISSION ON LABOUR. 
 
 (SITTING AS A WHOLE. TWELFTH DAY.) 
 
 AT the invitation of the Commission, Mr. T. W. Bushill, 
 of Coventry, attended the sitting in the Commission Room, 
 Westminster Hall, on December i, 1892, to give evidence 
 upon Profit-Sharing. 
 
 His Grace the DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE, K.G., presided, 
 and there were present 
 
 The Right Hon. A. J. MUN- 
 
 DELLA, M.P. 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir MICHAEL 
 HICKS-BEACH, Bart., M.P. 
 
 The Right Hon. LEONARD 
 COURTNEY, M.P. 
 
 Mr. T. BURT, M.P. 
 
 Mr. MICHAEL AUSTIN, M.P. 
 
 Mr. W. ABRAHAM, M.P. 
 
 Mr. GERALD W. BALFOUR, M.P. 
 
 Professor MARSHALL. 
 
 Mr. DAVID DALE (Chairman 
 
 of Group A). 
 Mr. J. C. BOLTON. 
 Mr. G. LIVESEY. 
 Mr. TOM MANN. 
 Mr. S. PLIMSOLL. 
 Mr. H. TAIT. 
 Mr. E. TROW. 
 Mr. W. TUNSTILL. 
 
 Mr. JOHN BURNETT, ) 
 
 Mr. GEOFFREY DRAGE, \J""* Secretaries. 
 
 The substance of the witness' evidence-in-chief is em- 
 bodied, together with new matter, in Chapters I., V., VI., 
 VII., VIII., IX., and X. of the present publication. The 
 "cross-examination" will be found in Chapter II., being 
 a reprint (with parenthetic additions) of the official Report 
 E. 73,890 Ev. 12. 
 
 The matter is republished by the kind permission of the 
 Controller of H.M. Stationery Office. 
 
PROFIT-SHARING AND THE 
 LABOUR QUESTION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING AS PRACTISED BY THOMAS BUSHILL 
 & SONS, COVENTRY. 
 
 i. CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 History of Firm. 1 The business was commenced in a 
 small way in 1857 by my late father; the present partners 
 are my mother, my brother, and myself. I was ap- 
 prenticed to my father in 1873, at the age of fourteen. 
 Since his death, fourteen years ago, my brother and I have 
 been responsible for the active management of the business. 
 
 Nature of Business. Our business is printing, lithograph- 
 ing, bookbinding, box -making, pasteboard - making, and 
 several smaller cognate trades. We have no patents or 
 monopoly ; all our trade is secured in the competitive field. 
 
 Conditions of Labour Remuneration. The number of our 
 employees is 185. We employ no half-timers or married 
 
 1 The fact that the above matter was given in the form of answers to 
 the questions of the Chairman of the Labour Commission will explain 
 the personal style of expression. 
 
24 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 women. Seventy-nine are paid time-wage, 47 are premium 
 workers (that is to say, they are paid " progressive wages " l ), 
 and 59 are piece-workers. As regards the rate of pay, the 
 minimum wage of the letterpress printers, which may be 
 taken as a fair indication, is 28.$"., with id. per hour over- 
 time. We are working now fifty hours, the Trade Union 
 limit being fifty-five. Other wages, owing to their variety, 
 cannot well be given. The employment is fairly regular ; 
 out of the 185, 46 lost some time during the last twelve 
 months, and they lost an average of three days each per 
 year. In previous years, there has not been so much lost 
 time as that ; for several years there was none at all. We 
 reduced our working hours from fifty-four to fifty in October 
 1892. Our present hours are eight till one, two till six, 
 on Saturdays closing at one. 
 
 2. CIRCUMSTANCES LEADING UP TO PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 In order that a proper estimate may be formed of the 
 value of the experiment as a precedent, I ought perhaps to 
 state what led up to profit-sharing. In the year 1878, my 
 brother and I were left to carry on a sound and fair-sized 
 business. At the time of our father's death, however, the 
 business was barely developed, and the limited amount of 
 capital at our command made it for a short time doubtful 
 whether we could carry it on. Owing, however, to the 
 noble and genial character of my father, the employees and 
 the customers were well affected ; and with hard work, and, 
 as some thought, with the Divine blessing, the firm every 
 
 1 Under this method the worker is paid a fixed weekly wage with 
 the addition of a bonus on output. "Progressive wages" in some 
 trades have a piece-work basis. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF SCHEME. 25 
 
 year improved its position. Under the influences of a virile 
 Christian ministry, and of Ruskin's economic teaching, I 
 began to doubt whether the wage system, as generally 
 practised, was altogether justifiable, for 1 did not see how 
 the average workman could have a fair chance of a man's 
 share in life. About five years ago, during a talk at a 
 men's Bible class, which is attended by several of our own 
 workmen, a remark was made by a thoughtful mechanic to 
 the following effect : " He did not believe in the applauded 
 munificence of employers who built churches, or endowed 
 large charities out of a fortune which they had got together 
 while paying their men practically only a subsistence wage." 
 Mr. Sedley Taylor's little book on Profit- Sharing l seemed to 
 indicate a plan whereby the position of the employees might 
 be improved, and some provision be made for their future 
 needs ; my partners happily agreed to try at first, for one 
 year a scheme which was drawn up with the valuable aid 
 of Mr. Sedley Taylor, and a sympathetic legal adviser, Mr. 
 Browett, the Town Clerk of Coventry. The system became 
 operative in September 1888. 
 
 3. DESCRIPTION OF SCHEMED 
 
 Method of Profit- Sharing. In making out the profit and 
 loss account, the working capital of the partners for the 
 time being is credited with 5 per cent, interest, and from 
 the balance the clear profits a certain fixed sum, called 
 the " Reserved Limit," is credited to the partners as a first 
 
 1 Information as to the publisher and price of every English book 
 referred to in the text, will be found in the Appendix (p. 238). 
 
 2 A verbatim copy of the Rules will be found in the Appendix 
 (p. 206). 
 
26 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 charge for salaries of management and payment for risk, 
 and the residue is equally divided between the employees 
 and the firm. I may perhaps illustrate it by an example : 
 Supposing a firm, making an average profit of ^1000 a 
 year, were to start profit-sharing, it would fix the Reserved 
 Limit according to its sense of what was right, probably at 
 something less than ^1000 say at ^900. Then, if in the 
 following year, under the stimulus of profit-sharing, the 
 profits should go up to ^noo, the firm would get the first 
 charge of 900, plus half the unreserved portion, which 
 in this case would be ;ioo, that is to say, they would 
 get ;iooo and the employees would get 100. 
 
 The amount of the Reserved Limit is not made generally 
 known, but it is communicated to a chartered accountant, 
 and he certifies, year by year, what bonus, if any, has 
 accrued to the employees. It has not so far been altered 
 in our own case, but power is retained to raise or reduce it 
 prospectively at the commencement of any financial year. 
 
 Beneficiaries and Allotment of Bonus. In practice all the 
 employees, from the errand-boy to the head manager, parti- 
 cipate. The two qualifications are (i) to be a member of 
 the Works' Sick Club at the beginning of the financial year, 
 and (2) to have put in a request to participate. There is, of 
 course, no desire to force the scheme on any one, though as 
 a matter of fact every qualified person has put in that request. 
 
 The basis of the division is pro rata to the normal week's 
 wage. 
 
 Of each person's bonus one-third is paid in cash, and 
 two-thirds go to form or increase his provident fund. The 
 cash portion is paid through an individual account in the 
 savings bank, a course which was adopted with the idea of 
 encouraging thrift. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF SCHEME. 27 
 
 Rights of Employees who Leave. An employee leaving 
 in any regular way gets his bonus credited (not reckoning 
 fractions of a month) for the portion of the year during 
 which he has worked. In the event of embezzlement or 
 felony, the employee forfeits the whole of his provident 
 fund ; the firm have a first claim thereon for any actual 
 loss or damage inflicted, and the balance is at the disposal 
 of the employees' committee for the benefit of the employees 
 generally. 
 
 Withdrawal of Provident Fund. An employee attaining 
 the age of sixty-five, or on completing twenty-five years of 
 continuous services, receives his provident fund. An 
 immediate payment can be claimed, however, upon the 
 death of any employee, or by any female employee leaving 
 for marriage. Any employee leaving retains his full right 
 to his provident fund, and can claim it at the same time 
 or date as he would be entitled to do if he had not left. 
 The firm and the committee can jointly vote an earlier 
 payment at their discretion in such cases. 
 
 Provident Fund Interest and Security. As long as the 
 provident funds are held by the firm, interest at the rate 
 of 4 per cent, is credited to them. With regard to security, 
 the firm gives to two representative trustees security upon 
 property for the provident funds for the time being in their 
 hands. A copy of the deed or "Equitable Charge "will 
 be found in the Appendix (p. 216). In the case of a 
 limited liability company, the hypothecation of debentures 
 would seem to be a simple way of arranging such security. 
 Some valuable hints on this head will be found in Mr. 
 Rawson's useful book, Profit-Sharing Precedents. 
 
 Consulting Committee. The actual allotment of the 
 bonuses is self-acting, and is managed by the cashier, whose 
 
28 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 work is checked by the accountant ; but the Works' Sick 
 Club Committee form a Consulting Committee, and a 
 valuable channel of communication between the firm and 
 the employees under this scheme. 
 
 Partnership not Conferred. It is expressly provided that 
 the employees are to have neither the rights nor liabilities 
 of partnership. So far there has been no sign whatever of 
 troublesome interference with the conduct of the business 
 on the part of any of the employees ; the discipline, which 
 has never been bad in our works, was never so good as it 
 is at the present time. 
 
 The scheme can be terminated by the firm at the close 
 of any financial year. In such a case, the provident funds 
 would be payable to their owners on the following 3ist 
 day of December. 
 
 4. EFFECTS OF SCHEME FROM POINT OF VIEW OF 
 THE EMPLOYEES. 
 
 Plebiscite taken to obtain Unconstrained Opinions. It 
 seemed to be important and not very easy to get at the 
 real opinion of the employees on the subject. The value 
 of such testimony when given openly is naturally dis- 
 counted by misgivings as to how far it is affected by either 
 fear of censure or hope of reward. The matter was left 
 with the Consulting Committee of the employees ; our 
 manager, Mr. Sharp, whose co-operation throughout has 
 been most valuable, talked it over with them, and they 
 carried the following resolution : 
 
 COW LANE PRINTING WORKS, COVENTRY. 
 The Employees' Consulting Committee hears with satisfaction that 
 the "Royal Commission on Labour," now sitting, is seeking evidence 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 29 
 
 as to the success or non-success of the profit-sharing system, and with 
 a view to secure a free and independent expression of opinion from 
 each adult employee, they propose : 
 
 "That a paper be given out on Saturday, November I2th, to each 
 employee above the age of twenty-one, on which he may write 
 briefly (in ink) his opinion from his own point of view: 
 I. Of the principle of profit-sharing. 
 II. Of the results here (no figures to be mentioned). 
 III. Of the details of our system." 
 
 Own handwriting not necessary, and no name to be signed. A free 
 expression is invited. 
 
 If any one wishes to express an opinion on the Shortened Hours, the 
 space on the back of this paper should be used. 
 
 This course, as will doubtless be seen, promised for the 
 experiment a severe ordeal. There would be few of us 
 who would lightly invite the sending in of anonymous 
 letters even from the circle of our intimate friends. Papers 
 were issued to all the adult employees, numbering 69, and 
 the papers were handed back (in such a way as to guard 
 against any identification of the writer) by every one, with 
 the exception of one person who had left his paper at home. 
 Two of these papers were blank : seven of them, selected in 
 order to bring out special features of the system, are printed 
 in this chapter; and the remaining 59 will be found in the 
 Appendix (p. 218). 
 
 It was thought desirable to distinguish between the replies 
 of male and female workers, and this purpose was gained 
 by the use of distinctive coloured papers. No other 
 distinctive marks were allowed ; but since their receipt, the 
 opinions have been numbered consecutively for reference. 
 
 The papers are printed verbatim^ with the following 
 exceptions. Several passages have been omitted which 
 only gave descriptive details of the scheme; in two cases, 
 
3 o PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 private figures have been omitted ; and in one or two cases 
 slight verbal corrections (denoted by parentheses) have been 
 made, and punctuation has been added in order to make 
 the sense clear. 
 
 BALLOT OPINIONS OF EMPLOYEES. 
 
 (1.) Of the Principle of Profit- Sharing. A principle if 
 carried out by all masters would prove very beneficial ; for 
 master and employee would be working for each other's 
 interest. Master would be sympathising with employee, 
 and employee would feel a pleasure to work for master's 
 interest. 
 
 Of the Results here. The results at our own workshop 
 are very encouraging. When an employee knows that at 
 a certain age he or she has a little sum to which he can 
 lay claim to, the encouragement is very great, and vigour 
 that seemed spent revives. 
 
 (2.) I. I cordially approve of the principle of profit- 
 sharing, and I consider the results of the first four years' 
 working in this establishment to have been most satis- 
 factory. 
 
 II. The results have been good not only financially, but 
 also for creating a feeling of brotherhood and mutual 
 helpfulness throughout nearly the whole staff, and for 
 adding a new and pleasant zest to all our duties. 
 
 III. We understand better now than we did at first the 
 meaning of the scheme, how and where we can economise, 
 and where we may suggest. 
 
 I like to think that my provident fund cannot be drawn 
 upon for immediate use, but is safely locked up for the 
 future. It is a great stimulus to see the balance steadily 
 growing, and at the same time to know that it is a perfectly 
 safe investment under the ample security given by the firm. 
 Severe personal losses in the late Building Society smashes 
 have rudely shaken any thriftiness of character I ever 
 possessed, and consequently increased my appreciation of 
 
OF 
 
 UNIV 
 
 EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 31 
 
 this provident fund. I trust the firm will be willing to 
 assist me to find an equally secure investment, when it 
 comes to my return to withdraw it. I consider the annual 
 audit and general details to be thoroughly satisfactory. 
 
 (3.) I. The principle is very good, and undoubtedly 
 more beneficial to the workman than the employer. I look 
 upon it as a free gift, for I should have had to work had 
 nothing of the kind ever been started. I wish it had been 
 started years ago. 
 
 II. Results have been simply grand, and might be kept 
 up or even beaten if the foremen in each department would 
 take the lead and set the example. . . . 
 
 III. All right. 
 
 (4.) The principle of profit-sharing to my mind is an 
 exceedingly good one, as it decidedly tends to promote that 
 peace and harmony which should exist between all em- 
 ployers and employees. In fact, it is a principle which I 
 should like to see established among all working classes. 
 
 Of the result here since the system has been in vogue, I 
 feel sure a better understanding now exists than formerly ; 
 because, in the first place, the men recognise the fact that 
 by doing better work he benefits himself as well as his 
 employers. In the second place, I believe it has been the 
 means of strengthening the good feeling which is essential 
 for the welfare of every community. 
 
 Of the details of our system, I do not think they could be 
 improved upon. The method of distribution is to my mind 
 the best possible arrangement, which, while it gives us the 
 pleasure of having a portion at the time, is also the best 
 and surest way of doing that for which it was intended 
 namely, providing for old age. That it may be long 
 continued here with equal success, and copied elsewhere, is 
 my sincere wish. 
 
 (5.) I. Of the Principle of Profit-Sharing. I am sure it 
 is by all means the best thing that ever has been brought 
 forward for the benefit of employees, not only for its good 
 
32 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 sources, but for the way in which it causes that great motto 
 to be preached, " Help one another." 
 
 II. Of the Results here. It is with my great desire that 
 the results have proved to be a great satisfaction, owing to 
 competition and shortness of trade. I feel that we, the 
 employees, generally have done our very best endeavours to 
 help our masters to this great success; not only us, but 
 owing to masters economising powers which they possess in 
 the buying of materials used, for these splendid results we 
 receive. 
 
 III. Of the Details of our System. We are not " sweaters," 
 nor " match-box makers," but we are the people who, by 
 means of doing our work well, keep to it without always 
 having to be watched ; then we know ourselves, that which 
 we waste we have to make good, so by this cause it is a 
 sure system that it is to our advantage we do our utmost to 
 please our masters. 
 
 (6.) I. I think that the principle of profit-sharing as 
 carried out by Messrs. Bushill & Sons is an excellent 
 scheme, as the money accruing therefrom to each individual 
 forms a nucleus or " nest egg " of a saving or thrifty person, 
 and acts also as an incentive for those who are not so 
 inclined. Then again, at the- end of twenty-five years' 
 service (if the scheme is still in existence), a person would 
 have a small competence of his own, and if they have been 
 careful also, they should be able to live in comfortable 
 circumstances when unable to work. 
 
 II. I think the results of the scheme as tried at Messrs. 
 Bushill & Sons most satisfactory and successful. 
 
 III. I consider the details of the scheme are carried out 
 most harmoniously amongst the employees, who appear to 
 be in thorough accord with the masters upon the subject of 
 detail in the working of the scheme. 
 
 Ballot Opinion No. 7 will be found on p. 38. The remainder of 
 the Ballot Opinions are given in the Appendix (p. 218). 
 
 Financial Results to Employees. It is found inexpedient 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 33 
 
 to publish the exact figures. Some competitors and cus- 
 tomers are inclined to make a use of the information, 
 which, although irrational, is annoying. (An abstract of the 
 Bonus and Provident Fund Accounts, giving full details for 
 the past four years, was handed in for the private informa- 
 tion of the Commissioners.) 
 
 In our own case, the workpeople are satisfied with our 
 regular accountant's certificate ; but in some cases it would 
 be desirable for a second accountant to be appointed by 
 the men's committee, and paid out of the bonus fund. 1 
 
 With regard to the general satisfaction of the people as 
 to the results, the ballot opinions give striking evidence. 
 
 Temporary Retention of Provident Funds. The fact must 
 not be overlooked that one-third part of each person's bonus 
 is paid out in cash. The accumulating provident funds 
 are payable after twenty-five years' service, or at sixty-five 
 years of age, at disablement or death, and to females leaving 
 for marriage. But the temporary retention of the funds 
 seems to demand some explanation. 
 
 In the first place, it may be remarked that, as regards the 
 retention of part of the additional income, many employers 
 are practically in a similar position. It is arranged fre- 
 quently, as in our own case, that the partners draw out 
 only enough to live upon, and that the balance is left in the 
 business for extensions, etc. A partaer's saving, therefore, 
 is to a large extent automatic. The question does not seem 
 to have been duly considered as to whether the more speedy 
 economical advance of the average employer, as compared 
 
 1 In 1892, at the suggestion of our accountant, it was decided to 
 allow one of the workmen (who was nominated by the Employees' 
 Committee) to inspect the Provident Fund Cash Account, year by 
 year. 
 
 3 
 
34 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 with that of the average workman, does not to a pronounced 
 degree just depend upon this accident. Take the case of 
 an employer with an income of, say, ^1000 a year (the 
 majority of employers would be only too glad to have such 
 an income) ; my strong conviction is that he would not be 
 half so likely to save a competency for old age if he drew 20 
 in cash every Saturday, as he is likely to do under the con- 
 ditions usually existing, when a certain portion of his income 
 does not reach him in cash at all. A professional friend 
 communicates to me, in support of this contention, his con- 
 viction that for the same reason professional men do not as 
 a rule save so much as employers. This retention, then, 
 of the provident fund under such a scheme as ours removes 
 from the workmen what I think to be a serious disadvantage. 
 In their case, especially, thrift is often a tender plant, and 
 requires some nursing. As time goes on, perhaps it will be 
 possible to arrange to pay out a provident fund earlier if 
 the owner wanted, for example, to build a house. 
 
 It is remarkable that when our employees are asked for criti- 
 cism of the details of the scheme, not one of them has asked 
 for a change of this provision. As their ballot opinions 
 will show, it is clear that some of them even express 
 a liking for this provision. The way the interest, added 
 year by year, makes the total grow is impressive to them. 
 One of our foremen said to the cashier on receiving his book, 
 " I never expected to be worth that much, all my life." But 
 it is important to notice that this feeling of satisfaction is 
 acquired, and is not natural. When the scheme was started 
 I feel sure that an overwhelming majority of our people 
 would have preferred the whole bonus to have been paid 
 out in cash. My belief is that experience has made them 
 wiser, as I believe it would with hosts of other wage- 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 35 
 
 earners. Besides, it would be impossible for them else- 
 where to get so safe a 4 per cent, investment for such small 
 sums. 
 
 I have received a letter which gives gratifying evidence 
 of a similar inclination on the part of workmen in another 
 quarter, from the firm of Ross & Duncan, Engineers at 
 Glasgow. This firm, by the way, has been erroneously 
 reported to have tried profit-sharing, and to have found it 
 a failure. The fact is, that they suspended their profit- 
 sharing for a short time for a disciplinary purpose. They 
 write (Nov. 29, 1892): 
 
 "In 1892 we offered the workmen an alternative, either 
 to have a larger sum-total on condition of putting a con- 
 siderable portion into the Works' Benefit Society, which is 
 managed by the men, or a smaller total unconditionally 
 into their hands. We are pleased to say, that after a little 
 deliberation, the men chose the former, though it has put 
 less money actually into their pockets." 
 
 My impression, moreover, is that a firm could, under such 
 an arrangement as ours, afford to give a more liberal bonus 
 than otherwise. It would be crippling to the financing of 
 some growing business to pay out the whole of the bonus 
 yearly. Even if the provident funds cannot be made ab- 
 solutely secure, if the workmen are to have some of the 
 advantages of co-operation, I do not see why they should 
 be placed in a better position in this respect, relatively, than 
 the employer. // should be noted that the workman receives 
 his ordinary weekly wage without risk or deduction. 
 
 There is a great deal in a man's sense that he has some 
 stake of capital in a concern. Profit-sharing has been for 
 many years in force in the Maison Goffinon (now Barbas, 
 Tassart et Balas) of Paris. During the troublous times of the 
 
36 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Commune in 1871, it is narrated that the workmen regularly 
 mounted guard on their employers' premises. 1 Among the 
 criticisms of profit-sharing given in Mr. D. F. Schloss' useful 
 book 2 (it should be stated that Mr. Schloss fully believes 
 that profit-sharing is a desirable institution in many cases, 
 and under many conditions) it is objected that profit- 
 sharing and similar methods tend " to get the men working 
 under them out of line with their fellows." There may 
 have been good reason for drawing attention to this point, 
 the reported action of the workmen in the Maison 
 Leclaire in 1876 was certainly not calculated to add to the 
 good fame of profit-sharing, but the foregoing incident 
 suggests the reflection that, under exceptional circumstances 
 of popular aberration, this tendency may be of distinct 
 public utility. 
 
 Bearing of Provident Funds upon National Pension 
 Schemes. A prominent scheme for old age pensions requires 
 the payment of ^5 by the beneficiary before the age of 
 twenty-five. As bearing on the practical chances of such a 
 scheme, I have to state that all our employees, male and 
 female, above the age of nineteen, who have participated* 
 for three years and upwards, have ^5 or upwards to their 
 credit. In the desirable event of the institution of a national 
 pension scheme, our rules would no doubt be altered to fit 
 in therewith. 
 
 Weak Point in Provident Funds. If a man recently 
 employed were to die, there would not, of course, be much 
 in his provident fund. The firm and the employees have 
 arranged a benevolent fund (for Rules, see p. 252) which 
 meets a case like this by providing for such a man from ^5 
 
 1 Patrons et Ouvriers de Paris, p. 219. 
 
 2 Methods of Industrial Reimmeration, p. 175. 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 37 
 
 to 1 3 according to the size of his family. This would be 
 independent of any other club grants ; in fact, all our 
 arrangements aim at stimulating, and not supplanting, in- 
 dividual resort to other benefit societies. 
 
 Precaution against Fluctuations from Bad Debts. It is 
 evident that it would be disheartening if the bonus were to 
 make a sudden drop in any one year owing to a big bad 
 debt for which only the employer or manager or traveller 
 might be responsible. This risk can easily be obviated by 
 a course which we adopt and recommend. Supposing the 
 total of a firm's bad debts to be. about ^"100 a year. Let 
 the firm write off profit and loss account a percentage of 
 sales which would make the sum, say, .200 a year. This 
 course can be continued till a reserve of ^,500 or ^1000 is 
 reached, when there will be no fear of any sudden drop of 
 bonus on this account. 
 
 Bonus not intended to affect Ordinary Wages. It is not 
 intended that the bonus system should affect the rate of 
 normal wages. In considering applications for rises, to the 
 best of my ability, I exclude considerations of probable 
 bonus. About two years ago there was a movement in 
 Coventry for an advance of wages amongst the printers, 
 and our course of action therein should perhaps be quoted. 
 A deputation from the Trade Union waited upon us, and 
 although the rate of our bonus exceeded the asked-for 
 advance in the minimum wage, the fact of our having any 
 profit-sharing arrangement was not so much as mentioned 
 during the interview. It was mutually arranged to defer the 
 decision for two or three weeks, and in the meantime, in 
 conversation with one or two of the principal employers in 
 the town, I advocated the concession, thinking it at the time 
 a just demand, and the advance was shortly afterwards 
 
38 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 generally conceded. But here the only critical ballot 
 opinion of the employees should perhaps be given. 
 
 (7.) I. The Principle of the Scheme. (i) Unity between 
 master and man ; (2) Harmony among the employees ; 
 (3) The utilising of economy throughout the firm. 
 
 II. Results. The results have been very gratifying during 
 the four years the scheme has been in working. 
 
 III. Does the Scheme affect Wages ? In my opinion. Yes. 
 The wages are weekly, therefore the younger and journeymen 
 employees find it very hard to get an increase in their wages. 
 I think it has no effect on the elder employees who have 
 reached the top of the ladder. 
 
 Inasmuch as this opinion is almost certain to produce an 
 unduly sinister effect, I should perhaps add a few words 
 thereupon. When I read it, there rose up before my mind 
 the figure of a brisk young man who applied for a rise a 
 few months ago, and who seemed to be much surprised to 
 find that the estimate of the value of his services formed by 
 his fellow-workmen and his employer was not as yet propor- 
 tionate to his own self-appraisement. That is, of course, 
 only my guess. Our wage-book would, I think, show that 
 during the last four years of profit-sharing, rises have been 
 as frequent and substantial as during any four years of the 
 firm's history. The Trade Union interview, above quoted, 
 gives, I think, some support to this statement. I must 
 confess that one is not altogether sorry at this last opinion, 
 because, as will doubtlessly be inferred, the complaining 
 voice of this solitary individual, one out of 69, favours 
 the idea that the rest of the witnesses, who gave satisfactory 
 opinions, spoke also without fear or constraint. 
 
 On the general question Mr. Schloss authorises me to say 
 that he had met, a year or two ago, with the allegation that 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYEES' POINT OF VIEW. 39 
 
 profit-sharing firms underpaid their men in ordinary wages ; 
 he obtained returns from Trade Union sources respecting a 
 large number of the principal profit-sharing firms then 
 known. After studying these reports, Mr. Schloss arrived 
 at the conclusion that no such general allegation, as above 
 mentioned, could with truth be made. 1 
 
 Relations with Trade Unionism. Under our profit- 
 sharing arrangements there is no desire or attempt to 
 undermine Trade Unionism. Society and non-society men 
 are treated exactly the same. The rules do not contain an 
 anti-strike clause. In the first draft, any one terminating his 
 engagement during the year lost his right to participation 
 for the incomplete year ; but three years ago, chiefly owing 
 to the influence of Mr. Schloss, this was altered, and now, 
 even if a strike occurred and the strikers worked out their 
 usual notice, they would be entitled to a share of the bonus, 
 proportionate to the part of the year actually worked ; but 
 we have had no whisper of a strike. 
 
 Stimulus to mutual Good Feeling. We think that a de- 
 cided increase of good fellowship amongst the employees is 
 discernible. To illustrate this feeling I may perhaps quote 
 a little incident. The year after we commenced profit- 
 sharing, one of our workmen came into the office and said 
 
 1 "Although it would not be correct to say that all the firms in 
 question, without exception, pay their employees according to the 
 scale of wages and the regulations recognised as ' fair ' by the Trade 
 Unions, yet, speaking with some knowledge of the circumstances, I 
 may express my opinion that in one only of these cases are the 
 employees receiving lower wages by reason of their sharing in profits, 
 this exception being the case in which the employees have received the 
 abnormally high bonus of 26*9 per cent, on wages. In all the other 
 instances, I believe that the bonus is a clear addition to the normal 
 remuneration of the employees" (Methods of Industrial Remuneration^ 
 P- 179). 
 
40 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 to me : " We should like your advice, sir ; we want to know 
 how we can best arrange to send so-and-so (naming a fellow- 
 employee who was on the sick-list) to the seaside." I said I 
 was glad to hear about the plan : when the workman a 
 clever, hard-headed, unsentimental fellow by the way 
 continued, speaking of the sick man, "As you know, sir, 
 he wasn't over civil to us when he was here, but after what 
 you done for us last year, we think that now we ought to 
 do what we can for one another." This incident, I confess, 
 lingers in my mind as the most gratifying occurrence in my 
 whole business life. 1 
 
 5. EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYERS' POINT OF VIEW. 
 
 Economical Gains. It should, in the first place, be noticed 
 that the effects have not been uniform throughout the 
 period of the four years' profit-sharing. When the scheme 
 was first introduced there was a spurt, and nearly everybody 
 showed some extra zest in his or her duties. Then after a 
 few months there was a slackening, only the foremen and 
 some others of the more intelligent workers keeping up 
 with the increased zest. I am afraid that some firms halt 
 at this stage, and report the system to be ineffective, before 
 it has had a fair chance to succeed. The really important 
 fact is, that for the last year or two there has been a pro- 
 
 1 The economical results under profit-sharing have been obtained, 
 apparently, without overstrain of the workers. Under the regulations 
 of the Works' Sick Club, the balance of subscriptions beyond what is 
 required for sick pay is divided up at the end of each year. During 
 the eighteen years which have elapsed since the institution of the club, 
 the subscribers have received back, on an average, 90 per cent, of their 
 payments that is to say, for every 2os. paid in, they have received i8s. 
 in dividend at Christmas time. (For Rules and Accounts, see p. 247.) 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYERS' POINT OF VIEW. 41 
 
 gressive pulling up all round a process which has been 
 accentuated under the recent shortening of working hours. 
 
 One consequence of profit-sharing has been that there is 
 less need of supervision, because it induces a system of 
 mutual foremanship. It is, of course, a great lubricant, for 
 there is less liability to friction between individuals and 
 between departments. Again, the firm, owing to the fact 
 that the staff are more attached to the establishment, and are 
 not so likely to leave to start on their own account, or to 
 go to competitors' establishments, feel it to be safe to 
 delegate to employees more of the buying and other duties, 
 thereby saving the employer's time and worry. 
 
 The workers also show an increased fertility of resource 
 in overcoming difficulties. There have been distinct 
 economies in time and material (for illustrations, see p. 46). 
 There has been noticed greater intelligence in devising 
 cheaper methods of production. The fact of such a system 
 being in vogue with us tends to secure and retain for us the 
 best workers. This was seen especially two or three years 
 ago when there was a boom in the cycle trade, and every- 
 body was crying out for boys and youths. We suffered, 
 but we did not suffer so greatly as other people who 
 employed this class of labour. It may be objected that 
 this tendency was advantageous to the employer, and 
 possibly disadvantageous to the employed ; but experience 
 in the present case clearly points the other way, for 
 the majority of the youths who left us have been idly 
 hanging about the streets for many weeks, being victims of 
 a trade which, unfortunately, is at present subject to excessive 
 variations of employment. 
 
 The provident fund feature provides a valuable guarantee 
 against embezzlement. In the case of some firms such a 
 
42 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 feature would be very valuable in respect to a cashier or 
 traveller who might have large sums of money in his hands. 
 
 The last economical feature I would now mention is the 
 advantage which has come to us through the introduction, 
 owing to profit-sharing, of a professional audit. We thought 
 that our book-keeping before was very well done, but my 
 conviction now is that all employers who have not a pro- 
 fessional audit are losing money thereby. This advantage 
 is, of course, gained by many firms who do not have any 
 profit-sharing arrangement : my point is that a scheme like 
 ours makes a professional audit practically a necessity. 
 
 Moral Gains. There has been an improved tone 
 amongst the workers. Practically, we have had no loss of 
 time through intemperance; I only remember one case 
 during the last few years, and that was the case of an 
 elderly weak-minded labourer who has now come back as a 
 reformed character. 
 
 One interesting accompaniment of the system has been 
 the spontaneous cessation of applications to me for recom- 
 mendations for the charities in Coventry. We have a large 
 number of charities : under one of these 200 or 300 doles 
 of ;4 each are distributed every year ; and as I know one 
 or two of the trustees, I could easily get for one or two men, 
 in whom I might be interested, one of these 4 doles. 
 Naturally, I used to have from year to year applications 
 from men in our employ for such recommendations. Since 
 the inauguration of this scheme, I have had no applica- 
 tions (with the exception of one from a new-comer) for 
 charity recommendations, and this seems to show that the 
 new system tends to increase manliness and independence 
 of character. 
 
 The increase in the sense of moral satisfaction to the 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYERS' POINT OF VIEW. 43 
 
 employer is considerable, though under the existing state 
 of competition a feeling of entire complacency is not 
 likely to be readily attained by any thoughtful person. 
 Personally, however, I feel wholly free from the fears which 
 seem to possess the minds of many employers as to the 
 possible results of the continued demands of labour of 
 some impending industrial Armageddon which is to over- 
 whelm everybody. 1 The sense of insecurity as to the 
 means and measure of one's livelihood is reduced almost 
 to a vanishing point when one feels that his future is 
 bound up with that of several score of honest people, who 
 entertain towards him feelings of such respect and attach- 
 ment as are manifested in the ballot opinions already 
 referred to. The pleasure which one feels on the day of 
 the bonus announcement, at the thought of the hundred 
 homes which are brightened with the news of the declara- 
 tion of some additional remuneration upon the year's work, 
 is, I can assure my fellow - employers, a very enviable 
 experience. 
 
 Qualifications. There is a certain increase in clerical 
 work, though not so much as might be anticipated. In 
 a business employing about 200 persons, I reckon that the 
 extra clerical work necessitated by such a scheme as ours 
 can all be done by the cashier, and amounts in the 
 aggregate, on an average, to one week's work per annum. 
 In the first year it would be more, perhaps double or treble 
 
 1 Lowell, in his Birmingham address, argued that this alarm was no 
 new thing : "To the door of every generation there comes a knocking, 
 and unless the household, like the Thane of Cawdor and his wife, have 
 been doing some deed without a name, they need not to shudder. It 
 turns out at worst to be a poor relation, who wishes to come in out of 
 the cold" (Democracy, p. 17). 
 
44 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 that time. Even with 400 or 500 employees, it is probable 
 that the cashier by putting in a little overtime (for which, 
 of course, extra remuneration might be arranged) would be 
 able to do the necessary work without any increase in 
 the staff. (For Forms for necessary Account Books, see 
 Appendix, p. 213.) 
 
 In our case the institution has meant a slightly lessened 
 income to the firm, but I do not think this is an essential 
 accompaniment of a successful profit-sharing scheme. It 
 all depends, of course, where you draw the reserved limit 
 where you draw the line of reserve. 
 
 When it is possible, a half-yearly balance is perhaps 
 better, because twelve months is a long sight for the 
 average employee, and the more quickly you can bring 
 the reward before him the better ; though, of course, when 
 you have to show him the twelve months' result it is larger 
 and perhaps more impressive. In many processes it is 
 possible and desirable, even under profit-sharing, to in- 
 troduce premiums or piece-work, so as to give a more 
 immediate stimulus to industry. 
 
 Some annoying mistakes still occur, though it is doubtful 
 whether this fact should be advanced as an objection to 
 profit-sharing. No doubt the mistakes would have been 
 more frequent without the system ; the incidents referred to 
 are such as one would wish to see absent under this regime. 
 But one has the satisfaction a grim sort of satisfaction 
 of feeling that the person who makes the mistake suffers 
 for it. 
 
 Jottings of Experience from Note- Book. In order to aid 
 the formation of a reliable estimate of the virtues of profit- 
 sharing, I have made, from time to time, jottings in my 
 note -book of incidents, whether satisfactory or unsatis- 
 
EFFECTS FROM EMPLOYERS' POINT OF VIEW. 45 
 
 factory, more or less associated with the system. These 
 incidents have not been searched for indeed, I do not 
 think that any of our employees have known of my practice ; 
 we have tried to avoid giving any theatricality to our 
 experience. 
 
 Typical Unsatisfactory Incidents. It may be remarked 
 that the following incidents are not in any strict sense due 
 to profit-sharing. They are quoted in order to show that 
 the system is not a panacea. It must not be relied upon 
 to bring about any magic instantaneous change in the 
 characters or habits of the people. After its institution, 
 there will still be necessity for careful guidance and work- 
 ing. It may be observed that when the faults are not due 
 to a personal feeling among the people, they lie with the 
 younger and less intelligent members of the staff. 
 
 Economical 
 
 Dec. 1888 . Apprentice . . 
 
 Jan. 1890 . One department 
 
 Oct. 1890 . Two machines . 
 
 Nov. 1891 . Two journeymen 
 
 ,, . Some work-girls 
 
 Sept. 1892 . New sub-overseer 
 
 As to Morale 
 
 Wasting time. 
 Female workers. 
 Bad work. 
 
 Bad work. 
 
 Dec. 1888 
 
 Jan. 1889 
 
 Nov. 1889 
 
 Oct. 1890 
 
 Nov. 1891 
 
 Journeyman . 
 Youth . . 
 Youths . . 
 Two overseers 
 Box-maker . 
 Youth 
 
 Nov. 1892 . Foreman . . 
 
 Careless work. 
 
 Unnecessary overtime and bad 
 work. 
 
 Trouble with foreman. 
 
 Discontented and left. 
 
 Quarrelling. 
 
 At loggerheads. 
 
 Coming late for special work. 
 
 Saying ( ? seriously) " I shouldn't 
 trouble about bonus if I could 
 get \s. a week extra somewhere 
 else." 
 
 Friction with other departments. 
 
PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Typical Satisfactory Incidents. It will be seen that some 
 of the following incidents are clearly due to the institution 
 of profit-sharing : 
 
 Economical 
 
 Nov. 1888 . Two rooms . 
 
 ,, Journeyman . 
 
 Dec. 1888 . Foreman . . 
 
 May 1889 . Foreman . . 
 
 ,, Machineman 
 
 July 1889 . Journeyman . 
 
 Aug. 1889 . Foreman . . 
 
 Sept. 1889 . General . . 
 
 Nov. 1889 . Machineman 
 
 Jan. 1891 . Foreman . . 
 
 ,, Foreman. . 
 
 Nov. 1892 . Foreman . . 
 
 ,, Foreman . 
 
 Office staff . 
 
 Gas turned down (spontaneously) 
 during tea-time. 
 
 Suggestion of improvement in de- 
 sign of machine. 
 
 During holidays thought out im- 
 proved plan of working. 
 
 Communicating to subordinate re- 
 cipe of process (without usual 
 payment). 
 
 On leaving in evening spontane- 
 ously helping box-packer during 
 a rush (of course, without pay). 
 
 Making a machine self- deliver- 
 ing. 
 
 Using certain material twice over. 
 
 Saving in gas bill for the year, 
 a larger trade having been 
 done. 
 
 Suggesting grinding to be done by 
 boy. 
 
 Discovering preparation to im- 
 prove work. 
 
 To girl who had spoilt some work, 
 "That's so much out of your 
 bonus." 
 
 Process paper to be coated by 
 girl instead of by self in over- 
 time. 
 
 During press of work, "We'll do 
 without overtime somehow." 
 
 Saving stamps by collating letters 
 of two departments. 
 
CAUSES ASSIGNABLE FOR SUCCESS ATTAINED. 47 
 
 As to Morale 
 June 1889 . Late Foreman 
 
 Sept. 1889 . One department 
 Feb. 1890 . Sub-overseer 
 
 Jan. 1891 . Journeyman . 
 
 Feb. 1891 . Journeyman . 
 
 Words to witness during last ill- 
 ness, "I thought I should like 
 to see you once more, sir. Not 
 because I want anything, but 
 for friendship's sake. You've 
 been a good master to me." 
 Started a Trade Magazine Club. 
 Words to witness, on applying for 
 rise workhavingbeen changed : 
 " If you think that the reason I 
 apply is because of last year's 
 bonus, I'd rather you did not 
 give it me." The rise was not 
 given, as we thought the old 
 rate was the full market rate for 
 his services. He remains with 
 us as one of our best and most 
 willing workers. 
 
 Words to witness, on leaving to 
 take overseer's position : "I 
 hope, sir, I shall always get 
 treated as well as I have been 
 here." This man has just re- 
 turned to us. 
 
 Refusing offer of a situation else- 
 where at 4^. rise. 
 
 6. CAUSES ASSIGNABLE FOR SUCCESS ATTAINED. 
 
 Candour perhaps demands that some intimation should 
 be given of the grounds to which, in my opinion, the satis- 
 factory operation of this system may, in our case, be attri- 
 buted. I cannot do better than quote, as a key to the 
 measure of success which has so far attended our experi- 
 ment, the teaching of Ruskin : 
 
48 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 " The largest quantity of work will not be done by this 
 curious engine" he is speaking of the working man "for 
 pay, or by help of any kind of fuel which may be applied 
 by the chaldron. It will be done only when the motive 
 force, that is to say, the will or spirit of the creature, is 
 brought to its greatest strength by its own proper fuel 
 namely, by the affections." 
 
 But his warning must also be given : " The affections 
 only become a true motive power when aroused by dis- 
 interested action. Treat the servant kindly, with the idea 
 of turning his gratitude to account, and you will get, as 
 you deserve, no gratitude, nor any value for your kindness ; 
 but treat him kindly without economical purpose, and all 
 economical purposes will be answered : in this, as in all 
 other matters, whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; 
 whoso loses it, shall find it." 1 
 
 This argument, I am aware, is to many employers 
 " foolishness ; " they cannot understand the economic value 
 of good-will on the part of the employees. A friend, 
 generally reputed to be a smart business man, argued with 
 us thus : " I know something of the competition in the 
 trade : there are only two ways by which you can pay your 
 bonuses ; either you underpay your men in their ordinary 
 wages, or you ' sweat ' (overdrive) them." If this were so, 
 we had to reply, it was strange that some of the best 
 workmen in the trade seemed always ready to come to our 
 establishment. 
 
 1 Unto this Last. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 "CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER BEFORE 
 THE LABOUR COMMISSION. 
 
 MR. DALE. 
 
 6038. 1 I think you said that the total number of persons 
 in the employment of your firm is 185 ? Yes. 
 
 6039. Do all of those participate in your scheme? 
 Practically all. 
 
 6040. I think you said that the ballot papers had been 
 sent out to 79? To about 70, because ballot papers were 
 only sent out to those above the age of twenty-one. You see 
 we have a number of young people youths and girls. 
 
 6041. Then one may take it that of the 185 in your 
 employment rather more than half are under the age of 
 twenty-one ? Yes. 
 
 6042. Who are nevertheless admitted to and in fact are 
 members of the scheme ? Yes. 
 
 6043. Participators in the scheme? Yes. 
 
 6044. What notice to terminate service exists between 
 
 1 The numbers correspond with the questions in the official report 
 of the evidence, December I, 1892. In cases where more than the 
 verbal alteration has been made to this report, the alterations are 
 marked by [ ]. 
 
 4 
 
So PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 you and your workpeople ? Generally speaking, one week's 
 notice. 
 
 6045. And service is terminated either by the giving or 
 receiving of the notice ? Yes. 
 
 6046. I understand that, so far as the person's interest 
 in the fund is concerned, that would be retained till he 
 could naturally claim it, unless it was agreed by the 
 committee, representing both the employer and the 
 employed, that the circumstances justified its earlier 
 payment ? That is so. 
 
 6047. As a matter of fact, has your profit-sharing scheme 
 had any influence on the non-necessity for your giving 
 notice and the non-disposition of your employees to give 
 notice? [I think there has been less need for giving notice 
 and less inclination on the part of the employees to leave.] 
 
 6048. Are the cases comparatively few ? Our staff was 
 very permanent, I think, compared with other businesses, 
 before this came into force. 
 
 6049. As a matter of fact, where service has been 
 terminated, has the person's share of the fund been usually 
 handed over to him? No. The rules provide that he 
 shall not have it before such a time as he would have it if 
 he remained. 
 
 6050. I think you said subject to the committee's disci;e- 
 tion? Yes, certainly. 
 
 6051. I am asking whether that discretionary power has 
 been exercised? On one occasion, and only on one 
 occasion ; in the majority of cases it has not been. 
 
 6052. It has rested? It has rested. Girls leaving for 
 marriage have, of course, always been paid out. [This 
 reply should be supplemented by the statement that the 
 provident fund had been paid out in several cases upon 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 51 
 
 the death of the employee. Moreover, every year there 
 have been a few cases in which the fund has been paid out 
 owing to the fact that it was less than iJ] 
 
 6053. You recently reduced your hours from fifty-four to 
 fifty, I think? Yes. 
 
 6054. Was that in connection with a similar reduction 
 of hours by other persons in your trade in the same locality ? 
 No. . . . We put it to our people, who voted on the 
 subject. [See p. 154.] 
 
 6055. Was there a corresponding reduction in the rate 
 of payment? There was no reduction in the rate of 
 payment. 
 
 6056. One of the ballot papers you have handed in says, 
 " The wages are weekly, therefore the younger and journey- 
 men employees find it very hard to get an increase in their 
 wages." What did the writer mean by that? I cannot 
 discover. [For remarks on this ballot paper, see p. 38.] 
 
 6057. You handed in a specimen provident fund account, 
 which you desire to be considered confidential. I presume 
 that that desire merely arose from your wish that what you 
 have taken as an illustration should not be deemed to be 
 the expression of an expectation on your part ? Yes, that 
 is so. 
 
 6058. It is merely illustrative? Yes. 
 
 6059. What it means is, that assuming a workman's 
 provident fund share of the bonus equalled 4 per year, 
 he would at the end of twenty-five years have accumulated, 
 I suppose, about forty times as much ? That is so. 
 
 6060. In other words, if a girl were receiving 1 2s. a week, 
 and if, by way of mere illustration, her provident fund 
 share of the bonus per year amounted- to ^2, she would 
 under your scheme, with 4 per cent, added, be able to 
 
52 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 accumulate, at the end of twenty-five years, ^83, 5.?. 10^.? 
 That is so. 
 
 6061. A man, on the other hand, whose provident fund 
 share of the annual bonus amounted to 6, 135. 4^. would 
 have accumulated ^277 ? That is so. 
 
 6062. And that in addition to having received from year 
 to year in the interval a third of his share of the bonus in 
 cash ? That is so. 
 
 6063. That is the meaning of it ? Yes. 
 
 6064. If the results in any year fall short of the reserved 
 limit, is the deficiency carried forward into the next year? 
 No. 
 
 6065. Each year stands by itself? Practically so. 
 
 6066. The amount of capital to bear the 5 per cent, 
 interest was a matter of declaration, as it were, by the firm 
 in the first instance, I suppose ? The amount of capital has 
 not been made public ; in fact, the capital is a varying sum 
 from year to year, but the accountant sees to that. 
 
 6067. It is for the firm, and the accountant to define what 
 is the amount of capital which should, bear interest as a 
 first charge upon the profit? The balance-sheet shows that 
 amount each year. 
 
 6068. You used the expression, I think, in reference to 
 your own undertaking, but I am not sure as to that, that 
 " the income of the firm had been reduced " ? Yes, it has 
 been slightly reduced. 
 
 6069. That is to say, your own experience has not been 
 that the greater industry, or the greater efficiency, or the 
 greater economy of the employees, has effected a saving equal 
 to the employees' share of the profits ? No, but I think it is 
 possible that in other cases it might. 
 
 6070. You said, I think, that the system which you 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 53 
 
 adopt was not very well adapted to piece-work ? The im- 
 pression I wished to give was that piece-work brings an 
 additional incentive to zeal of itself, so that, supposing a 
 business is all piece-work to begin with, there is not pre- 
 sumably the same margin as regards speed as there is in a 
 business which is on time wage. 
 
 6071. In other words, the piece-work system would in 
 itself be an incentive, rendering it not so necessary to have 
 the further incentive of a participation in profits? Yes, 
 not for that purpose ; but, of course, profit-sharing has other 
 qualities which I think render it very desirable even in the 
 case of a piece-work firm. [Profit-sharing is just as useful 
 in a piece-work trade as in other trades, for inducing 
 economy in the use of material, tools, etc., and specially 
 useful for lessening the risk of scamping the work.] 
 
 6072. You do not see any difficulty in the way of apply- 
 ing it to a business in which piece-work prevails ? No, you 
 see that nearly half of our people are on piece-work. 
 
 6073. Then you simply mean that there was already an 
 incentive in the piece-work system ? Yes. 
 
 6074. Which rendered the profit-sharing system not so 
 important ? From that point of view. 
 
 MR. TAIT. 
 
 6075. Was it from the men that the advance came for 
 the purpose of reducing hours, or from the firm ? From 
 ourselves from my brother, in fact. 
 
 6076. You pay the standard wage and you work four 
 hours per week less than any other firm in a similar trade 
 to yours in Coventry? I think so; the Trade Union 
 number of hours is fifty-five, and we work fifty. 
 
 6077. Then that is five hours less? Five hours less. 
 
54 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 6078. That would be equal in the case of men having 
 over 255-. per week to a tax upon you of from 2s. to 2s. 6d. 
 per head ? I suppose I must not go into the matter of the 
 results of shortened hours as time is short, but we have 
 found that the reduction in hours has not so far lessened 
 the production. 
 
 6079. That would be a reason then why you have not 
 found the reduction of the hours hamper you in the open 
 competitive market? We only reduced the hours two 
 months ago ; we do not feel any effects in that direction, 
 and we do not anticipate them. 
 
 6080. You have also said that you favour profit-sharing 
 as against municipalisation. How would you define the 
 profits of the municipality for workmen engaged under a 
 municipality? [I do not think that my statement bears 
 quite so definite an interpretation as you allege. Judging 
 by our experience in Coventry, I should say that it is very 
 desirable that the municipality should own the water and 
 gas supplies.] The scheme adopted by the South Metro- 
 politan Gas Company could, I think, be applied to the gas 
 undertaking of a corporation. 
 
 6081. But there are other employees of corporations 
 besides them ; you have not thought that out ? [It seems 
 clear that profit-sharing, pure and simple, would not come 
 in. But with a determined effort and a fair degree of 
 ingenuity, it seems to me that it should be possible to 
 devise, with respect to most of the occupations in question, 
 some system of annual award a portion of the benefit 
 desirably to be deferred which should be in some way, or 
 at least to a certain extent, proportionate to the zeal dis-. 
 played by the worker.] 
 
 6082. Have you ever thought of taking your workpeople 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 55 
 
 into your confidence if I may put it in this way into 
 your board room, for the purpose of administering your 
 business ? No. Of course we invite suggestions, and the 
 men see from the fact that many of them are carried out 
 that those suggestions are valued. 
 
 6083. But you have not thought of taking them as 
 partners as it were, or of taking in a representative man as 
 a partner in the concern ? Anything connected with the 
 internal regulations, or the welfare of the people, we always 
 talk over with the committee of the employees, but not more 
 than that. 
 
 6084. Do you consider the good understanding between 
 you and your workpeople as being the result of that profit- 
 sharing enterprise? We had a fairly good understanding 
 to start with, but it has become accentuated under this 
 system. 
 
 6085. Do you think it is better? Distinctly so. 
 
 6086. Do you look forward as the result of such a scheme 
 as yours to a complete industrial partnership ? I scarcely 
 grasp the question. 
 
 6087. In the course of time if a large number of em- 
 ployers were to act similarly to yourselves, do you think it 
 would ultimately lead to complete industrial partnership ? 
 That is to say, to the adoption of profit-sharing by employers 
 generally ? 
 
 6088. Yes? Personally, I distinguish between profit- 
 haring and industrial partnership. Our own case is profit- 
 sharing, and Mr. George Thomson's case is industrial 
 partnership. 
 
 6089. That is a Huddersfield manufacturer? A Hudders- 
 field woollen firm. [Mr. George Thomson gave evidence 
 to the Commission on November 13, 1891, respecting 
 
56 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 his most interesting system.] I am certainly hoping that 
 the system of profit-sharing will extend. 
 
 6090. Do you think that for the purpose of cementing 
 the interests of employers and workmen, a complete industrial 
 partnership as against a profit-sharing scheme, similar to 
 yours, is best, or which do you think is the best ? I think 
 for the time being profit-sharing is as far as we can go. For 
 myself, I hope that there is something beyond in the future. 
 
 PROFESSOR MARSHALL. 
 
 6091. The provident bonus is invested in the general 
 capital of the firm, is it not ? Yes. 
 
 6092. Have you thought of insuring that with a mortgage 
 insurance society ? No ; we have given a sort of mortgage, 
 the terms of which I have handed in. 
 
 6093. Yes, I understand that ; but all that stands or falls 
 with the prosperity of the society ; you have only made it a 
 first charge on the company itself? It is a first charge on 
 the actual property the works which are, of course, con- 
 siderably more valuable than the amount which we owe to 
 the provident funds. 
 
 6094. Would that first charge hold against all other debts, 
 without notice having been given of it ? It is a charge on 
 the actual buildings, and the trustees hold the deeds of 
 those buildings. Perhaps I may have given a slightly wrong 
 impression in my reply to the Duke of Devonshire ; it is not 
 a charge on the whole assets of the firm ; it is on our actual 
 works the premises, which are, of course, kept properly 
 insured. 
 
 6095. And you have had legal advice that that is a per- 
 fectly sure security? Yes. [The security would seem to 
 be a better one than the security of debenture bonds in 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 57 
 
 a commercial undertaking, because the beneficiaries have 
 an exclusive claim, with a good margin, upon real property. 
 Of course, if the provident funds grow beyond a certain 
 limit, we should have to find some additional security, or 
 we should have to invest part of the funds in a savings 
 bank, or in Government or Corporation stock, in which 
 case the owners would only be entitled to the public rate 
 of interest] 
 
 MR. COURTNEY. 
 
 6096. You executed a deed in reference to this charge, I 
 suppose ? Yes. 
 
 6097. Mortgaging your buildings, in fact, as a security for 
 the provident fund ? That is it. 
 
 6098. You yourselves have complete control over that 
 provident fund? Yes; but I imagine that each holder of a 
 part of that provident fund has a legal claim against us for 
 the amount of his provident fund. 
 
 6099. But you have invested it in your business as a 
 matter of fact ? Yes. 
 
 6100. Could the investment have been in any way 
 controlled by any workmen interested in the fund ? The 
 trustees know all about the investment. One of them is an 
 employee, and presumably he would speak if he thought it 
 unsatisfactory. 
 
 6101. Who are the other trustees? The other trustee is 
 the manager of our bank in Coventry. 
 
 6102. Do you suppose that those two trustees could call 
 upon you to pay up the sum at any time ? No, it could 
 only be called up in case we discontinued the profit-sharing 
 system ; of course, we have to pay money out as it becomes 
 due to the respective owners. 
 
58 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 6103. In fact, the trustees have no control over the 
 investment ? I imagine not. 
 
 6104. What is the mode of distribution contemplated in 
 connection with this fund ; under what circumstances does 
 it get distributed amongst the workmen ? When a man has 
 worked twenty-five years for the firm, he has a claim to 
 draw out all that belongs to him in the provident fund ; say 
 it is ;ioo or 200, we pay it to him in cash. 
 
 6105. And at the end of twenty-five years he can draw 
 out the whole ? Yes, the whole. 
 
 6106. In the case of sickness or any other casualty before 
 that, has he any claim ? No ; but the rules give to the 
 committee and the firm the option of paying out in such 
 cases, which no doubt we should avail ourselves of. 
 
 6107. Has it been exercised in the case of sickness? I 
 think not. 
 
 6108. You have had four years' experience? Yes. 
 
 6109. And there has only been one case in which it has 
 been withdrawn, I think I understood? [Only one case 
 under this clause, in which the sum was considerable.] 
 
 6 no. What was the special characteristic of that case? 
 Was it for some purpose of using the fund as a capital in 
 pursuing a new mode of life? Yes. [The holder also 
 was in a special position, because she happened to be a 
 married woman, one of the last of that class employed by us.] 
 
 6111. And that would be recognised as a rightful claim 
 under similar circumstances? Yes. 
 
 6112. But a person who had left your employment in 
 order to take up a position of better pay possibly elsewhere 
 would not be able to withdraw his share until twenty-five 
 years had elapsed from his first entering your employment ? 
 No, he would not be able to do so, and for a good 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 59 
 
 reason ; otherwise it would give a premium to a person to 
 leave ; it would be a direct temptation to an unthrifty man. 
 
 6113. It would be an inducement to a man who wanted 
 the money to leave on purpose to get the money ? Yes. 
 In fact, our rules .first of all provided for that, but we altered 
 them. We saw at once that it was a weak point. 
 
 6114. Did you find that people were leaving and claim- 
 ing ? No ; the fund was quite inconsiderable then, but we 
 could see that it might have that effect. 
 
 6115. Obviously that would operate as a deterrent from 
 leaving now; it would be inconvenient for a workman to 
 have a fund in your hands which he could not claim the 
 benefit of till fifteen or twenty years had passed by ? I do 
 not quite admit that point, because he is getting interest all 
 the time upon it, and while it is in our hands at 4 per cent., 
 he is getting better interest, considering the security, than 
 he could get elsewhere. 
 
 6116. The interest is not paid to him; it accumulates? 
 It accumulates. 
 
 6117. Still, if a workman left your employ after being five 
 years with you, he would have to wait twenty years, wher- 
 ever he went, before he got the money ? As a rule ; but if 
 he were going to emigrate, we should no doubt vote him 
 the money before he went. 
 
 6118. You might consider the case? Yes. 
 
 6119. If he were going to another town in England, still 
 more if he were going to another shop in Coventry, you 
 would not vote him the money ? No. 
 
 6120. In fact, that would tie him by the leg it may be a 
 good thing, but it would do so ? Seeing that he has a full 
 right to it, it does not seem to me to do so. 
 
 6121. You do not think if you were in that position 
 
60 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 you would consider your leg was bound? No, if I was 
 satisfied that the firm who held my money held it safely. 
 [It would not be as though part of my regular wages had 
 been detained. I should know that the money was to be 
 had on demand in any emergency, whether of incapacitating 
 illness, or death. Even if I felt inconvenienced from not 
 having the handling of the fund in the meantime, and I 
 knew that I could use it wisely, I should also know that 
 many of my fellow-workmen were not yet thrifty enough to 
 make good use of the money, and I hope that I should 
 cheerfully resign myself to the regulations for the sake of 
 the weaker brother. I happen to know, moreover, that one 
 of our thrifty employees is feeling very thankful that the 
 provident portion of the bonus was not paid out to him, 
 because, if it had been, it would have been invested in a 
 certain building society, and would have been lost.] 
 
 6122. Do your business products vary much in selling 
 price from time to time, or is there a steady trade for them ? 
 
 The price has been a steadily diminishing one, but the 
 trade is not liable to great fluctuations. 
 
 6123. Steadily diminishing, possibly because the cost of 
 production is diminishing also ? Yes, and owing to the in- 
 creasing keenness of competition. 
 
 6124. But it is not a trade liable to great fluctuations ? No. 
 
 6125. Have you considered whether your scheme would 
 be equally applicable to a trade, the products of which were 
 liable to great fluctuations in the selling price ? I think the 
 plan then would be to adopt the percentage basis instead 
 of the reserved limit basis, and give to the employees so 
 much per cent, of the clear profits. Of course, it might be 
 that that would reveal to outsiders, in a bad year, that the 
 firm was doing very badly, but that might be guarded 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 61 
 
 against by having a top and a bottom limit bonus not to 
 be declared for more than a certain amount (to be held 
 over) and no bonus to be declared for less than a certain 
 amount. 1 [In some way there might be arranged a reserve 
 fund for equalising dividends. Compare Rule 7, as to 
 the Employees' Reserve Fund in our scheme (p. 207).] 
 
 6126. Your work is piece-work, I understood? Nearly 
 half of it. 
 
 6127. Does that affect your interest in the question 
 whether you work fifty-five hours or fifty hours per week ? 
 The fact that we have many piece-workers ? 
 
 6128. Yes. No; the curious thing is, that in the two 
 weeks after we reduced the hours, the production in one of 
 the departments which is on piece-work went up higher 
 than it had ever been before. It has not kept up to that 
 limit, I believe, because we have not needed the work. 
 
 6129. You say half your work is time work ; do you mean 
 half the workers or half the money earned is for time ? We 
 have nearly half who are paid the fixed time wage. 
 
 6130. Does their receipt amount to half the weekly 
 wages altogether? I should think it would amount to a 
 little more if anything, because it includes the payment of 
 the staff as well as the time- wage earners. 
 
 MR. LIVESEY. 
 
 6131. Your reserve limit was fixed arbitrarily by the firm 
 without any consultation with the workers, I suppose ? Yes. 
 
 6132. Now, about this provident fund; does it not take 
 the form of compulsory saving for the workpeople the 
 keeping of two-thirds ? Yes, I should think that is about it. 
 
 6133. And does it not convey this by keeping back this 
 1 Cf. Sharing the Profits, p. 58, by M. W. Calkins. 
 
62 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 two-thirds, that the workers have no absolute right to the 
 bonus even after it is earned. Have not they a right to the 
 money year by year ? To the sum after it has passed to 
 their provident fund, do you mean ? 
 
 6134. Yes. Let us take the full amount merely for 
 illustration at three weeks' wages ? Yes. 
 
 6135. The worker has a right only to receive the 
 equivalent of one week? That is so. 
 
 6136. And the other two weeks are retained? Yes. 
 
 6137. Now was that arrangement made by the firm as 
 an arbitrary arrangement in propounding the profit-sharing 
 system? Yes, and it was embodied in our offer to the 
 workmen. 
 
 6138. Do you think that after you have admitted them 
 to this limited partnership, and have told them that if they 
 work more and the results are satisfactory they shall have 
 their share, it is fair to keep back two-thirds ? Would not 
 it be better to give them the whole, or give them the option 
 of taking the whole? It is a question whether they are 
 able to bear it. I think that in the present stage of the 
 thriftiness of the working classes, it is desirable in their 
 own interests that the whole should not be paid out. 1 
 [In our own case, I think that any one who knew all the 
 facts of the situation would admit that there was for this 
 proviso a special degree of justification in the liberal lines 
 on which the offer was framed.] 
 
 1 Cf. a letter received January 12, 1893, from an employer in the 
 North : 
 
 "I find by giving them cash direct that it benefits them little indeed. 
 For instance, I asked my foreman what he intended to do with his 
 last year's bonus (about 2, 125. 6d. ). He replied that he had arranged 
 to go and see the Lincoln Handicaps run off, and he went. What I 
 propose will prevent such foolish waste." 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 63 
 
 6139. Would you be surprised to hear that in our case 
 the annual bonus is absolutely free at the end of the year, 
 and nearly one-half of the men leave their money in at 4 
 per cent, voluntarily ? I am very pleased to hear it. But 
 it is just the other half of your men that we want to incul- 
 cate thrift into. 
 
 6140. Will you inculcate thrift if you take away all the 
 responsibility from them and say, " I will save your money 
 for you, whether you will or not " ? I think the opinions by 
 ballot show that our course for all that does inculcate thrift. 
 [I may here quote some figures kindly sent to me by the 
 Actuary of the Coventry Savings Bank, through which the 
 cash portion of our bonus is distributed. He spontaneously 
 wrote me on November 16, 1892 (it is understood that I 
 am not in a position to learn what individuals do with their 
 cash bonuses), stating that, of the 92 new accounts opened 
 in 1889, he found 
 
 There were still open, with sums under i, . -35 
 
 ,, ,, over i and under 5, 18 
 
 >} Aj5 * ' " 
 
 There are thus 64 accounts open by the free-will of the 
 depositors, while there are 28 closed, of which 25 may 
 possibly be accounted for by the fact that their owners have 
 left our employ. The majority of these are boys and youths 
 who have been attracted into the cycle trade during the 
 last two or three years. If our plan were calculated per- 
 manently to damage the growth of thrift amongst the work- 
 people, I should be inclined to object to it, even although 
 temporary good might result.] l 
 
 6141. Would not the other plan have a more highly 
 
 1 See a striking letter of a well-known co-operator, Mr. Charles 
 Shufflebotham (2) on p. no. 
 
64 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 educating and better effect upon the people in teaching 
 them to save their own money? I shall be very glad when 
 they are ripe for that. I think there is a great deal in your 
 argument. 
 
 6142. When will they be ripe if they do not have the 
 opportunity? Our rules are not like the laws of the 
 Medes and Persians. 
 
 6143. I am very glad to hear that. Now it has often 
 been said as an objection to profit-sharing that the workers 
 cannot share the losses. Have you ever heard that ob- 
 jection urged? Yes, with some frequency. But the 
 answer to that is that they do lose in this respect, that they 
 have presumably been putting extra value into their year's 
 work, and if there is no profit or if there is a loss, they get 
 nothing for that extra value. 1 
 
 6144. That is a further argument for what I have been 
 urging before that they are entitled to the whole of the 
 money if they put extra effort into the work. But going 
 back to the sharing of losses, you say they share losses if 
 they have put extra effort into their work under the stimulus 
 of profit-sharing? In some cases it has been arranged 
 that there should be a reserve fund so much out of the 
 employer's share, and so much out of the employees' share, 
 which shall go to a reserve fund which is held over from 
 year to year to meet losses, and in our case that actually 
 obtains with regard to bad debts. 
 
 6145. That seems very reasonable. Then supposing an 
 arrangement of this sort were made, in case of the workers 
 being entitled to the whole of their bonus year by year, 
 have you made an arrangement that after they have re- 
 ceived 5 or 6 per cent., or whatever it may be, a certain 
 
 1 Cf. Methods of Industrial Remuneration, p. 194. 
 
uN'r 
 
 "CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 
 
 percentage, if earned, should be carried forward as a re- 
 serve fund to meet losses on bad years ; that would make 
 them share losses as well as profits ? Yes. 
 
 6146. I have only one other point about this question 
 of partnership. Your rule is that the employees or any of 
 them will have neither the rights nor liabilities of partner- 
 ship, nor are they any of them to intermeddle or be con- 
 cerned in the management of the business or book-keeping 
 or accounts of the firm. From what you said to Mr. Tait 
 I rather gather you are prepared to see an extension of the 
 principle in that direction ? Yes, but I do not think the 
 time is ripe for it at present. 
 
 6147. How will it become ripe if you do not make a 
 beginning ? I think we have made a beginning in giving 
 them an interest in the profits. 
 
 6148. You have made a beginning four years ago, and 
 there you stand still. I do not say that they should have 
 more than their fair share in the management, because 
 capital has its share in the business, and that must be 
 protected ; but if the workers were allowed as of right a fair 
 share in the responsibilities of management, do not you 
 think it would be a vast improvement on the system of 
 profit-sharing now in vogue? I cannot think that the 
 times are ripe for it. I think that one's motto should be 
 Festina lente. 
 
 6149. Cannot you begin? I think a private industrial 
 concern like ours is better managed if that management is 
 exclusively in the hands of the firm that is to say, I con- 
 sider that the captain should have sole command of the 
 ship. 
 
 6150. Take a limited liability company, there the 
 management is in the hands of the directors, and the 
 
 5 
 
66 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 directors are elected by the shareholders ; why should not 
 the workers also have their representative on the board ? 
 I think when you come to the case of a limited company, 
 the case is somewhat altered. [But even here I have 
 understood that the more the control is left to the single 
 able managing director, the better it is for the prosperity 
 of the concern.] I thought you were arguing from our own 
 case only. 
 
 6151. It is the same in principle? Scarcely so; I 
 should think in an undertaking like a gasworks it might be 
 a very good thing. (Laughter.) 
 
 6152. I am quite willing to accept that. The only 
 question is how to do it ; but do you not think that giving 
 the workers responsibility, not merely the responsibility of 
 taking care of their earnings, but also responsibility in the 
 direction of sharing in the management of the work from 
 which they derive their living, would be an educative 
 operation that would be invaluable, and beat everything 
 else in the direction we want to go ? I think so, if it is 
 found to be wise and expedient, at a given time in a given 
 factory. 
 
 6153. Then you agree that the principle is right, and 
 the only question is the right practical application of it ? 
 In a large concern, such as the companies you have re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 6154. I have sometimes thought it would be easier in 
 a small one. Where you have 3000 or 4000 men, as 
 we have, it would be rather a difficult matter to get 
 them to select a representative fairly; but if you have 
 only a hundred or two, surely it would be easier? I 
 think the man would be looked upon rather jealously by 
 the others. 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 67 
 
 6155. I daresay he would. There are practical diffi- 
 culties, I admit, but the principle you agree with ? Yes. 
 [I do not wish to preserve any unreasonable class 
 privilege ; in fact, I quite believe in a " levelling-up " 
 process ; but the practical difficulties in the way of carrying 
 out the course you seem to recommend are, it seems to 
 me, at present insurmountable. Besides, it would seem 
 that only one in the three thousand would be actually in a 
 position to benefit from this higher education.] 
 
 6156. Do you agree with what I heard Mr. Albert Grey 
 say the other day, that the workman has passed from the 
 slave to the serf, and from the serf to the hireling, and he 
 hoped to see him pass to the position of partner through 
 the agency of profit-sharing. Is that the ultimate end of 
 profit-sharing, do you think? I would rather not commit 
 myself either one way or the other. [That may be the goal, 
 but it is out of sight. If Mr. Grey would substitute the 
 term "shareholder" for that of "partner," I think that 
 his scheme of evolution would be both admirable and 
 practicable.] 1 
 
 6157. Is there a co-operative watchmaking society in 
 Coventry? Yes; my friend Mr. Shufflebotham, who is 
 manager, has given me one or two particulars respect- 
 ing it. 
 
 6158. How is that managed? By a committee, all of 
 whom, except the president, are working watchmakers. 
 
 1 Mr. Livesey writes me, when returning proof-sheet, February 3, 
 1893: "I am now inclined to agree with you on this point, and I 
 think that facilities should be given, wherever practicable, for work- 
 men to become shareholders, and that these shareholders, although 
 their holdings may be small, should, in consideration of their also 
 being "workmen, have their representative or representatives on the 
 board of management of the company." 
 
68 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 6159. They have shares in it? I think so nearly all of 
 them, at any rate. 
 
 6160. Then this is the sort of thing that we are talking 
 about. Do you know how the profits are divided ? After 
 paying 5 per cent, on share capital and 3! per cent, on 
 loan capital and 2\ per cent, to education fund, the profits 
 are equally divided between labour and custom. 
 
 6161. Then is the profit paid in cash to the workmen? 
 It used to be so paid, but they have been capitalising the 
 profits since 1887, manifestly to the benefit of the workmen 
 and the society. 
 
 6162. That is a voluntary act on the part of the work- 
 men, I suppose. They have been leaving their profits in 
 to increase the capital ? No, it is compulsory. If a work- 
 man in that society wishes to draw his year's profit, he 
 cannot. 
 
 6163. But that has been arrived at by agreement with 
 the workmen themselves, has it not? It was arrived 
 at by vote of the society, which includes a considerable 
 number of people who are not workmen; I think that 
 about half the members are workmen and half are in- 
 vestors. 
 
 6164. That has been determined on in order to make 
 them all shareholders ? That would be the idea, but also 
 to give an incentive to thrift. The manager is very strong 
 on that point. [In fact, in this democratic concern, " the 
 common sense of most " compels not only every workman, 
 but every customer to leave the whole of his bonus in the 
 concern.] 
 
 MR. TOM MANN. 
 
 6165. I think you have said that the working hours in 
 
"CROSS-EXAMINATION" OF WRITER. 69 
 
 your establishment are five less per week than the general 
 working hours in the same trade ? Yes. 
 
 6166. I think you have also stated that you got the same 
 output practically under the fifty hours system as you did 
 under the fifty-five? That has been our experience so 
 far. 
 
 6167. Of course, I understand that you are favourable to 
 profit-sharing as one means whereby you hope to see the 
 labour problem effectually solved? Yes, as one most 
 promising means. 
 
 6168. Has it fallen to you to give any attention to the 
 unemployed question ? No, not to any great extent. Of 
 course, our experience in the shortening of hours has a 
 bearing on that problem. That is to say, in a trade such 
 as ours, the reduction to the eight hours day, basing 
 one's argument on our experience, would not employ 
 the unemployed. Of course there are certain trades, 
 like tramways, in which it would tend to employ the un- 
 employed. 
 
 6169. Have you formed any opinion as to what would 
 be the probable effect of the reduction of working hours in 
 the manufacturing trades generally? My impression is 
 that it will be similar to our own that practically the same 
 amount of work will be done. 
 
 6170. And therefore, from the point of view of absorbing 
 the unemployed, it would not be very effective? No. 
 
 6171. Have you anything you would care to add as to 
 how the unemployed should be dealt with ? I think, 
 considering the time of the day, I had better not put my 
 ideas on that subject before the Commission; they are 
 mere obiter dicta}- 
 
 1 See p. 199. 
 
70 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 MR. COURTNEY. 
 
 6172. Your point about the security of the provident 
 fund is this, that although it is invested in your business it 
 is secured by a mortgage of your trade premises, and is 
 therefore independent of the vicissitudes of your business ? 
 That is so. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 1 
 
 AT INAUGURAL MEETING, OCTOBER 13, 1888. 
 
 AFTER a supper, at which about 130 employees were 
 present, Mr. T. W. Bushill said : 
 
 If you look about on trades generally I am speaking to 
 some who are thinking men and can see beyond their own 
 plates I think you will notice that there is nowadays a 
 marked tendency towards big businesses. The small man 
 finds it more and more difficult to hold his own and on 
 all sides one sees examples of small businesses becoming 
 merged into great concerns. Now to my mind this 
 tendency is fraught with possible, if not probable, evils to 
 the individual workers in these large concerns, and also 
 with possible, if not probable, dangers which are not so 
 generally recognised to the truest and highest interests of 
 their masters too. It seems useless to fight against this 
 tendency : one may interpose certain wise checks the 
 maxim " Live and let live," is one of the old traditions of 
 the firm ; but in the main the tendency is irresistible under 
 present trading conditions. It is surely, then, worthy of 
 
 1 The following reports, originally issued privately for the use of 
 inquirers, are reprinted, with the idea of giving information upon the 
 development of the experiment. 
 
72 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 the earnest study of right-minded men to discover if possible 
 how the working out of this tendency may be reconciled 
 with the general good, and how its attendant dangers may 
 be averted. 
 
 Now, I think I may say that in these works the employees 
 gain some outside advantages from belonging to the place. 
 For example, there is the Sick Club, through joining which 
 you obtain substantial relief during sickness for a quite 
 nominal sum : the average net payment for the past five 
 years has been only $d. per share ; i.e. you have paid in 
 4-r. $d. per share per year, and have received back 4^., so 
 that one may say you have obtained a substantial insurance 
 against sickness, at a cost in the case of boys of only 3^. 
 per year, and in the case of foremen of only 15. 6d. per 
 year. 
 
 This provides for sickness ; but there are times, I know, 
 when some look forward with apprehension to the future, 
 when perhaps they will no longer be able to work. We 
 must look things in the face ; and it does not seem to me 
 a final answer to say to such, " You should save, and so 
 make provision." Some do save ; some more might save if 
 they so resolved ; but after all is said, it must be confessed 
 that to the average workman the making of adequate 
 provision for old age is a matter of extreme difficulty. And 
 so this fear haunts the mind like a recurring spectre the 
 fear, I mean, of becoming in old age a burden to one's 
 relatives; perhaps of being driven to solicit aid from the 
 parish; or what to a rightly sensitive mind is only less 
 objectionable, the necessity of cultivating the good graces 
 of some trustee, in order to secure the benefit of one of the 
 charities with which Coventry is perhaps too richly blessed. 
 
 Well, the time has come when we as a firm ask ourselves 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 73 
 
 whether something more cannot be done to dispel this fear 
 from the mind of every hard-working thrifty man in our 
 employ ; and to-night I have the honour of laying before 
 you some proposals which are the outcome of prolonged 
 thought and investigation. 
 
 [After describing the proposed scheme, the details of 
 which may be gathered from Chapter I., Mr. Bushill 
 continued] : 
 
 So much for the rules ! Now for a few less formal 
 remarks as to their possible effects. All the staff having 
 a direct interest in the result of the business, it may be 
 expected that increased zeal on the part of the workers will 
 be stimulated. In alluding to one or two directions in 
 which improvement may be desirable, my remarks may not 
 perhaps be so generally palatable. Let me, however, say 
 once for all, that any censures which may be implied are 
 not by any means universally applicable. We hold the 
 belief with pride and satisfaction that we have had for years, 
 without this incentive, examples of hard and excellent work 
 which it would be difficult to improve upon. It is one 
 of the most pleasurable considerations in presenting the 
 scheme that to these it will come as a well-earned reward. 
 Indeed, but for this faithful service on their part, we 
 should not be in a position to offer any such advantages at 
 all. 
 
 Now, in speaking of the other side of the subject, I will 
 be just as frank; but let only those whom the cap fits put 
 it on their heads. 
 
 We have not perhaps very much of what is termed " Shack- 
 ling ; " you know what I mean expressed pretty well in a 
 phrase I have heard, " Come day go day, God send 
 Sunday ; " but wherever that tendency exists, I anticipate 
 
74 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 that under the new scheme it will, from motives of per- 
 sonal interest, be checked ; and if this failing should prove 
 incurable, it will, I think, soon be brought home to the 
 individual in question, by his or her fellow-workers them- 
 selves (leaving the firm out of the question), that some other 
 place other than Cow Lane Steam Works will be more 
 suitable to his or her genius. Shackling, and unnecessary 
 'overtime, will be opposed to the general interest. 
 
 Then as to waste, through carelessness, of gas, material, 
 or what not. It will, I imagine, gradually come to be seen 
 that such a course on the part of a workman is just like 
 taking his own money and throwing it into the sea. 
 
 Improvement in the taste and quality of manufactures is 
 another point which is imperiously insisted on by the 
 demands of the time, and the scope for which is almost 
 infinite. Here it will come to be seen that, as the firm's 
 reputation in these respects increases, so the prosperity in 
 which you all will share will also grow. 
 
 Then, as you know, in our business there is a good deal 
 of necessary working into one another's hands, not only 
 between individuals, but also between departments. Now 
 the spirit in which this is done makes all the difference in 
 the world to the time that is occupied. Here it must come 
 to be recognised that the interest of all is the interest of 
 each, that friction is therefore suicidal, and that the more 
 quickly orders can be turned out, the more quickly orders 
 are likely to come in. 
 
 The firm will also expect to be promptly and heartily 
 supported by foremen and others in any alteration in system 
 or procedure which they may think wise and necessary. 
 
 I have spoken of some results which we want : just a word 
 on results we do not want. 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 75 
 
 Of a foolish or wrong use of the provident fund when it 
 may come into the participant's hands I have already 
 spoken. This would be most unsatisfactory in fact, 
 altogether disheartening. 
 
 Then, the scheme provides, to such as hold themselves 
 in readiness for such feelings, a new source for possible dis- 
 content or dissatisfaction. I mean in this way one year, 
 say you get three weeks' bonus ; the next year, possibly 
 only one week's bonus. " I don't see this " such a one 
 may say " I've worked as hard, why should not I have as 
 much ? " The answer is, of course, that there are some 
 things in business over which no firm has control, such as 
 bad trade, bad debts, increased competition, etc. That you 
 get what the rules prescribe, the accountant will see to ; 
 and in the fluctuation alluded to, the firm will, of course, 
 also share. 
 
 One other warning under this head will suffice. I am 
 told that there is just one firm who has in recent years dis- 
 continued this system after starting it, and this is how the 
 failure came about. In a Paris firm in the painting trade, 
 a certain bonus was distributed at the end of the year. 
 Thereupon the men said to the master (you will recognise, I 
 think, a different tone in their relations from that which has, 
 happily, always existed here), " If you can afford to give us 
 something extra at the end of the year, we don't see why you 
 should not during the year ; we should prefer it weekly, and 
 we want it added on to our wages." The men had, of course, 
 missed the real principle of profit-sharing altogether, which 
 is to reward the workmen in proportion to the energy they 
 put into the work, as far as can be done under the inevit- 
 able risks of business. The master not unnaturally replied, 
 " My bonus seems to make you think that, from week to 
 
76 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 week, I am keeping back something that justly belongs to 
 you. I have always paid the full current rate of wages 
 weekly." (I think we can truly say the same, and the 
 scheme is not intended to interfere at all with our wage 
 customs.) "And as that is the way in which you look upon 
 my bonus scheme, I withdraw the same, and in future 
 you shall have the market rate of wage, and no more." 
 
 I have felt it right to dwell to this extent on these matters, 
 because the ship's head is being turned this year into new 
 and little known waters ; and if I thus indicate beforehand 
 a few of the rocks and shoals to be avoided, it may conduce 
 to what we must all heartily desire, a safe and prosperous 
 voyage. We are concerned in fact, as Mr. Browett re- 
 minded me, in an industrial experiment of the first im- 
 portance ; and though the exact lines of this scheme may 
 not be applicable to all businesses, yet it is most important 
 in the interest of the great army of toilers that this first 
 application of the root principle to a private firm in the 
 Midlands shall be successful. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to say much more The 
 advantages which may accrue to you are, I think, manifest. 
 In fact, you stand to lose nothing, and to gain a good deal. 
 Besides the prospect of bettered fortunes, there will be 
 experienced an added sense of dignity in the daily calling. 
 What more honourable position than that of the diligent 
 and unservile producer of honest goods conducive to the 
 public weal ? 
 
 And then there is this consideration, one which cynics 
 will laugh at as sentimental and absurd, yet one which some 
 here will already appreciate, and which as years go by an 
 increasing number will rise to share in, namely this, that 
 you will feel, as you come to your work and put forth your 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 77 
 
 best energies, that the result will be not merely for your 
 own self-advantage, but that while you are benefiting your- 
 self, you are also working for the good of your fellow- 
 workmen and your employers. 
 
 AT ANNUAL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 28, 1889. 
 
 On this occasion about 150 employees were present at the 
 annual reunion, held in a new portion of the works. Mr. 
 N. Bushill announced the results of the year's profit-sharing, 
 which were received with marked gratification. 
 
 Mr. T. W. Bushill, after announcing several intended 
 alterations in the rules, continued : 
 
 Without more on this point, I should like to say a few 
 words about the past twelve months our first year of profit- 
 sharing. We are glad that you are so satisfied with the result. 
 We join in this gratification, though this good year deprives 
 us of the possibility of providing an answer to a very common 
 criticism of profit-sharing. We have of course been favoured 
 with many opinions on this subject many of them valuable, 
 and which we have been glad to make use of ; but what is 
 said to us, not unfrequently, and in most cases, I doubt 
 not, with all honesty, is substantially this : " You'll find it 
 answer all right in good years ; your people will doubtlessly 
 receive any number of bonuses gladly enough; but wait 
 till you have a bad year, till you have to give them a dis- 
 appointing statement, then you'll have a bad time ! " 
 W T ell, it is pretty certain we cannot test this point this 
 year (laughter) but, speaking for myself, I do not think 
 that I regard such a possibility at any time with dismay. 
 (Hear, hear.) If on some future occasion we should have 
 to meet you with the announcement that the profits do not 
 permit of a bonus, we shall not expect that your faces will 
 
78 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 be as bright and satisfied as now, but we do trust and we 
 will hold to this trust until it is falsified by experience 
 that your confidence will not be destroyed. (Hear, hear.) 
 It would be a bitter and melancholy thing if, added to the 
 personal disappointment of a bad year, we should be met 
 with suspicion and disaffection on the part of those with 
 whom the benefits of good times have been shared, and 
 upon whom no actual loss is inflicted. For, however much 
 bad times might affect the Reserved Limit, you are not 
 called upon to contribute towards any deficiency. 
 
 It is gratifying to find that there has this year been 
 a substantial increase in the profits compared with the 
 previous year; and this fact taken in conjunction with 
 another, viz. that competition has been as great, or greater, 
 than ever before, goes to prove that the system has resulted 
 in considerable economies of time and material. (Hear, 
 hear.) A few of these savings have come before our notice, 
 a far greater number must have been silently effected. I 
 once heard a wise teacher give the counsel, " Don't cackle ! " 
 It is good advice, suited to be taken by successful reformers 
 of great or small degree. Well, some of the reforms in the 
 works have been accomplished with a complete absence 
 of fuss, and one has only heard of them by accident, and 
 perhaps not at all. But you must all understand that all 
 these economies tell on the year's result. One item I must 
 quote, and that is the fact that our gas bill is lower for the 
 past year than it was for the preceding year, although the 
 volume of work has been decidedly greater. (Hear, hear.) 
 There has been advance also in what writers would call 
 the "solidarity" of the place. I mean, departments and 
 individuals have pulled better together. Any special, 
 emergency has been met with the determination to get 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 79 
 
 over it, while the discipline of the works has been 
 excellently preserved. 
 
 You must not conclude from these remarks that there is 
 no room and indeed ample room for further improve- 
 ment in various ways. During the past year I do not think 
 that we have used the existence of this profit-sharing scheme 
 as an argument with any of those who sometimes seem to 
 need a spur. But now that the practical benefits of the 
 thing have been made manifest to you, I may give notice to 
 those whom it may concern that in future we shall not have 
 this hesitation. . . . 
 
 In thinking of our future course, we must not be forgetful 
 of the fact that our experiment has issues reaching far 
 beyond our own circle. In order to answer a sinister 
 criticism upon my attitude in this matter, I should perhaps 
 say that this last year of profit-sharing, which has been 
 attended with such substantial advantages to you, endowing 
 you with several hundreds of pounds, gives to the firm a 
 clear profit less than did the previous year, when the 
 system was not in operation. Do not think that this result 
 is any disappointment to us, or that we grudge you the 
 difference it has made. On the contrary, such a result was 
 inevitable under the lines laid down, and we rejoice at the 
 extent of the benefit to yourselves. (Applause.) We have 
 enough, for present requirements, at any rate, and for 
 myself, I am anxious to test the theory of life which I have 
 been led to adopt as the best, and in these days of strikes 
 and rumours of strikes, I fancy it will be found the wisest 
 too, that he gets out of life the maximum of real enjoy- 
 ment and satisfaction who, content with a simple style of 
 living for himself, strives to benefit to the utmost the lives 
 of those with whom he comes in contact. (Loud applause.) 
 
8o PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 A few of my friends who advocate this system of profit- 
 sharing think that I make a mistake in alluding to this 
 side of the matter. They say, in effect, " We must show 
 employers that it will pay them to adopt profit-sharing." I 
 cannot agree with them altogether. The appeal to the 
 pocket is likely to be very influential, I know ; but, thank 
 God, it is not yet all-powerful. There is the tribunal of 
 public opinion and the more imperious and worthy motive 
 power of an awakening social conscience. At the same 
 time, I am sure that there are many employers who do 
 not now get an undue share of the fruits of industry. It is 
 desirable that these should realise that they may adopt this 
 plan, without necessarily incurring a loss, which they can 
 ill afford. And I am certain, judging by the result of 
 profit-sharing here during the past year, that the system 
 may be made to pay both employers and employees. It all 
 depends upon where it is thought right to draw the Reserved 
 Limit or dividing line. . . . 
 
 Besides, there are real gains besides those which can 
 be expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence. There is the 
 saving of worry. Business men often say, " It is not the 
 work, it is the worry that kills." Well, here is my experi- 
 ence. During this last year we have done considerably 
 more business than ever before, and yet the demands upon 
 me in connection with the general oversight and conduct of 
 the business have been lighter this year than during any of 
 the ten preceding years. For me it has been the happiest 
 year of my business life. Then, there is the gain of being 
 surrounded and supported by a contented band of workers. 
 I believe that the time is rapidly coming when no employer 
 of intelligence and feeling will be able with any peace of 
 mind to enjoy a life of affluence himself without seeing that 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 81 
 
 every man who contributes to his comfort has the chance 
 of a man's share in life. (Hear, hear.) Not a horse's share 
 not, as Mr. Sharp has well put it, the share of a machine, 
 fed with oil only to make it work and nothing else. No ; 
 but a man's share. " Give him the chance of a man's share ! " 
 observe. Why not give him a man's share straight away ? 
 Because, my friends, no employer, and no Trades Council, 
 and no Government can give a man what in the nature of 
 things he can only acquire for himself. That is just where, 
 in my opinion, a few working-men, leaders of an extreme 
 school, make a mistake. "Redistribute property," they 
 say, and so on. Those of you who observe and think 
 know the fallacy of this. Share up all property in the 
 kingdom to-day, and long before the Ne-w Year is in, a 
 large percentage of the neediest of our fellow-creatures to- 
 day will have got through their share (hear, hear) and will 
 be wanting it shared up again. (Laughter and applause.) 
 The history of the French Revolutions shows how little 
 permanent good may come to the working classes from a 
 sudden bestowal of property and power upon those who 
 have not been educated in mind and character to deal with 
 them. 
 
 And the share of a man is, to my thinking, a much bigger 
 thing than the possession of property and political power. 
 There is included all the possibilities of mental and moral 
 attainment, as well as of material advantage ; and these can 
 be only gained by strenuous endeavour and patient continu- 
 ance in well-doing. But, as I said just now, the conditions 
 of society ought to be such as to give every man a fair 
 chance for these acquisitions. 
 
 I have spoken perhaps long enough, but before I conclude 
 I wish to say how gratified I am to think that the good 
 
 6 
 
82 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 results which you have worked so hard to bring about will 
 stimulate the spread of the movement. 
 
 Last year I reminded you that, as we each went about 
 our daily duty, we could cheer ourselves with the idea that 
 our efforts would be beneficial to all our fellow-workers 
 here, as well as to ourselves. This year I think I can give 
 you a larger incentive. I am safe in saying, owing to the 
 semi-public position into which circumstances have forced 
 our relations, that every effort of yours during the ensuing 
 years to make this undertaking a harmonious success will 
 tell to the advantage of hundreds of toilers in many parts 
 of the land. A few months ago I saw a letter which ap- 
 peared in a Leicester paper referring to our experiment, and 
 it closed with a fervent appeal to the employees of Messrs. 
 Thomas Bushill & Sons, emphasising the important part 
 which they would play in this matter ; how " the eyes of all 
 social reformers would be upon them," and so on. I won't 
 read the extract to you ; it might overwhelm you with a sense 
 of responsibility. (Laughter.) But, seriously, there is no 
 plan for bettering the position of the working classes at 
 present before the public, which, in the judgment of many 
 thoughtful men, unites to such a degree the qualities of 
 ready practicability, safety, and equity, as that of profit- 
 sharing. Already three firms, employing some 400 persons, 
 have adopted schemes more or less on our lines, and after 
 this year's results, and especially if we are able to report that 
 the improvement still continues and grows, I confidently 
 anticipate that many more will follow. (Hear, hear.) All I 
 can say is, " Go on as you have begun." There is in this 
 plan an appeal to self-interest. I would not despise this 
 motive, but I have been gratified immensely to discern 
 signs in the cases of not a few present that the increased 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 83 
 
 efforts have been apparently called forth quite as much by 
 the desire to respond to the spirit of the new privileges 
 placed in their hands, as by the expectation of prospective 
 personal gain. Let us go on as we have begun, and then, 
 although we may not have and in all probability shall not 
 have the same substantial bonus every year, we shall go 
 through our working days with mutual esteem and confi- 
 dence, and with the inspiriting hope that, by the time when 
 our share of this sort of work is done, we shall have earned 
 some modest competence which will enable us to spend 
 the evening of our life free from care and want. (Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 In the course of the subsequent speeches one of the 
 employees (Mr. J. Austin) said that, when they were young, 
 they had perhaps heard the song, "There's a good time 
 coming, boys ! " He thought that many would agree with 
 him in the opinion that, as far as they were concerned, the 
 good time had come! (Applause.) 
 
 AT ANNUAL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1890. 
 
 The meeting was this year a purely business one, being 
 held at 12.30 on Saturday, September 20. 
 
 Mr. N. Bushill read the Accountant's Report for the 
 Second Year of Profit-Sharing, which was cordially welcomed. 
 Continuing, Mr. N. Bushill said that there was one point 
 on which he hoped the new year would be more satisfactory 
 than the last, and that was in respect to "mistakes." It 
 was quite true that they were doing more business that 
 they were working at rather high pressure; but as one 
 who had to do a good bit of the travelling, he could tell 
 them that customers nowadays would not accept that as 
 an effective excuse for anything wrong with the goods 
 
84 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 they would simply transfer the orders to a firm which was 
 not so busy. The firm were doing what they could to make 
 the lot of their employees agreeable, and he hoped that 
 each one of them would do his best to make business easy 
 and free from worry for the firm. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. T. W. Bushill, in acknowledging a vote of thanks, 
 said : 
 
 I think that what has passed this morning forms a 
 pleasant contrast to some meetings of employees and 
 employers which have been reported in the papers during 
 the last twelve months. (Applause.) Your spokesmen have 
 each been with us for over twenty years, so they ought to 
 know something of the spirit of the firm, and their words 
 ought to have some influence over those who meet here 
 for the first time. I suppose there are about fifty present 
 who were not here twelve months ago, and these bring 
 up the number of our staff to about 180. 
 
 This year no alteration is proposed to the rules, but with 
 respect to one alteration which was made last year, I 
 should like to mention one fact. You will remember 
 that there is no compulsion in connection with this scheme. 
 Your freedom of action is respected in this as in all other 
 matters. What I have to report is, that so far every one 
 has sent in his or her application to join, so I think we may 
 say that there is a unanimous acceptance of the scheme 
 on the part of our people. (Applause.) . . . 
 
 In this connection I wish to mention a calculation which 
 I have made. I suppose it would not be very difficult on 
 an average for every one to save whether in material, or 
 in time, or in taking more pains in their work a penny a 
 day. If this were done if each one saved during the 
 ensuing year only a penny per day there would be an 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 85 
 
 addition to the total fund, in which you would all share, of 
 over 200. (Applause.) 
 
 This system will only be satisfactory in the long-run if it 
 is proved to be mutually satisfactory, then other firms will 
 adopt it in increasing numbers. 
 
 It is only fair to say that the remarks about avoidable 
 mistakes, etc., apply rather to the few than to the many. 
 Take it altogether, there is no doubt that the bonus just 
 declared is a well-earned recompense for a good, solid, 
 honest year's work on the part of, well, almost every- 
 body present. (Hear, hear, from Mr. N. Bushill, and 
 applause.) 
 
 Since last autumn, I have had reported to me as having 
 started profit-sharing about twenty firms, with altogether 
 over 5000 employees. (Applause.) I would not say to 
 working men that all profit-sharing schemes are equally 
 worthy of confidence and support, but it is evident that the 
 system is making headway, and I believe that in the main 
 the progress is on fair and sound lines. We want to keep 
 in the front rank of these businesses, and I am sure that 
 we shall do so if you respond to the resolution which you 
 have passed, and if all of you determine this year to make 
 this business more and more of a success, acting on the 
 motto, " Each for all, and all for each." (Applause.) 
 
 AT ANNUAL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 19, 1891. 
 
 Mr. T. W. Bushill, after reading the Accountant's Report 
 for the Third Year's Profit-Sharing, said : - 
 
 I may say that the result to me has been a pleasant 
 surprise. I did not expect that it would be so good. 
 As some of you know, the prices which we have been 
 able to obtain for our goods have been forced lower than 
 
86 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 ever before, and there has been, speaking generally, no 
 reduction in wages. It is true that by re-arrangements 
 in certain processes we have been able to economise 
 production, but this advantage has had to be given to the 
 customer almost entirely. In one of our most import- 
 ant departments, for instance, the costing rate of manu- 
 facture has been lowered, and here I am speaking subject 
 to the knowledge of some in the room, this costing rate 
 has had to be reduced from 20 to 25 per cent. Well, 
 that has probably not been all loss to you and to us, 
 because the lower the price at which things are manu- 
 factured and supplied to manufacturers and to distributors, 
 the cheaper those goods ought to reach us as consumers. 
 And, of course, most are aware that many commodities 
 and things that we use in daily life clothes and so on 
 are cheaper than they used to be. Yet, as far as we are 
 concerned as a business firm, if the price we are able to 
 get for our goods is reduced, and the rate of wages is 
 maintained, there must be a diminution in the profits, 
 unless there is an increase of zeal on the part of the em- 
 ployees to counteract the other reduction. In this respect, 
 of course this is a business meeting, and we have to 
 speak frankly, the year has not been free from causes of 
 disappointment. With some not a few, I am glad to say 
 the working of the profit-sharing has been quite satis- 
 factory ; yet, in some cases, the way in which careless work 
 has been done and sent out, has shown that the thing is 
 not understood, or else better effects would have ensued. 
 It is true these cases have occurred, as a rule, with the 
 younger and less intelligent employees ; and we are able 
 to trace, to a certain extent, the parties at fault, because we 
 enter in a Loss Book each case which comes to our know- 
 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES TO THE EMPLOYEES. 87 
 
 ledge against the department in question. Well, with those 
 who cannot understand that bad work means discredit to 
 the firm, and a certain loss to them in their bonus, we 
 shall have to apply very strictly the premium system, and 
 try to bring it home to them in that way. If it were not 
 for such cases as these, I am persuaded that though we 
 have every reason to be gratified regarding the present 
 result I am persuaded, from what I have seen, that the 
 bonus would have been better still. 
 
 Well, now as to the future. As you all know, this 
 system is only worked from year to year. Of course, if 
 such cases as I have referred to were to become more 
 numerous or more serious, the scheme would be in danger. 
 There is no doubt, at any rate, that the question would arise 
 as to the desirability of making a selection of those to whom 
 the bonus should be given, as is done in the case of some 
 firms the bonus being given only to those who show 
 themselves capable of understanding and responding to the 
 system. Well, for the ensuing year, we have decided to 
 continue the system on the same broad lines as hitherto. 
 (Applause.) As to the basis, the rules state that the Re- 
 served Limit can be altered after three years, and three 
 years have now elapsed. Well, although circumstances may 
 possibly arise in the natural order of things which may 
 necessitate some alteration in the amount of the reserve, yet 
 for this year, I am pleased to say, it will remain the same as 
 for the last three years. (Applause.) 
 
 After other speeches had been made, the meeting ter- 
 minated with the following remarks from Mr. Bushill : 
 
 I am glad to acknowledge your vote, and I need scarcely 
 add that nothing will give me more pleasure than to find 
 this thing is generally appreciated, and in that case we shall 
 
88 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 not have to bring up hints of the possibility of its dis- 
 continuance. 
 
 I may just mention that one of our friends who left 
 during this year to be married drew out a sum of over ^5 ; 
 of course, as time goes on, such amounts will increase. 
 
 By our exertions we can counteract, to a great extent, 
 the effects of this excessive competition. What we have to 
 guard against especially is giving ground for complaints 
 about mistakes, and that sort of thing. Such things make 
 a traveller's task still more unpleasant than it need be. 
 Ours is a "catchy" trade, I admit, I mean, there are 
 many possibilities for mistakes; but in order to avoid 
 them, we must keep our eyes open, and our full attention on 
 the work we have in hand. We do not want anything 
 unreasonable we do not wish to try to drive our people 
 to over-exertion ; but seeing that all employed, whether the 
 young apprentice, the labourer, or the skilled mechanic, 
 benefit under present regulations, we want all to do their 
 level best, and " with a long pull, and a strong pull, and a 
 pull all together," we shall attain, I hope, to a still more 
 satisfactory result. (Applause.) 
 
 AT ANNUAL MEETING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1892. 
 
 No report was taken of the proceedings on this occasion. 
 The reading of the Accountant's Certificate for the Fourth 
 Year's Profit-Sharing was applauded in the usual manner. 
 The firm had the pleasure of testifying to the fact that a larger 
 proportion of the members of the staff seemed to be respond- 
 ing to the system. 
 
 The firm laid before the meeting a proposal to reduce 
 the working hours from fifty-four to fifty per week, as to 
 which fuller information can be' obtained from p. 151 et seq. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 
 
 THE letters which follow have been selected for publication 
 chiefly on account of the representative character of the 
 writers. It has been thought well to divide them into two 
 classes namely, those from business men, and those from 
 preachers and teachers. It will be found that among the 
 correspondents are prominent capitalists, employers, co- 
 operators, and Trade Unionists. The letters range in date 
 over the past four years : they appear, generally speaking, in 
 order of date, with the exception that Mr. Robert Duncan's 
 comprehensive contribution is placed first. Matter for 
 thought may be extracted from these communications apart 
 from the immediate question of profit-sharing. 
 
 i. FROM BUSINESS MEN. 
 
 From ROBERT DUNCAN, Esq., of Ross & Duncan, 
 Engineers, Glasgow. 
 
 " WHITEFIELD WORKS, GOVAN, GLASGOW, 
 " lot/i January 1893. 
 
 " It gives me much pleasure to have an opportunity of 
 expressing, through the medium of your Manual, some of 
 the opinions I have formed on the labour subject, as 
 
90 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 probably that is the most important branch of our internal 
 national policy at the present time. 
 
 "As to Remuneration and Profit- Sharing. Every industrial 
 undertaking may be said to be a co-operative concern, in 
 which men agree to work together to supply some special 
 wants of the public in the home or outside markets. The 
 wages question is the problem of remunerating each person 
 so co-operating to an extent having some approximate 
 proportion to the importance of the service to the general 
 efficiency. 
 
 " For harmony and good working, each individual should 
 feel himself to be a part of the whole, and desirous of its 
 prosperity for the sake of others as well as of himself; 
 that prosperity to be attained by fair remuneration of good 
 service to the public. 
 
 " When there is mere buying and selling of labour between 
 employer and employed, it seems certain that the better 
 forms of relationship are absent, and hence the importance 
 of not only recognising, but of cultivating the sense of 
 responsibility and vested interest of workers as well as of 
 directors in the establishment that gives support to all. 
 Profit-sharing seems to be the best practicable means of 
 carrying out this principle in many, if not all, business 
 undertakings. 
 
 "For efficiency, for permanence, and for improvement 
 of production in quality or quantity, capital is generally 
 necessary. This capital has to be obtained as the result 
 of thrift, self-denial, and foresight, and undoubtedly it is 
 entitled to remuneration. In the past, capital has principally 
 been in the hands of few persons, and the welfare of society 
 has greatly depended upon the character and aims of those 
 persons possessing this power. An advance in general 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 91 
 
 prosperity and intelligence I believe to be accompanied by 
 a general increase of share in this instrument of improve- 
 ment. At the same time, the need for the best and ablest 
 directors being at the head of undertakings is not thereby 
 cancelled. Those undertakings which have able and 
 trustworthy conductors or directors will evidently survive 
 in that struggle which seems to be the condition of all life, 
 in some degree. 
 
 "The history of Leclaire and his firm is an exceedingly 
 instructive one, and worth the attention of all employers 
 of labour, as showing in practice the solution of many 
 problems which are likely to come before them. This is 
 the example of a private firm gradually converted into a 
 kind of industrial partnership. 
 
 "For businesses involving great risks, great enterprise, and 
 great fluctuations, there is proportionate difficulty in apply- 
 ing such methods, but the general principle of co-operation 
 and recognition of partnership need not be absent. Such 
 businesses are generally conducted by men of exceptional 
 ability, foresight, and' energy, and are often the pioneers of 
 new trades and extended industries. It is evident that no 
 hard-and-fast rules as to remuneration can be laid down, 
 and it is generally admitted that effective work, with its 
 accompanying exercise of faculty, is in itself the best of all 
 remunerations. Other remuneration is only of importance 
 as it helps the possessor or others to the development and 
 use of extended faculties and powers. 
 
 " As to Trade Unions. In trades where the fluctuations of 
 amount of work are very great, Trade Unions may be, and 
 in some instances actually are, very serviceable to the 
 general welfare. Shipbuilding may be taken as an example. 
 The amount of work in hand in the shipyards throughout 
 
92 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 the country may be doubled in the course of a few months, 
 and an industrial contract may involve a million of pounds 
 sterling, and require a couple of years for its execution. 
 Through the action of matters seemingly trifling in import- 
 ance, such a contract as spoken of may be placed at any one of 
 many places far separate, and cause a great displacement of 
 labour. It is evident that in such conditions it is impossible 
 for the individual employer to maintain steady relations 
 with, or influence over, his workmen, or to make time 
 agreements with them as to rates of pay ; and, on the other 
 hand, for even the skilful, thrifty, and industrious of the 
 employees to feel at all sure that they may not have to face 
 destitution in the next dull times, without the agency of a 
 strong Trade Union. By harmonious action with associated 
 employers, Trade Unions may be very helpful to the present 
 and especially to the future prosperity of their trades, as 
 educative and disciplinary agencies. I think they should 
 be encouraged to invest funds in the enterprises that 
 support their members, and already there has been some 
 progress in this direction by the Boilermakers and Iron 
 Shipbuilders, the Shipwrights and the Railway Servants, if 
 not other Unions. When such invested funds have returns 
 depending upon profits made, the conditions will be still 
 more stable and equitable. In our own business, we en- 
 courage the employees to become members of Trade Unions 
 as an insurance against bad times, and as a means of 
 educating themselves in regard to the conditions and ad- 
 vancement of labour. 
 
 "As to our Scheme. All our foremen and staff are 
 on profit-sharing arrangements, receiving a weekly wage 
 such as is usual in other establishments of the kind 
 and size, and a sum at the end of the financial year, 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 93 
 
 depending upon the profits of the year. This latter 
 sum they receive unconditionally, but are encouraged to 
 leave with the firm at 5 per cent, interest, withdrawable 
 by arrangement. For some years also, the workmen 
 who have been eighteen months or longer in the em- 
 ployment of the firm have also received, at the end of 
 the financial year, a sum depending upon the profits made. 
 As we are members of an association of employers, the 
 basis wage is that current in the trade, and fluctuates 
 along with it. In 1891 and 1892 the sum given was 
 equal to one week's normal pay. In 1892 we offered 
 the workmen an alternative, either to have a larger sum 
 total on condition of putting a considerable portion into the 
 Works Benefit Society, which is managed by the men, or 
 a smaller total unconditionally into their hands. I am 
 pleased to say that, after a little deliberation, they chose 
 the former, though it has put less money directly into their 
 pockets. 
 
 "This system we propose to develop in proportion as 
 the men are found to appreciate and adopt its advan- 
 tages. 
 
 "As to Employees' Committee. An institution we find 
 very useful is a monthly meeting of our partners, officials, 
 foremen, delegates elected from each department of the 
 works, and the officers of the benefit society. At these 
 meetings all matters of general interest in the conduct of 
 the business, awards received at exhibitions, complaints 
 from customers, delay in delivery, effects of tariffs on 
 trade, improvements in methods, reserve funds, outlay on 
 new appliances, extension of the business, proportion of 
 apprentices to journeymen, training of apprentices, rewards 
 for inventions, etc. etc., are brought up for consideration 
 
94 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 and discussion. The interest and intelligence shown are 
 often very gratifying. 
 
 "The recent Trades Union Congress, the Co-operative 
 Congress, and the Congress of the Chambers of Commerce 
 of the British Empire were visited by the writer, and lead- 
 ing impressions communicated in this way. At present 
 the relations of this country with the Colonies are having 
 special attention. 
 
 "As to the Unemployed. I would here express the strong 
 belief that employers and employed should jointly study 
 those causes on which the fluctuations of trade depend, 
 with the aim of attaining greater stability and steadiness. 
 Regular employment is one of the first conditions for 
 effective attempts to raise the condition of the people. 
 A good business-like arrangement with the Colonies, in 
 itself, and still more important as a step towards that 
 greater internationalisation of commerce that is evidently 
 bound to come sooner or later, would be a decided and 
 very practicable advance in this direction. 
 
 " In conclusion, I would say that the aim of a business 
 man, like that of every other in the community, I believe 
 should be to promote the general welfare, partly by his own 
 legitimate development, and partly by the elevation and 
 advancement of those with whom he has to deal. So long 
 as the aim is to make a fortune for individual ease, 
 pleasure, or power, it seems certain that the relations of 
 employers and employed cannot be satisfactory. In a 
 country so much occupied in manufacture and commerce 
 as is ours, it is of great moment to decide whether we 
 shall admire and imitate men of the stamp of George 
 Hudson and Jay Gould, or that of the stamp of James Watt, 
 George Stephenson, John Elder, William Denny, and Lord 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 95 
 
 Armstrong. On the answer we give to this question, our 
 national future evidently depends in great measure." 
 
 From RICHARD TANGYE, Esq., Chairman of Tangyes 
 Limited, Engineers, Birmingham. 
 
 "GLENDORGAL, NEWQUAY, CORNWALL, 
 " November 22, 1888. 
 
 "I have been favoured with a copy of a report of a meeting 
 of your employees, giving a description of a new scheme of 
 profit-sharing with them which you have lately inaugurated. 
 
 " While thanking you very much for your kindly thought 
 in sending us the report, allow me to heartily wish you all 
 the success in your new undertaking which you could 
 desire, and I shall be very much interested in knowing how 
 it fares. No doubt you will have many discouragements, but 
 I have long been convinced that the moral health of the 
 community demands, on the part of employers, the most 
 careful consideration of how they can best discharge their 
 manifold duties towards those in their employment. 
 
 " I should feel much obliged if you could kindly spare 
 me two more copies of the report, and with best wishes for 
 your success." . . . 
 
 From C. J. ANGUS, Esq., of 43 Finsbury Circus, E.G., 
 Chartered Accountant. 
 
 " September H, 1888. 
 
 ..." In the first place, let me say how interested I have 
 been in reading the various papers, and how heartily I 
 sympathise with your desires. The matter is, no doubt, not 
 an easy one, especially as the field is almost untrodden. 
 All the more honour to a pioneer ! . . . 
 
96 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 " Are not employees to bear their share of loss, if it should 
 occur at any rate, to the extent of its being deducted 
 from the bonus fund of the following year (if any) ? " 
 
 From CHAS. P. NEWMAN, Esq., Manager of Lloyd's Bank 
 Limited, Coventry. 
 
 "COVENTRY, December i, 1888. 
 
 "I think your proposal is most excellent, and should 
 imagine your employees will be only too delighted to have 
 the chance of participating in such a scheme. 
 
 " If masters and men are loyal to each other it must result 
 in mutual benefit, and your firm's liberal offer must have 
 shown that you had your employees' interest at heart 
 equally with your own. 
 
 " I congratulate you most sincerely on being pioneers (at 
 least in Coventry) of such a generous effort to elevate your 
 staff from the mere drudgery of daily toil by giving them 
 something to inspire them to look forward. 
 
 " I shall be very pleased to be of any service I can to 
 your firm, if you will kindly tell me what I can do." . . . 
 
 From R. A. HADFIELD, Esq., Managing Director of Had- 
 field's Steel Foundry Company Limited, Sheffield. 
 
 " HECLA WORKS, SHEFFIELD, 
 " nth November 1889. 
 
 " Many thanks for your kindness in remembering to send 
 me a copy of the pamphlet of your year's working. Allow 
 me to congratulate you most heartily on the success of the 
 experiment ; such results seem to me to indicate that there 
 is after all a modus vivendi between capital and labour, a 
 point we are bound to have to face still more prominently 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 97 
 
 in the near future if the remarkable advance in prices that 
 has recently taken place continues. . . . Still I have a 
 firm conviction that labour in the past has not had its fair 
 share, and such successful attempts as yours are evidently 
 calculated to lead to a better state of feeling. I was very 
 much amused with the results of your year's working on 
 your gas bill. After all, it is the introduction of little 
 economies that bring the big profits. . . . 
 
 " If we neglect the study of these labour questions, I am 
 sure they will come upon us more suddenly than pleasantly." 
 
 From Sir HENRY STEPHENSON of Sheffield. 
 
 " THE GLEN, ENDCLIFFE VALE, SHEFFIELD, 
 " 2.-$rd December 1889. 
 
 " I have read your pamphlet with equal interest and 
 pleasure, and I warmly congratulate employers and 
 employed on so satisfactory a result. I sympathise with 
 every effort in this direction, and I feel sure that your 
 experiment will powerfully assist the movement. I am glad 
 to see you approve of my idea to lodge in the savings bank 
 the workmen's shares of profit, leaving them at full liberty 
 to draw it out if they choose. 
 
 " I sincerely hope your example will be followed by others, 
 although it may be under different forms and methods." . . . 
 
 From W. T. SHAW, Esq., of the Firm of Messrs. 
 De La Rue & Company, London. 
 
 "ALGEHR, ADELAIDE ROAD, SURBITON, 
 "zist December 1889. 
 
 " This is a very tardy acknowledgment of your kindness 
 in sending me a copy of your report of the ' first year's 
 
 7 
 
98 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 profit-sharing,' for which I now tender you my hearty 
 thanks. I have read the report with much interest, and am 
 glad to find that the results have proved so satisfactory to 
 all concerned. With the spirit and aim of your efforts and 
 of those who share your views, I heartily sympathise, but 
 I cannot say that I have any intellectual conviction that 
 profit-sharing has ever as yet been placed, or even that 
 it is possible to place it, on a basis of even-handed justice 
 between employers and employed. The subject is too 
 large a one for a letter ; but I will try to set down roughly 
 some of the difficulties and objections which have occurred 
 to me in connection with this subject. 
 
 "(i.) It is always tacitly assumed that wages ought not to 
 be considered as being in any sense of the nature of profit 
 to the recipient. It would be more true to the facts to 
 hold that wages are as much the profits of an office or 
 calling as salaries admittedly are in other walks of life. This 
 is not a mere verbal distinction, but has important bearings 
 on the fundamental principles of the case. 
 
 " (2.) Profit-sharing assumes that the share in the results of 
 an enterprise dispensed in the form of wages weekly is not 
 a just and adequate share, and that consequently equity 
 calls for a further distribution of money to the workers at 
 the annual balancing. And it does this, 
 
 " (3.) Although, confessedly, no scheme of profit-sharing 
 makes any provision for a refunding of money by the 
 workers in the event of the annual audit showing a loss. I 
 have myself been connected with an iron enterprise, in 
 which many thousands of pounds were in the course of 
 years paid to the workers, with the result that the whole of 
 this money was lost to the shareholders. Can it be said 
 that the workers had no share of profit all these years ? I 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 99 
 
 say, on the contrary, that their profits were very large, 
 certain, and continuous. 
 
 "(4.) I hold that profit-sharing, until it takes account of 
 wages as profit, and is made to involve loss-sharing (which 
 is, I fear, impossible in the nature of things), cannot be 
 regarded as founded on strict justice, but will continue to be 
 founded on sentiment only, a generous and noble senti- 
 ment I admit, but not one likely to have a very widespread 
 application in this mundane sphere. 
 
 "It is in no spirit of carping criticism that I have roughly 
 set down these remarks. If you are able to attain to a 
 satisfactory system in your own domain, you need not 
 trouble yourself about a priori difficulties or want of logical 
 conformity with first principles. One step at a time means 
 real progress, and by and by the pathway will be clearer, 
 as a spirit of broader and better humanity is inbreathed 
 into our race." . . . 
 
 From CHARLES R. DRYSDALE, M.D., Senior Physician to 
 the Metropolitan Hospital of London. 
 
 " 23 SACKVILLE STREET, PICCADILLY, LONDON, 
 " March 29, 1890. 
 
 " Best thanks for your kindness in sending me the account 
 of your first year's splendid results. I sincerely trust you 
 may succeed in your most laudable attempt to make 
 industrial life less of a warfare than it has been for some 
 time past. For myself I am an old pupil of Mr. John S. 
 Mill, and have visited some of the profit-sharing firms in 
 Paris which have been so successful. 
 
 " Masters and workmen should be the best of friends, 
 and will, I am sure, become so under the regime of profit- 
 sharing, which, I think, will now begin to be very popular. 
 
TOO PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 " Having some little' capital of my own, at any rate, I must 
 say that in future I shall be tempted to invest in such firms 
 as yours, in preference to those in which there is so little 
 " solidarity " between employers and employed as there 
 usually is." . . . 
 
 (1) From Mr. CHARLES SHUFFLEBOTHAM, Manager of the 
 
 Coventry Co - operative Watch Manufacturing Society 
 
 Limited. 
 
 "35 MOUNT STREET, COVENTRY, 
 " April y>, 1889. 
 
 " I am pleased to learn that you are to read a paper on 'The 
 Relations of Employers and Employed in the Light of the 
 Social Gospel,' which, I know, will mean to you a gospel of 
 peace, harmony, and good-will. Do not fail to dilate upon 
 the great power in the hands of employers of labour, for 
 good or for evil. This power, I verily believe, is sufficient 
 in itself, if used rightly, to revolutionise in one or two genera- 
 tions the whole current of social life, and re-mould our 
 industrial arrangements, so that all might have abundance 
 not only of food and clothing, but of leisure for study 
 and recreation, without which men are mere drudges, 
 machines, and slaves, and in danger of falling back into 
 degradation." . . . 
 
 (2) From Mr. CHARLES SHUFFLEBOTHAM, Manager of the 
 
 Coventry Co-operative Watch Manufacturing Society 
 
 Limited. 
 
 " 35 MOUNT STREET, COVENTRY, 
 " December 30, 1892. 
 
 " I suppose you intend to show in some part of your work 
 the opportunity which profit-sharing gives to establish some- 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 101 
 
 thing like compulsory thrift among the able-bodied workers 
 of both sexes by profit-saving, because this can be done 
 without the possibly harsh conditions of using part of the 
 ordinary wages for that object, if this were made legal, 
 though even this might, under certain conditions, be quite 
 justifiable. 
 
 " It is, as I know you would maintain, a perversion of 
 charity to use charity to help those who have, or may have, 
 a means of helping themselves ; and compulsion of some 
 sort must be used towards the unthrifty, or they will, aided 
 by the law, compel the thrifty to keep them when in need 
 either in or out of the workhouse and degrade their 
 families, probably including helpless women and children, 
 into a state of permanent poverty and dependence. This, 
 I know, is often done by men of more than average ability, 
 and who for many years are in receipt of high wages. 
 Charity will, or may be, always necessary, and should be 
 freely given to those who are ill or unfortunate ; but even 
 these may be greatly reduced in number by wise sanitary 
 laws and well-regulated and ventilated workshops, and 
 moderate hours of labour. It is that large class who spend 
 all they get, be it little or much, that profit-saving would 
 and should lift out of the gutter of poverty. A certain 
 number in this class do save, it is true, but only with the 
 object of spending it at holidays and other times in rather 
 questionable pleasures. 
 
 "Even many so-called co-operators invariably withdraw 
 the whole of their dividend (or share of profit) at the end 
 of the quarter, leaving only the minimum amount which 
 they are compelled to hold in the funds of the society. 
 Thus profit-sharing, when conditioned \>y profit-saving, may 
 stand higher as a means of encouraging thrift than the 
 
102 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Co-operative Store, and therefore co-operative to a larger 
 extent in promoting lasting prosperity to the worker." 
 
 From F. W. FRANKLIN, Esq., J.P., of Coventry. 
 
 " December 2, 1892. 
 
 " I have read with great interest the report in the Herald 
 of your evidence before the Labour Commission. Allow 
 me to congratulate you on the tact with which you gave the 
 maximum of information due to an inquiring public with 
 a minimum of insight into your private affairs ! . . . 
 
 "Whoever could have dreamed that the Cow Lane 
 Steam Works should evolve a story that reads like a 
 romance in the hard letterpress of a newspaper, or that 
 Poetry and Labour should join hands in such a true and 
 real fashion ! " 
 
 From R. HILTON, Esq., Managing Director of Raithby, 
 Lawrence, & Company Limited, Printers and Pub- 
 lishers, Leicester. 
 
 " DE MONTFORT PRESS, QUEEN STREET, LEICESTER, 
 "December 19, 1892. 
 
 "... I note a distinct change in the way this matter 
 , (profit-sharing) is being looked at. Some years ago, and up 
 to last year, there was more or less of a feeling of philan- 
 thropy mixed up in it, but now I find employers looking at 
 it from a purely business standpoint. 
 
 " This is as it should be. An experience of thirty-five 
 years has convinced me that well-treated employees do more 
 and better work than those who are kept to a constant grind 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 103 
 
 at minimum wages, though the latter may work as much as 
 an hour more a day. 
 
 " You know I do not believe in philanthropy in business. 
 We pay higher wages than prevail here, and work shorter 
 hours, pay for all holidays, and subscribe to the employees' 
 cricket, football, lawn tennis, book, and other clubs. If 
 they give us satisfaction for two years, we give them a bonus 
 of one share (^5), on which they receive the declared 
 dividend for each year. In five years they get up to ,25 
 each' in shares two we give them, and three they pay for 
 themselves. 
 
 "It is always open to them to take up shares, paying 
 in full or by instalments. Many of them pay cash down. 
 Some have already from 20 to $o in shares. It has 
 had the effect of making them begin to save, and ambitious 
 to have a share in what they call ' our ' business. 
 
 " I am convinced that Limited Companies, worked on the 
 co-operative system as ours is, offer a solution for many 
 labour troubles. The average working man doesn't look 
 for ' something for nothing.' As a rule he likes to preserve 
 his independence, and I have always found him ready and 
 willing to give full value for what he gets, let it be much or 
 little. If employers generally knew what they lose by 
 neglect of the welfare of their employees, they would, in 
 their own interest, soon make a change. I have seen both 
 systems that of neglect, and that of generous sympathy 
 at work, and I know which pays best. I can say, with 
 truth, that good treatment of our "employees has been 
 a considerable factor in the striking success of our business, 
 which in three years has grown from a score to upwards of 
 140 hands. 
 
 " I shall look with interest for your promised report." 
 
104 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 From ALEX. HORN, Esq., Managing Director of Clarke, 
 Nickolls, & Coombs, Limited, Manufacturing Con- 
 fectioners, London, N.E. 
 
 "HACKNEY WICK, LONDON, N.E., 
 ''December 20, 1892. 
 
 " Our scheme, as you may remember, is based on a division 
 with employees after 6 per cent, has been set aside for 
 ordinary shareholders, and, if we are not mistaken, very few 
 profit-sharing firms have fixed so low an initial interest on 
 capital. Some of our shareholders were much upset at the 
 time on this point, strongly protesting that 8 per cent, 
 was low enough, and it was only with difficulty their scruples 
 were overcome. The directors, however, felt that only a 
 thoroughly liberal scheme was worth trying, and so far 
 results have justified them. At the time of the introduction 
 of profit-sharing, our ordinary shareholders were receiving 
 10 per cent. At the end of the next year, although a sub- 
 stantial amount was paid to the workers, the dividend on 
 the ordinary shares again reached the level of 10 per cent. 
 
 "We attach fully as much importance to the superannuation 
 scheme which arises out of the profit-sharing as to the cash 
 bonus. Hedged about as this is, should our business career 
 continue successful, great results may spring from it; and 
 in the meantime the workpeople draw pay in sickness, and 
 payments are made from it in case of death." 
 
 From WM. ALLAN, Esq , of William Allan & Company, 
 Engineers, Sunderland. 
 
 "January 4, 1893. 
 
 "Your evidence is most interesting and valuable. I 
 perused it with much pleasure. . . . 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 105 
 
 " No doubt a change in the old-fashioned system of work 
 is inevitable shorter hours seem to be the present aspect 
 of this change (my views thereon will be found in Mr. 
 Hadfield's Shorter Working Day). As to the future well, 
 we must leave it to formulate its own methods." 
 
 From THOMAS BURT, Esq., M.P., Secretary of the 
 Northumberland Miners' Association. 
 
 "20 BURDON TERRACE, NEWCASTLE, 
 "January 9, 1893. 
 
 "... I am thoroughly in favour of the principle of profit- 
 sharing, believing as I do that it is good in itself, and that 
 it is one of the best ways out of the present wage system. 
 I think profit-sharing has sometimes been prejudiced in the 
 minds of workmen by its having been presented in a form 
 antagonistic to Trade Unions. My advice to workmen has 
 always been, to welcome all such approaches on the part 
 of employers, and to welcome them cordially, whenever 
 brought forward without conditions of an objectionable 
 kind." . . . 
 
 From A. F. HILLS, Esq., Managing Director of the 
 Thames Iron Works Limited, London. 
 
 "THE THAMES IRON WORKS, BLACKWALL, E., 
 " \\th January 1893. 
 
 "... After carefully studying the subject, I have come 
 to the conclusion that profit-sharing is the complement to 
 fellowship, but that the latter is necessary as the foundation 
 upon which the superstructure of profit-sharing and co- 
 operation can be built. In a large yard like our own, the 
 prospects in profit-sharing are remote ; whereas, with fellow- 
 
io6 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 ship, every man knows exactly how and why he has earned 
 his dividend. 
 
 "I dislike the term 'gain-sharing,' because it is not a 
 question of sharing at all ; whatever the workman can earn 
 beyond his daily wages, upon the prices which have been 
 agreed, belongs to him as much as the weekly rate of pay 
 which custom has determined. 
 
 " I am satisfied as I told the Labour Commission that 
 it is quite possible to make good relations between capital 
 and labour, and that the war that now seems impending 
 between capital and labour is a thing that can be averted, 
 if only we are wise enough to make arrangements to avoid 
 it. It is not an inevitable evil pressing upon us, but it is 
 quite possible to make such arrangements so that they may 
 be reconciled." 
 
 From ALBERT GREY, Esq., of the Howick and Lear- 
 mouth Farms, Northumberland. 
 
 " HOWICK, LESBURY. NORTHUMBERLAND, 
 "Jamiary 16, 1893. 
 
 "My six years' experience has convinced me that the 
 profit-sharing principle, as it is applied at Howick and 
 Learmouth, has a direct tendency to increase the interest 
 of the labourer in his work, and consequently his efficiency. 
 
 "The two facts (i) that the experience of all large work- 
 shops shows that the efficiency of men paid by the piece 
 is from 30 to 70 per cent, greater than that of men paid 
 by time, and (2) that when the labourer is engaged, as in 
 Northumberland, from year's end to year's end, he has 
 no interest whatsoever in the produce of his industry, point 
 clearly to the conclusion that agriculture is a great loser 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 107 
 
 for want of a system which convinces the labourer that his 
 personal interest is bound up in the output of his labour. 
 
 "As it is impossible, under the conditions which exist in 
 Northumberland, to give the agricultural labourer the in- 
 terest in his work which is provided by the system of piece- 
 work payments, it is necessary, if he is to be interested at 
 all, that the yearly balance-sheet of the farm should become 
 a matter of importance to him. Whether it is possible to 
 interest him sufficiently by this means to induce him to put 
 extra brains and energy into his work, is a matter of opinion. 
 In any case, the nature of his employment precludes the 
 idea of increasing his efficiency to the same extent that 
 piece-work payments increase the efficiency e.g. of a 
 riveter; but every one conversant with agriculture will 
 admit that the difference in value to a farmer between a 
 careful, thoughtful, willing worker and one who lacks all 
 these qualities is enormous, and it is this enormous differ- 
 ence which the profit-sharing principle seeks to save. 
 
 " But I have applied this principle to my farms from 
 a conviction that it is not only economically sound, but 
 morally right. It appears to me that justice and fairplay 
 demand that the net profits which may remain after labour 
 and capital have received their fair reward in the shape of 
 wages and interest shall be divided between capital and 
 labour, according to Godin's formula, in proportion to the 
 money value of the services contributed by each. 
 
 " The publication of your book will, I trust, hasten the 
 recognition and adoption of this principle. The pinching 
 necessities of the times will, I fear, require men to consider 
 once again what are the principles which determine national 
 prosperity. The present prospect is alarming. Labour, 
 taught by its leaders that a diminished output promotes 
 
io8 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 general well-being, seems bent on battering its head against 
 an iron wall. Unless this fatal and pernicious heresy is 
 quickly rooted out, the country must prepare itself for the 
 luxury of half rations. I do not see how this can be averted 
 unless the working classes are taught to realise that national 
 and individual prosperity both depend on the amount which 
 is received in return for the collective labour of the nation. 
 "The successful application of the profit-sharing prin- 
 ciple to industries seems to be the surest method of 
 teaching this elementary but all-important lesson, and I 
 therefore cannot too heartily wish you the continuance of 
 that success which so far has attended your efforts." 
 
 2. FROM PREACHERS AND TEACHERS. 
 
 From the CHAPLAIN to His Grace the ARCHBISHOP 
 OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 "LAMBETH PALACE, S.E., 
 "May 28, 1890. 
 
 "The Archbishop received the report of the first year's 
 profit-sharing of your firm, and has looked through the 
 pamphlet. . . . 
 
 " The Archbishop feels that your firm is to be sincerely 
 congratulated on such a hopeful beginning of the new 
 system, not merely, or indeed chiefly, for the gratifying 
 financial result, but for the solidarity, the good feeling, and 
 the higher standard of mutual relations which the experi- 
 ment bids fair to produce. 
 
 " When employers come to see that, whether or not such 
 systems are immediately and in all cases financially profit- 
 able, it nevertheless does/ezjy in the highest sense to live in 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 109 
 
 simpler ways, but on better and more brotherly terms with 
 their employees, there will be great hope for the solution of 
 the social problems. 
 
 " The Archbishop joins with you in trusting that when bad 
 years come (if that must be), you will be justified in your 
 confidence in your men. If they have then learned to 
 regard the business as so much their own concern as to 
 stand by it through hardships and self-denials, Mr. Austin's 
 words will be indeed true, that the 'good time coming' 
 has come." . . . 
 
 From the Rev. J. CLIFFORD, M.A., D.D., Minister of 
 Westbourne Park Chapel, London, W. 
 
 "21 CASTELLAIN ROAD, MAIDA VALE, W., 
 "November 13, 1889. 
 
 " I have read your report with the utmost satisfaction. It 
 is an eloquent and potent witness to the practical efficiency 
 of a principle as essentially Christian as it is socially 
 beneficent. 
 
 " It will do more good than argument. It is fact, success- 
 ful fact, that tells. Moralising does not convince. Men 
 shelter themselves behind difficulties, and refuse to attempt 
 their deliverance from the tyranny of custom. 
 
 " I rejoice in your high tone and bright prospects." 
 
 From SEDLEY TAYLOR, Esq., Author of Profit- Sharing 
 between Capital and Labour. 
 
 "TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 
 "November 10, 1889. 
 
 " Thank you for sending me the report of your first year's 
 
1 10 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 profit-sharing. I feel a little sorry that it is printed for 
 private circulation only, as there is much in it which would, 
 I think, do good if published r , particularly p. 21. On the 
 other hand, I can see reasons pointing in the direction of 
 the course you have adopted. . . . 
 
 " With sincere congratulations on the opening success of 
 your profit-sharing venture." . . . > 
 
 From G. J. HOLYOAKE, Esq., of the Co-operative Union, 
 Author of The History of Co-operation, etc. 
 
 " EASTERN LODGE, BRIGHTON, 
 "December 30, 1892. 
 
 " It would be useful if your evidence could be printed in a 
 handy form. During its delivery it excited praise for its 
 clearness and fulness. I do not know that so complete a 
 description of profit-sharing in practice has anywhere been 
 given. The questions of the Commissioners bring out 
 points which no individual statement would present, be- 
 cause no witness could see what other minds would require 
 to be explained. Really understanding profit-sharing, you 
 were enabled to supply all the information the Commis- 
 sioners asked for, who made inquiries discerning and 
 exhaustive. All who care for profit-sharing are indebted to 
 you for the vindication of it, for the trouble you have taken 
 to apply it to your business, and to interest your work- 
 people in it. Profit-sharing is a new industrial education, 
 and will not take root without the cultivation of teaching, 
 trust, and kindness." 
 
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS. in 
 
 From THOMAS HUGHES, Esq., Q.C., Author of 
 Tom Brown's Schooldays ; etc. 
 
 " UFFINGTON HOUSE, CHESTER, 
 "January 6, 1893. 
 
 " I have read your evidence with great pleasure.' As I 
 have always held, and said, the best form of Association for 
 Production must come from such profit-sharing businesses 
 as yours and Thomson's, he being already, I find, a step 
 ahead of you. There are a few working-men's associations 
 (such as Hebden Bridge Fustian Society) which have grown 
 up without business help from above, but these are very 
 rare and slow of growth, and without exception, so far as I 
 know, have had one or two men of exceptional ability and 
 self-sacrifice amongst their founders. 
 
 " The co-operative road hitherto has been strewed thickly 
 with wrecks of Associations for Production founded by 
 working men only ; and from my forty years' experience in 
 the movement (during which I have taken shares in dozens 
 of such efforts), I am decidedly of opinion that our work- 
 ing class have neither knowledge nor self-control enough to 
 make such associations sound and successful. They are 
 being educated in business no doubt in their distributive 
 stores, but of late the majority of these, with the wholesale 
 society at their head, have taken the wrong turn, and are 
 opposed to sharing profits with their employees. . . . 
 
 " I quite agree with what I gather to be your view, that if 
 employers generally would come frankly in at once to the 
 new industrial world which is at present being built up so 
 slowly and painfully, but surely, all our labour troubles 
 would vanish like a bad dream." 
 
ii2 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 From N. P. OILMAN, Esq., of West Newton, Massachusetts, 
 U.S.A., Author of Profit '- Sharing between Employer 
 and Employee, Secretary of the Association for the 
 Promotion of Profit-Sharing. 
 
 "WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 
 "January^, 1893. 
 
 " I am glad to learn that you are putting into a little 
 volume the report of your interesting evidence before the 
 Royal Labour Commission on the subject of Profit-Sharing. 
 Testimony of this kind from the employers who have given 
 the system of profit-sharing a good trial is of the highest 
 value. Theoretically, the case for profit-sharing is easily 
 made out on grounds of ordinary human nature ; and the 
 objections usually made to the system are based on sup- 
 posed difficulties in carrying it into practice. Testimony, 
 therefore, from employers of labour who have summered 
 and wintered it with profit-sharing, and found that it has 
 stood the test of experience, is the one thing always in 
 order to complete the case. 
 
 " My numerous publications in regard to profit-sharing in 
 the last seven years or so make it unnecessary for me to 
 send you any detailed letter concerning it. I will only say 
 that my good opinion of the system steadily strengthens, 
 and that it seems to me, as the discussion of social reform 
 proceeds, to be showing more and more plainly that it is 
 one of the measures most deserving careful attention from 
 all employers of labour, and holding out more promise of 
 industrial peace than many more ambitious schemes." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PROFIT-SHARING SYSTEM. 
 
 i. DEFINITION. 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING may be properly defined as an " arrange- 
 ment under which an employer agrees with his employees 
 that they shall receive, in partial remuneration of their 
 labour, and in addition to their ordinary wages, a share, 
 fixed beforehand, in the profits of his business." 1 
 
 Profit-Sharing a Predetermined Contract. The critical 
 discussion of the subject during recent years has, I think, 
 made it plain that the term profit-sharing has often been 
 used in too loose a way. There have hitherto frequently 
 been included under profit-sharing firms, those firms 
 which fix by their own arbitrary judgment, after the year's 
 work has been done, how much, if anything, each employee 
 shall receive as a bonus. But as Mr. Schloss well points 
 out (Charity Organisation Revieiv, January 1890), "An 
 agreement between A and B, that B shall receive what A 
 chooses to give him is no contract at all." 
 
 The most authoritative declaration is the resolution of the 
 Paris International Congress on Profit-Sharing, 1889, which 
 is quite clear on this point. The system is defined as " a 
 voluntary agreement under which the employee receives a 
 
 1 Methods of 'Industrial Remuneration, by D. F. Schloss, p. 158. 
 
ii 4 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 share, fixed beforehand, in the profits of a business." This 
 requirement does not at all necessitate the publication of 
 the amount of the firm's profits. The basis of calculation 
 can be communicated confidentially to an approved autho- 
 rity, as in the rules of the writer's own firm ; what is neces- 
 sary is, that the employee's share "must be a fraction 
 determined, or capable of being determined, in some 
 manner absolutely independent of the volition of the 
 employer." 
 
 It is no finely drawn or pedantic distinction that is here 
 advocated ; it is submitted that the conclusion of the Paris 
 Congress will increasingly approve itself the more the 
 matter is looked into. In fact, it seems impossible to 
 draw any scientific line when once the principle of a 
 predetermined contract is thrown over. From the firms 
 who allot to each of their employees a generous cash 
 bonus at the end of a good year, we come to those which 
 lay aside a sum in aid of their employees' sick or pension 
 fund, and from these again to the firms who pay for their 
 workpeople's wayzgoose, and so on : a reductio ad absurdum 
 can without much difficulty be reached, as it is clear that 
 all these benefactions come out of the profits of the firm in 
 question. 
 
 At the same time, experience has shown that in several 
 cases (e.g. Leclaire) this indefinite arrangement has led the 
 way to a more settled and more scientific system. More- 
 over, the less scientific system has probably, in some cases, 
 provided a more generous augmentation of normal wages 
 than orthodox profit-sharing has sometimes secured. The 
 names of a few " bonus - giving firms " are therefore 
 appended to the list given on p. 125. 
 
 Other Limitations, The names of two firms which 
 
DEFINITION. 115 
 
 appeared in last year's list have now been omitted, because 
 it has been found that in these instances only a few of the 
 chief of the staff were admitted to the participation. It may 
 not be easy to determine, so to speak, how many swallows 
 make a summer, but it may be assumed that, at any rate, 
 not less than 10 per cent, of the employees must participate 
 if the firm is to be styled as " Profit-Sharing." The practice 
 of giving a manager an interest in the business is compara- 
 tively common. Some other limitations as to the scope or 
 area of profit-sharing properly so-called are discussed at 
 length in a "Note" by Mr. Schloss, in the Economic 
 Review (January 1891). 
 
 Profit-Sharing not necessarily Industrial Partnership. 
 The terms "Profit-Sharing" and "Industrial Partnership" 
 have hitherto been frequently used as convertible terms. 
 It is submitted that there is sufficient difference in meaning 
 between the two terms to warrant a distinction being made ; 
 and for practical, as well as for theoretical reasons, it seems 
 desirable that a new classification into two sections should 
 be adopted. 
 
 The average employer will not be disposed so much as 
 to discuss any sort of "partnership" with his workpeople. 
 The mention of such a term is likely to frighten him away 
 from its consideration. The institution of profit-sharing 
 introduces no constitutional changes of this radical char- 
 acter, and as a matter of fact the rules of profit-sharing 
 schemes have generally explicit declarations on this point. 
 One of the oldest existing schemes that instituted by Mr. 
 Charles Goodall of Leeds, in 1876 opens with these 
 words : " No person taking any share of profits under 
 these rules shall thereby acquire any rights, or incur any 
 liabilities, as a partner with the principal." And in the 
 
ii6 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 case of many of the recent schemes (there is scarcely an 
 exception among profit-sharing firms which have issued 
 detailed rules) a regulation is found to this effect : " The 
 employees, or any of them, will have neither the rights nor 
 liabilities of partnership." To style the arrangements of 
 such firms as "Industrial Partnership" is surely a flat 
 contradiction of terms. During the discussion of the 
 question in 1890, the title of "Industrial Partnership" 
 was repudiated as a misleading misnomer by some twenty 
 of the leading profit-sharing firms. 
 
 But there is a more advanced class of industrial organisa- 
 tions to which the term " Industrial Partnership " may be 
 fittingly applied. The business reconstituted by Mr. George 
 Thomson of Huddersfield, in 1886, under the style of 
 "William Thomson & Sons Limited," with the title of 
 " Industrial Partnership " as part of its constitution, may 
 be taken as a typical example of this class. In this case 
 the business is a " Society " (though it is conceivable that 
 an industrial partnership might be worked under the 
 Companies Acts), and no individual can hold more than 
 200 stock in ordinary shares. The workers, as such, 
 have a locus standi in the constitution of the business. 
 Important questions of policy have to be sanctioned by the 
 " Committee." If the founder should ever wish to turn the 
 business back into the style of an ordinary firm, there would 
 be grave difficulty ; but, as a rule, an ordinary profit-sharing 
 employer could do this at the end of any year by a stroke 
 of his pen. 
 
 In passing, it may be advisable to note the distinction 
 adopted between the " Industrial Partnership " and the more 
 democratic "Profit-Sharing Co-operative Society," such as 
 the Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Co-operative 
 
CLASSIFICATION. 117 
 
 Society. The distinction is founded upon the following 
 two points, when co- existing: (i) In the industrial 
 partnership the services of the middle-class entrepreneur 
 (as "manager") are retained, and (2) the position of the 
 manager is safeguarded by the necessity for a large pro- 
 portional vote before he can be removed. 
 
 The opinion of one or two authorities may properly 
 conclude this section. Mr. Sedley Taylor (author of 
 Profit- Sharing, 1884) is in favour of a classificatory 
 distinction between profit - sharing firms and industrial 
 partnerships. I am not in a position to say whether 
 Professor J. Shield Nicholson would approve of the present 
 classification as a whole, but his remark respecting the 
 application of the term of "Industrial Partnership" to the 
 system herein styled ordinary Profit- Sharing may be given : 
 "The term 'partnership' is certainly misleading, for 
 neither in the conduct of the business, nor in the responsi- 
 bility for losses, are the workmen 'partners '" (Contemporary 
 Review, January 1890). 
 
 It is possible, however, to push distinctions in this sphere 
 to an unreasonable extent ; the dividing lines are no doubt 
 difficult to draw; the classes seem sometimes indeed to 
 overlap ; and the early extension of the " industrial partner- 
 ship " type of organisation is not probable. 
 
 2. CLASSIFICATION. 
 
 It is very important to recognise that there are different 
 sorts or classes of participation, and the reason for this will 
 be especially seen when the so-called " failures " of profit- 
 sharing are considered. In Mr. Schloss' book will be found 
 definitions of five classes. The endeavour to classify the 
 
ii8 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 discontinued cases has led me to add two further classes. 
 Enumerated in a certain order, they may be given thus 
 
 Surrender Participation, Stimulus Participation, 
 
 Non-Practical Participation, Deferred Participation, 
 
 Anti-Unionist Participation, 1 Minus Participation, 
 
 and Stock-broking Participation. 
 
 Surrender Participation would describe the participation 
 adopted by a firm which surrendered out of its present 
 profits, such a sum as could not easily, or within reason, be 
 expected to be made up by the increased zeal of the 
 workers; that is to say, a certain portion of the firm's 
 present profits are surrendered. 
 
 , Stimulus Participation is the term which would be applied 
 to cases in which the object is to stimulate the zeal and 
 increase the efficiency of the employees. In this class, as a 
 rule, a certain concession of profits is made to begin with, 
 but a concession of such a sort as it may fairly be expected 
 will be made up to the firm by the increased zeal of the 
 workers. 
 
 Non-Practical Participation describes a class of businesses 
 started by persons who, though acting perhaps with philan- 
 thropic intent, are not practically conversant with their 
 business. 
 
 (Deferred Participation describes a case where a firm (say, 
 an insurance company), desirous of guarding against its 
 
 1 This term has been substituted for the term "bribe participation," 
 used by Mr. Schloss, on the ground that the term " bribe " carries with 
 it an essentially evil significance. It is submitted that, unless it is 
 claimed that a Trade Union has never been known to adopt an un- 
 reasonable or improper attitude, to apply the term "bribe" to every 
 endeavour to defeat the purpose of a Union, is to use over-strong 
 language. It may be hoped that any opposition to Trade Unions will 
 become, by their growing reasonableness, less and less defensible. 
 
METHODS. 119 
 
 employees leaving to start or to join rival concerns, allots 
 to the employees a certain amount year by year, which can 
 only be drawn by them if they remain with that firm a 
 certain number of years. 
 
 Anti-Unionist Participation would describe the excep- 
 tional instances in which profit-sharing has been introduced 
 for the purpose of detaching workmen from Trade Unions. 
 /Minus Participation would describe a case where a firm, 
 instead of paying full ordinary wages, pays a smaller weekly 
 wage, with the idea that the bonus will make up to the 
 employees what is thus retained. 
 
 Stock-broking (or Advertising) Participation. It is almost 
 certain that in one or two cases the profit-sharing feature 
 has been introduced by a limited company with the idea of 
 raising anticipations in the minds of possible investors. 
 For instance, a company has to be started, or a business 
 has to be turned into a limited company form, and the pro- 
 moters arrange that it is widely made known that all the 
 profits above, say, 10 per cent, are going to be distributed 
 amongst the workers. In one case which came to my 
 knowledge, the profits never reached 5 per cent., and the 
 concern has since collapsed. 
 
 From the foregoing descriptions it may be concluded 
 that the first two classes are really the only two, from any 
 point of view, unexceptionable. These are "surrender 
 participation " and " stimulus participation." 
 
 3. METHODS. 
 
 The two chief methods are the " Reserved Limit " method, 
 and the " Percentage " method. 
 
 An illustration may be given of the " Reserved Limit " 
 
120 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 basis, taking for an example a case belonging to the 
 normal, that is to say, the stimulus class of participation. 
 In such a case, a firm making average profits of ^1000 
 would perhaps offer to divide with its employees all made 
 over ^"900. Then if the profits for the succeeding year 
 reached 1100, there would be a return to the firm of 
 ;iooo, and to the employees of ^100. 
 
 Under the " percentage " method, the firm would offer to 
 give the employees 15 per cent., or 10 per cent., or 7^ per 
 cent, of the net profits. If 10 per cent, be offered, and 
 ;noo be made, the firm would get ,990, and the em- 
 ployees ;no. 
 
 The " percentage " basis is, of course, the more practicable 
 and desirable for businesses in which the profits vary very 
 much. Under either system, it is possible to arrange, by 
 the agency of a chartered accountant, that no intimation of 
 the profits is made public. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 STATISTICS RESPECTING PROFIT-SHARING FIRMS, 
 i. GROWTH OF THE MOVEMENT. 
 
 THE last few years have witnessed a considerable develop- 
 ment of the system of profit-sharing in Great Britain. 
 From the list which is appended (compiled by Mr. D. F. 
 Schloss and writer), it will be seen that, prior to - and 
 during the year 1888, there were started 28 cases. 
 
 In 1889 there were started 8 cases. 
 1890 ,, ,, 21 ,, 
 M 1891 ,, ii 
 '892 ., 7 
 
 It should be mentioned that the list does not include 
 several successful working-class organisations, such as the 
 Hebden Bridge Fustian Manufacturing Co-operative Society. 
 
 The total number given in this list of British firms is 75, 
 employing over 19,000 persons. Of these cases, four are 
 colonial, including the scheme inaugurated on a generous 
 scale by the late Mr. William Walker of Ceylon and 
 Glasgow, which is specially interesting from the fact that 
 the native workers are to be beneficiaries. 
 
 The size or magnitude of the businesses may be gathered 
 from the number of employees recorded against each entry. 
 
122 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
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LIST OF BRITISH PROFIT-SHARING FIRMS. 
 
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 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
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LIST OF BRITISH PROFIT-SHARING FIRMS. 125 
 
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126 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Profit-sharing is at the present time successfully being 
 worked in the following, amongst other, trades : Woollen 
 manufacture, printing, etc., confectionery manufacture, oil- 
 cake manufacture, chemical manufacture, gasfitting, gas 
 manufacture, grocery, farming, etc. 
 
 While it may be freely admitted that the system is more 
 suited to some businesses than to others, I have not yet 
 heard of a business to which, in my opinion, the principle 
 could not, under some modification, be applied. 
 
 The present list must not be supposed to be a complete 
 one. When, in 1888, I was inquiring into the subject, I 
 could only hear, although I went to the best authorities, of 
 four cases, and none of these were being worked on lines 
 suitable for our business. Since reading a paper before the 
 Baptist Union in London (which I was pressed into doing the 
 following year), I have heard of a number of others, and Mr. 
 Schloss also has become acquainted with many in addition. 
 
 Firms are naturally a little backward in wishing their 
 names to be published in connection with this matter, 
 because it gives the impression perhaps that they are doing 
 a little more for their employees than others, and they do not 
 wish to appear to be offering advantages when they are not cer- 
 tain that those advantages will accrue. Mr. Schloss contends 
 that, as a matter of fact, we have in Great Britain more cases 
 of genuine profit-sharing than there are in any other country. 
 
 3. INCREASE OF REMUNERATION UNDER PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 In Mr. Schloss' book (p. 176) may be found returns 
 from forty-three firms respecting the increase of remunera- 
 tion of the employees under profit-sharing, covering a 
 period ending in 1891. 
 
DISCONTINUED CASES. 127 
 
 For the purpose of the present publication, circulars have 
 been sent to the firms now known to practise profit-sharing, 
 and thirty-one of these firms have given particulars of the 
 increase of remuneration under the system ; but as several 
 of these firms, quite justifiably, desire that their figures 
 should not be published, I do not propose to print any of 
 the returns in detail. 
 
 The ratio of each case has been averaged from the 
 number of years returned, in most cases for the three years 
 ending 1892, with the following results : 
 
 2 Cases, . . No bonus paid. 
 
 5 . . Bonus from I to 3*9 per cent. 
 
 15 > 4 ,, 6-9 ,, 
 
 5 ,, 7 10-9 ,, 
 
 3 . . I, " i3'9 
 i ,, ,, of 19 
 
 giving an average bonus of 6*3 per cent. 
 
 It must be admitted that the scientific value of these 
 results is not very great. On the one hand, there is the 
 fact that less than half the firms have returned their 
 results. On the other hand it should be remembered that 
 some of the firms in the list belong to the " non-practical " 
 class. And then there is the consideration, upon which 
 I am inclined to lay great emphasis, of the advantage of 
 a yearly or half-yearly return to the workmen. In most 
 cases I am persuaded that an increase of 5 per cent, in this 
 way is of more lasting value to the workman than a rise of 
 10 per cent, in his ordinary weekly wages. 
 
 4. DISCONTINUED CASES. 
 
 In Mr. Schloss' book (p. 169) there are mentioned fifteen 
 discontinued cases of British profit-sharing firms ; but one 
 
PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 of these, that of Ross & Duncan, has been revived with 
 promising prospects. In the course of recent investiga- 
 tions, I have discovered that four other firms viz. J. 
 Bromhead, G. Hubbard, Peto Brothers, and Welsh Liberal 
 Newspaper Company Limited have discontinued the 
 system. 
 
 The popular appreciation of the system is, I believe, 
 discounted, owing to overlooking the fact that certain 
 schemes of profit-sharing can scarcely, in the nature of 
 things, be expected to live and flourish. It is important 
 to notice the following features of classification : 
 
 Out of the eighteen firms who have discontinued profit- 
 sharing, three belong to the non-practical class, four belong 
 to the anti-unionist class, three belong to the stockbroking 
 or advertising class, so that there remain eight cases pre- 
 sumably of a good class. Of these cases, that of Messrs. 
 Tangyes Limited is accounted for by a mere technical 
 alteration in their method (their bonus is now a sum which 
 does not vary with the annual profits, which fact, of course, 
 excludes them from the list of, strictly speaking, profit- 
 sharing firms). 
 
 The remaining firms had the system in operation for a 
 very limited time, as will be seen from the following 
 table : 
 
 Name. 
 
 Prices' Patent Candle Co. , 
 Gimson & Co., 
 
 Spottiswoode & Co., 
 
 W. Hill & Son, 
 Browett, Lindley, & Co., 
 Peto Brothers (i contract), 
 J. Bromhead, . 
 
 .Muuress. 
 
 rroni-onuriug. 
 
 operation. 
 
 London 
 
 1868-1872 
 
 4 
 
 Leicester 
 
 1872-1877 
 
 5 
 
 London 
 
 (About 20 \_ 
 (years ago ) 
 
 2? 
 
 London 
 
 j > 
 
 I? 
 
 Salford 
 
 1891 
 
 I 
 
 London 
 
 1889-1890 
 
 2 
 
 Bristol 
 
 1891 
 
 I 
 
PROFIT-SHARING SOCIETIES. 129 
 
 The above statement gives an average duration of experi- 
 ment of about two years only. I would submit that such 
 a brief time does not give the system a fair chance. 
 Considering that for upwards of a century there has been 
 a growing feeling of disunion and suspicion between 
 employer and employed, two or three years must be quite 
 an insufficient term to overcome and to dispel these inbred 
 feelings. In addition to the brevity of the trial there are, 
 in individual cases, other considerations, such as the in- 
 sufficient incentive offered, the want of definiteness about 
 the offer, etc., which might be alleged, but it may be 
 sufficient to rely upon the one broad ground above given. 
 
 The name of the "Scotch Tweed Manufacturing Society" 
 disappears from the present list of " Industrial Partnerships," 
 owing to the fact that the manager considers that this society 
 should rank as a Co-operative Productive Society. The 
 name of Mr. J. Boyd Kinnear was inserted in a previous 
 list of profit-sharing firms by error. 
 
 A close examination of the subject leads me to conclude 
 that there are not more than one or two instances in which 
 the system has failed when it has had a fair chance given 
 to it. Whether this conclusion be generally endorsed or 
 not, it can only be a loose and inaccurate description which 
 would cite these eighteen cases as so many "failures" of 
 profit-sharing. 
 
 5. PROFIT-SHARING SOCIETIES. 
 
 In France. A society named " La Societe pour 1'Etude 
 Pratique de la Participation du Personnel dans les 
 Benefices " has existed in Paris for the last fourteen years. 
 This society mainly owes its origin to the enthusiastic 
 interest in profit-sharing entertained by M. Charles Robert, 
 
 9 
 
130 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 director of one of the large insurance companies of Paris. 
 M. Chaix, head of the well-known Paris printing firm, has 
 also furthered its interests in a special manner. The 
 membership (entailing a subscription of twenty francs) is 
 confined to employers of labour, and, without doubt, the 
 society has done useful work in popularising the system. 
 A quarterly Bulletin is published, which can be obtained 
 from the secretary, M. A. Trombert, at the office of the 
 society, 20 Rue Bergere, Paris. 
 
 In the United States. In January 1892, a meeting of 
 business and professional men was held in New York, when 
 it was decided, on the proposition of Mr. N. P. Oilman of 
 West Newton, Massachusetts, author vt Profit- Sharing between 
 Employer and Employee^ to form an association for the further- 
 ance of profit-sharing and kindred systems. A quarterly 
 journal, called Employer and Employed, is being issued, and 
 the following quotation is taken from the first number : 
 
 "Without any flourish of trumpets, certainly without any 
 desire to claim for profit-sharing and similar industrial 
 movements more than their due place in the general move- 
 ment of social progress, and with every wish to co-operate 
 in this great field with other earnest workers in rational 
 reform to the extent of its ability, the Association for the 
 Promotion of Profit-Sharing takes up its task with the 
 conviction that it has a duty to do in forwarding the great 
 cause of industrial peace and progress." 
 
 Full particulars respecting this timely institution will be 
 found in the following statement : 
 
 THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION OF 
 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 President Carroll D. Wright, United States Commissioner 
 of Labour, Washington, D.C. 
 
UNIV 
 
 PROFIT-SHARING SOCIETIES. 
 
 Vice- Presidents President F. A. Walker of the Massa- 
 chusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Mass., and N. O. 
 Nelson of St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer N. P. Gilman of West Newton, 
 Mass. 
 
 Executive Committee Messrs. R. Fulton Cutting and 
 Alfred Dolge of New York, Henry R. Towne of Stamford, 
 Conn., and George A. Chace of Fall River, Mass., and 
 Prof. F. H. Giddings of Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROMOTION 
 OF PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Article I. This association shall be known as the 
 Association for the Promotion of Profit-sharing. 
 
 Article II. The object of this association is the promotion 
 and extension of such methods of uniting the interests of 
 employers and employees as "profit-sharing," "industrial 
 partnership," "gain-sharing," "earning-sharing," the premium 
 system, and kindred systems. 
 
 Article III. Any person may become a member of this 
 association by paying three dollars, and after the first year 
 may continue a member by paying an annual fee of three 
 dollars. 
 
 Article IV. The officers of the association shall consist 
 of a president, a first vice-president, a second vice-presi- 
 dent, and a secretary - treasurer, who shall perform the 
 usual duties of such officers. There shall be an executive 
 committee of six members, who, with the officers named, 
 shall constitute the council of the association. Five 
 members of the council shall be a quorum. 
 
 Article V. i. The members of the council shall be 
 elected annually, and they shall have power to fill any 
 vacancies that may occur in the membership of the council. 
 
 2. To forward the object of this association, the council 
 shall issue and circulate such publications as it may deem 
 advisable ; establish a bureau of information for the assist- 
 ance of firms or corporations contemplating the introduction 
 
132 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 of such methods as those named in Article II., and of other 
 firms or corporations actually applying these methods; 
 promote discussion of profit-sharing and kindred systems 
 by procuring the delivery of addresses on the subject before 
 commercial and other organisations ; and use any other 
 means deemed advisable to promote the interests of the 
 association. 
 
 Article VI. There shall be an annual meeting of this 
 association in New York City, on the second Wednesday 
 in January, for the election of officers and the transaction 
 of any business that may come before it. 
 
 Article VII. This constitution may be amended at any 
 annual meeting of the association by a majority vote of 
 the members present, the amendment in question having 
 been approved by a majority of all the members of the 
 council. 
 
 6. SUGGESTED LINES FOR A SOCIETY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 At the present time, no society exists in England on the 
 lines of either the American or the French Society, the 
 " Labour Association " (9 St. John Street, Adelphi, London, 
 W.C.) having been formed primarily for the promotion of 
 working-class productive societies. It may be hoped that, 
 before long, we shall have a Labour Department sufficiently 
 well-equipped to undertake the statistical work of such a 
 society. The number of societies in England is already so 
 formidable, that a good case must be made out before an 
 additional one can be entertained ; but it seems that 
 there is scope for an association actuated by a similar spirit 
 to that of the American and French bodies, but operating 
 on broader lines. 
 
 There is no platform for the deliberate and regular setting 
 forth of industrial ideas and methods which individual em- 
 ployers or workmen may have found valuable in their own 
 
LINES FOR A SOCIETY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 133 
 
 spheres. Supposing that an employer has discovered that 
 an " eight hours day " is good both for himself and for his 
 workmen, how is he to communicate that information to the 
 public ? If he states the fact at a public meeting, he will 
 probably be credited with motives of vulgar ambition in con- 
 nection with some public office. If he sends a contribution 
 to a journal, he runs the risk of appearing to parade his 
 sagacity, and to advertise himself. Business men generally 
 are sensitive on these points, and probably the slowness of 
 our industrial development in the direction of humanitarian- 
 ism is in a certain degree due to these considerations. 
 
 It seems evident that there is an opening for an asso- 
 ciation which should adopt Burke's ideal of " Healing 
 Measures " as its leading object. Such a society would not, 
 of course, aim at " peace at any price ; " it would adopt 
 as a fundamental principle the recognition of association 
 and combination, whether between workmen or between 
 employers ; and it would emphasise the underlying common 
 interests of both classes, and would endeavour to arouse 
 and to cultivate the feeling of good-will on both sides. 
 
 The New Government Labour Department would not, it 
 may be hoped, leave much to be done in the way of the 
 collection and publication of statistics respecting labour 
 developments ; and the society would not primarily concern 
 itself with the settlement of specific labour disputes. Its 
 object would be to encourage and foster feelings which 
 would remove, in many cases, the grounds for such disputes. 
 The society would have scope for needed educative in- 
 fluence in many ways, e.g. with regard to the workmen, by 
 urging the study of economics, etc. with regard to the 
 employer, by explaining and illustrating the valuable 
 functions of many of the Trade Unions. If only the 
 
134 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 directors of such a society could secure and retain the full 
 confidence of both sides and the reports of the evidence 
 given before the Labour Commission shows how consider- 
 able is the common basis of sympathy already existing its 
 pronouncements upon such subjects would have a quite 
 exceptional force. 
 
 As a concession to the prejudices at present existing in 
 business circles, it would perhaps be desirable to limit the 
 "membership" to business people, whether employers or 
 employed. But it would be most desirable to obtain the 
 sympathy and co-operation of public teachers and students 
 of economy by enlisting them, if possible, as " honorary 
 members." The subscription should be of such an amount 
 as could be paid without difficulty by an average working 
 man. 
 
 It might not be necessary for such an association to have 
 a large membership before it exercised a valuable and 
 unoccupied function in the industrial world. A small 
 journal might be issued, in the first instance, probably 
 quarterly, and in such a case it would be the work of the 
 editor and committee to elicit and publish contributions of 
 industrial value from qualified employers and employees. 1 
 Although the circulation of such a periodical would at first 
 be limited, yet it might be possible to arrange that its 
 contents should reach the eye of newspaper editors and 
 others who help to influence public opinion. With its 
 store of sifted facts and of well-weighed theories, such a 
 society might even be serviceable to the Government in 
 the preparation of industrial legislation. 
 
 1 For illustrations, see the letter from Mr. Robert Duncan, p. 89, 
 and that from Mr. Charles Shufflebotham (2), p. 100. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 PROFIT-SHARING IN RELATION TO OTHER SYSTEMS. 
 
 i. PROFIT-SHARING AND GAIN-SHARING. 
 
 " GAIN-SHARING is an arrangement under which a fixed or 
 minimum wage is supplemented by a premium proportionate 
 to the efficiency exhibited by the workman, so far as this 
 exceeds a specified standard." l 
 
 An interesting description of " gain-sharing " in practice 
 may be found in the evidence given by Mr. A. F. Hills of 
 the Thames Iron Works Company, London, before the 
 Labour Commission, on July 26, 1892. 
 
 As compared with profit-sharing, the advantages of gain- 
 sharing are that it brings the extra reward more directly in 
 proportion to the actual effort of the individual, and that 
 this reward is unaffected by bad debts or bad purchases, for 
 which the firm and not the employees may be responsible. 
 
 The drawbacks of gain-sharing are that the rewards are 
 paid out, as the system is at present practised, at short 
 intervals; that it necessitates a great amount of clerical 
 work (though, of course, this in some cases may be 
 advantageous for giving precision in calculating costs) ; 
 that it opens the possibility for frequent disputes as to the 
 
 1 Methods of Industrial Remuneration, p. 3. See also, ibid., pp. 
 48-59. The appropriateness of the term "gain-sharing" seems to be 
 open to question ; see letter from Mr. A. F. Hills, p. 106. 
 
136 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 basis of the premium ; and that it sectionalises the workers, 
 departmental^ and otherwise, and is not therefore likely to 
 be very effective as a lubricant. This last deficiency should 
 perhaps be specially emphasised, for one of the most valu- 
 able and necessary qualities of profit-sharing is that it makes 
 the industrial machine work smoothly. 
 
 2. PROFIT-SHARING AND TRADE UNIONISM. 
 
 Profit- Sharing no Substitute for Trade Unionism. It is 
 difficult to see how advocates of profit-sharing can claim that 
 their system is an effective substitute for Trade Unionism. 
 Apart from the fact that it is desirable that men should have 
 the educating effect of practical sympathy with their fellow- 
 workmen, I do not understand how, under the stress of 
 existing competition, profit-sharing can permanently provide 
 an effective guarantee for an adequate minimum wage. 
 
 Cases with Anti-Strike Clause. In one or two exceptional 
 cases, a clause has been introduced into the profit-sharing 
 scheme, providing for the forfeiture of some part of the 
 benefit in the event of an employee striking. It is con- 
 ceivable, of course, that there might be certain conditions 
 which in a certain trade would, for the time being, warrant 
 such an inclusion ; but if workmen are connected with a 
 reasonable Union, such as, generally speaking, I consider 
 our own Union, the Typographical Association, to be, I 
 could not recommend them to barter their right of free com- 
 bination and of free action for the average system of profit- 
 sharing. Such action is too much akin to selling their 
 hardly-earned birthright for a mess of pottage. 
 
 Any profit-sharing scheme based upon lines irreconcil- 
 able with the free play of legitimate labour combination 
 
PROFIT-SHARING AND TRADE UNIONISM. 137 
 \ 
 
 rests in a free country, at any rate on a basis essentially 
 insecure. 
 
 Provision for Trade Union Membership. A large number 
 of the recent schemes explicitly provide for Trade Union 
 membership. These have a clause to the effect that 
 " profit-sharers will be free to become or remain members 
 of any trade or friendly society." One employer, Mr. R. 
 Martin of West Hartlepool, gives still stronger evidence 
 that all profit-sharing employers are not hostile to Trade 
 Unionism by providing that " profit-sharers must be members 
 of their trade society." Personally, I think that there should 
 be freedom to belong to, or to remain outside, the Union. 
 
 It may be gathered that the Trade Unionists in our employ 
 approve of the system, because their answers are presumably 
 included in the " ballot opinions " given elsewhere, and all 
 those opinions are favourable. There is, in fact, no essential 
 antagonism between profit-sharing and Trade Unionism. 1 
 
 Occasional Increase of Price under Trade Unionism. In 
 some trades it has been clear that the obtained rise in 
 wages is followed by a rise in the price of the article to the 
 consumer. The coal trade is an obvious example. No 
 doubt the advance in the cost of production is in many 
 trades only temporary, as labour under high wages tends 
 to become more effective, and encourages the introduction 
 of improved machinery. 2 But, unfortunately, there are 
 examples of the contrary result. In the building trade at 
 Coventry, my illustrations are necessarily taken, for the 
 most part, from my own neighbourhood, wages have been 
 forced up by Trade Union action, and in that trade it is 
 
 1 Cf. Mr. Thomas Burl's letter, p. 105. 
 
 2 Cf. a noteworthy article on "The Dearness of 'Cheap' Labour,' 
 by D. F. Schloss (Fortnightly Review, January 1893). 
 
138 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 believed that there is less work actually being done per 
 day than used to be done at the lower rate of wage. 
 I have obtained a communication from a local builder 
 of repute on this point. He wrote : " You will be well 
 within the mark in stating that fully one - third less 
 work is done in the same number of hours now than 
 was done a few years ago. I am of opinion that the 
 men have so long been encouraged by Trade Unions to 
 do less, that they cannot now perform the same amount 
 of work as they formerly could." In acknowledging 
 the letter, I said that I took his statement to be that 
 a bricklayer who built three yards of brickwork in a 
 given time some years ago would now only build two 
 yards in the same time ; being, however, anxious to err, if 
 at all, on the safe side, I put it to him whether we had 
 not better correct the proportion to this that a man used 
 to build four yards, and that now he builds three yards. 
 But my informant objected to the alteration, and main- 
 tained the assertion that one-third less work is done for 
 an increased wage than used to be done without over- 
 exertion for the lower wage. In other words, he main- 
 tained that the wages had gone up from 15 to 20 per 
 cent, in the last twenty-five years, and the amount of work 
 done had gone down 25 or more per cent. This state- 
 ment may be held by some to be only an ex parte one, 
 and I should like to supplement it by a reference to the 
 excellent article which the Daily Chronicle published when 
 the Royal Commission commenced its labours, in which 
 support is given to the present argument. The editor 
 welcomed the institution of the Commission on this 
 ground : " We hope it will at least attempt to guide the 
 aims of Labour into the proper direction. Just now Labour 
 
PROFIT-SHARING AND TRADE UNIONISM. 139 
 
 has but one object, to do as little work as possible, and to 
 get as much money for it as it can." (February 25, iSgi. 1 ) 
 Now that was the testimony of a paper which is distinctly 
 sympathetic with labour. To show how suicidal this 
 action is from the point of view of the workers, I may 
 state that a few weeks ago I was saying to one of our men 
 about some little matter, " You had better send round for 
 a bricklayer to attend to it," to which our man replied, 
 "Won't you let us try and do it ourselves, sir? If we get 
 those chaps on the place, there is no knowing how long 
 they will be here." This job actually was done without 
 recourse to outside help. Other building operations we 
 have postponed owing to misgivings on this point. 
 
 Until this tendency is checked and reversed, I despair 
 of many right-minded employers adopting the attitude that 
 is desirable towards Trade Unions. It is especially unfor- 
 tunate that laxity should exist in the building trade, because 
 almost every one has to do with building artisans in one 
 way or another. I can discern among not a few well- 
 meaning acquaintances, clear indications of the way in 
 which this fault prejudices the estimate of Trade Unionism 
 generally, while in the case of a middle-class friend, who 
 has been an ardent admirer of New Unionism, I have been 
 interested to notice a distinct moderation of tone since he 
 had the necessity to have his own house altered and re- 
 novated. 
 
 The evil consequences of "the slack hand" recoil upon 
 the worker himself, as is shown clearly in Coventry, with 
 respect to house accommodation. Our Medical Officer of 
 
 1 See a full report of this article on p. 186. In some of the trades 
 in question, signs of improvement have, I believe, appeared, so that 
 the statement would now need some qualification. 
 
140 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Health tells us that we have about 3000 houses which 
 have not all the proper sanitary conditions, and some 
 citizens are seeing what can be done to provide increased 
 and improved accommodation for artisans. But a serious 
 obstacle to doing this (and, of course, to providing decent 
 homes for some of these very bricklayers) lies in the 
 indifferent and careless attitude of many of the building 
 artisans. 
 
 It has already been admitted that in many cases higher 
 wages do not increase the price of the product. Certainly 
 it is a fact that, under profit-sharing, additional remunera- 
 tion can be secured for the worker without the public 
 suffering in the matter of price. In our own case, the cost 
 of production and the prices charged to the public for 
 our goods have been lowered during recent years, while 
 the remuneration to the workers has been increased. I 
 am sure the workers are all the happier for doing their 
 " level best " while they are at work. There is scarcely any 
 experience so miserable as that of the " shackler." 
 
 High Weekly Wages a Qualified Benefit. Whatever ad- 
 vantage is secured by Trade Unionism is, generally speaking, 
 all paid out to the employees weekly. We have had serious 
 examples of the drawbacks of this provision in Coventry. 
 Twelve or fifteen years ago, all good watchmakers were 
 earning very high wages ; two years ago, the cycle makers 
 were getting very high wages. In each case some few of the 
 artisans took care of their money, and now are to a large 
 extent independent of bad times. But I fear that to the 
 majority of the workers in both trades, the abnormal, high 
 weekly receipts did more harm than good. To put the 
 matter in a striking form, my conviction is that a great 
 many of the workmen in question would have been bette 
 
PROFIT-SHARING AND TRADE UNIONISM. 141 
 
 off to-day if, during the good time, their employers had 
 paid ^4 or ^5 a year to some provident fund on their 
 behalf, than they are now for the additional, say, 2os. a week 
 which they actually received. 
 
 Fair-play for Profit- Sharing. Those who, like myself, 
 freely admit that the rights and * functions of Trade 
 Unionism should be carefully respected by profit-sharers, 
 may legitimately address to Trade Unionists an appeal 
 a claim that they on their side should give profit-sharing 
 fair-play. It is unquestionably a fact that a certain section 
 of working men view profit-sharing with suspicion, if not 
 with hatred. The present is hardly the occasion to discuss 
 what justification there may have been in the circumstances 
 of the past for the prejudice which manifestly exists. The 
 existence of one or two counterfeit coins should, in any 
 case, not condemn the currency. Even able labour leaders 
 need not feel insulted if the attribute of infallibility is 
 denied them. Carlyle said, in his early vigorous period, 
 that it was essential to distinguish between what the 
 working classes needed, and what they thought they 
 needed. They thought they needed the retention of hand 
 processes of manufacture ; there is now no question as to 
 the fact that the introduction of machinery, where it has 
 been accompanied by the organisation of the workers, has 
 immensely improved their economical position. With 
 respect to profit-sharing, it is, of course, possible that labour 
 leaders may see, from a tactical point of view, grounds for 
 opposing the system at one stage of industrial progress, 
 when, as it seems to them, the interests of labour demand 
 that everything should be staked upon its solidarity, while, 
 at a later stage, they may see it to be safe to recognise its 
 indisputable economic advantages. It may, at any rate, be 
 
142 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 permitted to the well-affected onlooker to adopt towards 
 these leaders with respect to their attitude on profit-sharing, 
 the advice of Cromwell to his divines : " I beseech your 
 reverences to think it possible that you may be mistaken." 
 
 Many respected Trade Unionists have always viewed 
 profit-sharing as a potential good; 1 and there are signs 
 that the antipathy of more "advanced" labour men is 
 moderating. 2 In the Commoner and Glassworker (Pitts- 
 burg, U.S.A.) of December 31, 1892, there appeared a 
 severe criticism on a certain American profit-sharing 
 scheme, but the article declares that the system contains 
 in it "a very healthy and promising germ." In an 
 advanced English periodical named Brotherhood, there 
 appears (January 1893) a sympathetic report of the evidence 
 given upon this subject to the Labour Commission, con- 
 cluding with the declaration that "honest profit-sharing 
 such as this forms a most useful stepping-stone towards 
 the co-operative commonwealth." 
 
 1 Cf. Letter of Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., p. 105. 
 
 2 Cf. Evidence of Mr. A. F. Hills of the Thames Iron Works 
 Limited, London, respecting his "Good Fellowship Scheme:" 
 " With regard to these schemes I have brought before the Commission, 
 in the first instance we met with a very great deal of opposition from 
 the Trade Unions. They distrusted the thing. Nine months have 
 gone by and now they see how it works, and their opposition is broken 
 down. I want to impress upon the Commission that if a fair and just 
 resolution is conceived, the Trade Unions are very ready to fall in with 
 it. My experience of the leaders of the Trade Unions is, that if you 
 meet them fairly arid give them time to consider their position, they 
 will meet you half way. There is no ill-feeling. We have had as 
 much trouble and disputes with Trade Unions as anybody in the 
 kingdom, and I do not believe that now a single Trade Union is at 
 enmity with us" (Labour Commission Evidence, July 26, 1892. 
 Question 24,958 A). 
 
CO-OPERATIVE PRODUCTION. 143 
 
 3. PROFIT-SHARING AND CO-OPERATIVE PRODUCTION. 
 
 Without any wish to disturb unnecessarily established 
 definitions, I feel that I can only accept under a protest the 
 limitation of the term " co-operation " to working-class 
 enterprise. It seems to me that the division should not 
 really be a class one at all, but rather a division between 
 workers on the one hand, and receivers of interest or rent 
 on the other. Etymologically, our system might fairly claim 
 to rank under the title of " Co-operative Production." 
 
 Profit- Sharing retains the Trained "Entrepreneur" Profit- 
 sharing has the advantage of appealing to the party the 
 middle-class employers and companies which at the present 
 time is in possession of the bulk of the trade of the country. 
 There is a distinct advantage in retaining the services of the 
 trained middle-class entrepreneur. A peculiar quality of 
 service should naturally belong to that class. In conversa- 
 tion about this matter, the manager of a Co-operative 
 Society frankly spoke to this effect : " Working men have 
 not sufficent confidence in one another ; in some cases, 
 they seem all to want to be captains. Generally speaking, 
 profit-sharing will be necessary to bridge over the time from 
 the present unsocial arrangements to something more 
 advanced." 
 
 Some writers and speakers use language which implies 
 that employers form a useless, if not a parasitic, class. 
 There are, of course, employers and employers. Observa- 
 tion leads one to conclude that the sum of the value 
 to a concern of an active partner's work is, in many 
 cases, greater than that of any employee in the same 
 concern. 1 
 
 1 Cf. "Attitude of some Socialists towards Employers,"/^/, p. 194. 
 
144 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Working Men of fen Deficient in Mutual Confidence, From 
 experience with our own staff, I find that, while there is 
 general sympathy when there is need to relieve mis- 
 fortune, yet when it is a case of inter-working who shall 
 do this and who shall do that there is often friction. 
 Although our men have had the training of several years' 
 community of interest under profit-sharing, I am sorry to 
 feel convinced that, if the middle-class element were with- 
 drawn, the business would go to pieces in a few months. 
 
 A gentleman told me, two or three years ago, that some 
 slaters, who wanted to start a productive society, came to 
 him for advice, and asked that one of the provisions should 
 be that no member should hold more than $ capital. On 
 his expressing surprise at such a curious demand, the spokes- 
 man replied, " If one of the fellows gets a lot of money in 
 the thing, he would want to order us about; we would 
 sooner have a regular guv'nor than one of them bossing 
 us." 
 
 It should be observed that these criticisms are directed 
 against co-operative production, and not against co-opera- 
 tive distribution. In the distributive field it is clear 
 that the working class has achieved a very creditable and 
 valuable degree of success. The influence of a strong 
 federation of consumers was, it is said, the means of break- 
 ing down an attempt to form a " flour ring " in the North of 
 England about a year ago. Working-class experiments, even 
 in the field of production, are without doubt of extreme 
 interest, for probably the position of a worker in a productive 
 society is more educative than a worker's position under a 
 profit-sharing firm ; but it is possible to pay too high a price 
 even for education. 
 
 Social Influence of Employer, Is not the social influence 
 
POSSIBLE FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 145 
 
 of the employer worth conserving ? The mixing of classes 
 in businesses, as in other institutions, is in itself a good 
 thing, and this is especially seen when the ladies con- 
 nected with a firm show kindness in an unpretending and 
 right spirit. The influence of the " traditions of civility " 
 must be very humanising and valuable. 
 
 4. POSSIBLE FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 The system of a " Limited Liability Company " no doubt 
 offers some advantages. It is possible to arrange for the 
 allotment of shares on easy terms to the workers, whereby 
 they may get a more direct interest in the concern. When 
 the conversion is made under fair conditions, and not as an 
 occasion for exploiting the public, and when the old personal 
 relationship of employers with employed is not interfered 
 with, there are strong arguments for such a change. The 
 multiplication, however, of purely joint-stock concerns is 
 probably one of the elements of danger as regards the future. 
 The secretary of one such company quoted to me a declara- 
 tion of one of his directors, which passed unchallenged at a 
 board meeting. In opposing some suggested change, this 
 director said : " All we have to do is to make money as 
 quickly as possible." 
 
 Personally, I do not think that the time has arrived for 
 Industrial Partnership on the bold lines of Mr. George 
 Thomson's undertaking. The advantages of such a system 
 do not seem to be proportionate with the hampering of the 
 management which it entails. In considering the extent to 
 which, at a given time, one should go in this direction, a 
 warning should be taken from the experience of Mr. Robert 
 Owen at New Lanark. 
 
 10 
 
146 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 5. ESTIMATE OF PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 I consider profit-sharing to be a safe expedient for the 
 manifestation of the new social spirit which is, fortunately, 
 growing. As compared with schemes for municipalising 
 labour and so on, it is modest and commonplace, but it 
 has the advantage of being immediately practicable. The 
 stimulus to inventiveness and progress, which is unquestion- 
 ably a feature of individualism, is conserved, but the much- 
 needed socialising influence is added. The beauty of the 
 thing is that it brings additional wealth to those who are 
 very much in need of additional wealth, while at the same 
 time it prepares them to deal with it properly. 1 
 
 It is difficult nowadays to advocate any system, such as 
 profit-sharing, without incurring a reputation for being a 
 panacea-monger. I should be sorry to pretend that profit- 
 sharing was " a remedy for all the economic ills which the 
 workers' flesh is heir to." 2 I do not regard it as an "end," 
 but as the " next thing" It is the best immediate means 
 known to me for elevating the lot of the workers ; and if it 
 should be shown that the system was opposed to the real 
 interests of the workers, I should be quite willing to re- 
 consider my position. A short extract from a recent letter 
 from a valued friend (Mr. Browett, Town Clerk of Coventry) 
 may here be given : 
 
 "The object to be looked at, is a change from hostility 
 
 1 If profit-sharing became general, some of the competitive advan- 
 tages now accruing to individual profit-sharing firms would be gone ; 
 but, of course, the economic advantage would not be lost, it would be 
 only immensely extended. A fellow-worker remarks to me in this 
 connection, "If every one goes in for profit-sharing, we must 
 invent something else." 
 
 2 From a hostile article in the Labour Elector fc- T ->nuary 7, 1893. 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR STARTING SCHEMES. 147 
 
 to sympathy, in the relations between capital and labour, 
 and the principle of profit-sharing seems to me to offer the 
 only hope of change. We are as much at war as ever we 
 were in our Civil Wars, the loss and suffering are as great, 
 and the prospect full of evil. The policy you advocate and 
 practise may be the dawn of a better day, and I think it is ; 
 if not, why, then, the Deluge ! " 
 
 6. RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE STARTING OF 
 SCHEMES. 
 
 One meets with a common objection to profit-sharing to 
 the effect that it may answer with quiet sensible employees, 
 but will never answer where conditions of disaffection and 
 degradation exist. It will be well, therefore, to remind 
 English readers that in the cases of the two chief French 
 profit-sharing firms, the Maison Ledaire and the Maison 
 Godin, the employers' proposals were met, in the first 
 instance, with pronounced suspicion and disbelief. Under 
 the influence, however, of the practical benefits which 
 accrued to the workers year by year, men who had been 
 idle, intemperate, and disaffected developed into industrious 
 and contented citizens. If there is bad feeling to commence 
 with, it is likely that a longer period will have to elapse 
 before the good effects of the system are apparent. But 
 under these untoward conditions, it is manifest that there is 
 all the greater " margin " for economising, and it is there- 
 fore specially worth the while of employers, under such 
 conditions, patiently and resolutely to apply the system. 
 
 There is proof that the applicability of the principle is 
 unaffected by the size of the business, for it is successfully 
 worked in sm 1T nedium, and large concerns. 
 
148 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 A certain degree of continuity of employment is desirable ; 
 but in the case of the Maison Ledaire at Paris, it is arranged 
 that if a painter or other workman only works one day 
 for the firm, he has a share in profit credited to him for 
 that one day's work. I do not recommend such an extreme 
 course as that ; in most cases, a few months' service should 
 be a necessary qualification in order to avoid excessive 
 clerical work. 
 
 It is often objected that profit-sharing will answer so long 
 as satisfactory shares are forthcoming. There may be some 
 foundation for the state of mind underlying this objection. 
 My own opinion is, that if workmen are approached in a 
 candid and sensible manner, this risk may be reduced to a 
 minimum. An encouraging illustration may be cited from 
 the experience of William Thomson & Son, Limited, of 
 Huddersfield, an " industrial partnership " which was 
 inaugurated with the help of Trade Unionists and co- 
 operators. In 1889, owing to exceptional circumstances, 
 there was a clear loss on the year's trading. In this case 
 the workers, so far from being disgusted with the result, 
 voluntarily agreed to pay out of their wages during the 
 succeeding year a sufficient sum to pay the interest on the 
 fixed capital ; this was actually done by the payment of a 
 voluntary tax of about sixpence in the pound on wages for 
 the necessary number of months. 1 
 
 Having been asked on several occasions for advice as to 
 the starting of schemes, I give the following recommenda- 
 tions, which have been suggested by our experience : 
 
 (i.) Spend some little time in preparing the outline of 
 
 1 Mr. George Thomson's many friends will learn with pleasure from 
 the Report of the Society for 1892 that a bonus of is. 3</. in the 
 pound on wages has been earned during the past year. 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR STARTING SCHEMES. 149 
 
 your proposal ; the nature of the trade has an important 
 bearing upon the style of scheme most suitable. 1 
 
 (2.) Make the basis of your proposal as generous as you 
 possibly can. Otherwise you may be reminded of the declara- 
 tion : " He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly." 2 
 
 (3.) Leave out of your scheme all clauses which might 
 fairly be considered by Trade Unions to be objectionable. 
 
 (4.) At an early stage, talk the proposal over with a 
 selected number of the employees. It is desirable to get first 
 of all a few to understand the system thoroughly. Your 
 " Employees' Committee," if you have one, will naturally 
 provide a suitable body for this preliminary consultation. 
 It is almost certain that the men and foremen will be able 
 to suggest small improvements in the proposed regulations. 
 " No one knows where the shoe pinches like the wearer." 
 
 1 In addition to the rules of our firm, the draft of a simpler scheme 
 for general use will be found in the Appendix, p. 233. A valuable 
 compendium of different schemes will be found in Profit -Sharing 
 Precedents, by H. G. Rawson. 
 
 2 A basis of participation which was laid down by the late M. Godin 
 of Guise, as "expedient and just," provided that after deductions for 
 depreciation and reserve had been made, labour and management should 
 receive their market rate of wages, and capital its market rate of 
 interest, and that the balance of profit should be divided in proportion 
 to the money value of the services rendered by the three factors con- 
 cerned. For example, in a business with a capital of ^"12,000, the 
 market rate of interest might be it will vary according to the risk of 
 the business 7^ per cent., say ^"900 a year ; wages might be ,3000, 
 and employer's salary ^"600 a year ; making a total of ^4500. If 
 the additional profits reached ^450, under this formula there would be 
 further interest on capital, and a bonus on wages and employer's 
 salary in all three cases of about 10 per cent. each. At the present 
 stage of industrial development, however, it is impossible to lay down 
 any formula for universal application, because the circumstances of 
 various businesses are so diverse. 
 
ISO PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 (5.) When finally adopted, the scheme should be care- 
 fully explained to a general meeting of the employees, and 
 a printed copy of the rules should be handed to each 
 participant. 
 
 (6.) Have "long patience" in the matter. When the 
 relations between master and man have been bad, the 
 employer might even talk to his people in this way : 
 " This is my offer ; it is honestly meant jto improve your 
 position, as well as to consolidate the interests of the busi- 
 ness. Probably you won't at first believe in it. You have 
 been educated to think that your interests and my interests 
 must be opposed to each other. Your attitude is due to 
 past faults on both sides. This offer shows my desire for a 
 change, and I mean to give it a reasonably prolonged trial." 1 
 
 1 The experience of Mr. A. F. Hills presents an impressive example 
 of the success attending the exercise of patience in dealing with sus- 
 picious Trade Unions. See pp. 106 and 142. 
 
 A sensible comment upon the widely circulated report of the un- 
 satisfactory working of a profit-sharing scheme in the Black Country 
 appeared in the Accountant for November 12, 1892: "It is a little 
 disheartening to learn that the results achieved by Sir Alfred Hickman, 
 under the profit-sharing scheme he inaugurated a year ago, have fallen 
 considerably short of what was expected. It is well to remember, 
 however, that twelve months is no very lengthy period in which to 
 test a scheme that entirely alters the relations betwixt capital and 
 labour. It is complained that ' the slovens and idlers are as slovenly 
 and idle as ever,' but there seems to be no reason for supposing that 
 this defect if it really exists to the extent indicated is, of necessity, 
 permanent. While labour has still the uphill battle to fight, it is but 
 wise in its generation to stake everything upon its solidarity ; but as 
 soon as it begins to feel at home in its improved condition, it will soon 
 perceive that the idlers are as inimical to its interests as to those of 
 capital ; then the bonds of unionism will relax nnd the sloven and the 
 idler will find their proper level." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SHORTENING OF WORKING HOURS, 
 i. REDUCTION OF HOURS WITH WRITER'S FIRM. 
 
 UNTIL within a year ago, the "eight hours day" had 
 presented itself to my mind as very desirable, but under 
 present conditions of competition, quite impracticable. 
 The receipt of a pamphlet on the subject, written by a 
 friend, Mr. R. A. Hadfield, 1 a steel manufacturer of 
 Sheffield, led me to become somewhat more hopeful on 
 the subject. On the publication of the report of Mr. 
 William Allan's satisfactory trial of the forty-eight hours 
 week, 2 the matter was again brought before the firm, and 
 on my brother's proposition we decided to submit a 
 proposal for a fifty hours week to our workpeople. The 
 matter was introduced at the annual meeting of the 
 employees in September 1892, and subsequently a voting 
 paper was distributed to all the employees above the age of 
 sixteen ; it was worded as follows : 
 
 1 Mr. Hadfield has recently published his views in A Shorter 
 Working Day. (Methuen & Co. ) 
 - See his evidence in Labour Commission Report for December 2, 
 
152 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 COW LANE PRINTING WORKS, COVENTRY. 
 Proposal for a Trial of Shortened Hours. 
 
 For one year from October 3, 1892, working hours to 
 be reduced from fifty-four to fifty, viz. : 
 
 Commence work, . . . 8 A.M. 
 
 Dinner, . . . . i to 2 P.M. 
 
 Close at 6 P.M. 
 
 Saturdays, close at . . i P.M. 
 
 No reduction of weekly wages to be made in connection 
 with this proposal. 
 
 If the work necessitates individuals going on for a few 
 minutes after closing time, they not to be entitled to charge 
 for same. 1 
 
 " Overtime," when properly authorised, to be paid for at 
 same rates as at present. 
 
 THOMAS BUSHILL & SONS. 
 
 September 19, 1892. 
 
 I should be glad to accept the proposal for shortened 
 hours, and would undertake to do my best to turn out the 
 same amount of work as hitherto. 
 
 I prefer to continue the present arrangement of working 
 hours. 
 
 Every employee over sixteen years of age should sign his 
 or her name in one of the above spaces, and hand in paper 
 at paying time to the cashier on Saturday, September 24. 
 
 A week was given to the employees for consideration. 
 
 The possible bearing of the proposal upon the bonus fund 
 
 was not overlooked. But the result of the voting showed 
 
 a practical unanimity in the matter. One hundred and 
 
 1 This is a very rare occurrence. 
 
RESULTS SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYERS. 153 
 
 fifteen signed the first declaration, and two signed the 
 second. 
 
 2. MEANS ADOPTED TO MAKE UP LOST TIME. 
 
 The chief economy has proved to be in the avoiding of 
 the necessity for two breaks in the day. There is an 
 inevitable loss of time and of momentum when the 
 machinery is stopped for breakfast or for tea. 
 
 The reduction of hours must necessarily have an effect in 
 lessening the cost of gas and power, but these items cannot 
 be properly estimated until the end of the financial year. 
 Since the change was made the employees have aided the 
 firm with various suggestions. In the case of one depart- 
 ment, the whole staff are enabled to start work promptly at 
 eight o'clock, through an arrangement whereby one of the 
 workers (the duty is taken in rotation) comes at 7.30 to 
 get the room ready. In another case the shafting has been 
 speeded up slightly, with the result that the machinery 
 turns out an undiminished quantity of work. The firm now 
 feel justified in insisting upon stricter punctuality in the 
 morning. 
 
 3. RESULTS so FAR SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYERS. 
 
 The output has, as far as we can gauge it, been fully 
 maintained. A curious fact is, that in one department of 
 piece-workers the output was, during the fortnight succeed- 
 ing the reduction of hours, larger than it had ever been 
 before. This increased production has not been kept up, 
 but the reason probably lies in the fact that we have not had 
 quite sufficient work to keep the workers going at full speed. 
 
 We find, if anything, a greater disinclination for overtime 
 
154 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 than before. This is probably in part owing to the fact that 
 a man leaving work at six o'clock has an evening before 
 him, whereas, if he works till seven o'clock, it is only a 
 matter of an hour or so of leisure. 
 
 The alteration, of course, tends to reduce the working 
 hours of the employer as well. It is strange now to recall 
 the opposition which many employers gave to the intro- 
 duction of the fifty-four hours week, twenty years ago. It 
 is quite clear that the fifty-four hours week has been a boon 
 to masters as well as to men. It is my conviction that in 
 most trades the introduction of a forty-eight hours week will 
 now prove a mutual advantage to employers and employed. 
 
 4. RESULTS so FAR SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYEES. 
 
 The general satisfaction of the employees with the altera- 
 tion will be gleaned from the " ballot opinions " which 
 follow. In explanation of the fact that only fifteen opinions 
 were returned, it should be stated that the committee, 
 thinking the trial had been too short for a valuable judg- 
 ment, did not ask for opinions on this point at all : it was 
 left to those individuals, who chose to do so, to volunteer 
 their impressions. As illustrative evidence that the extra 
 spare time is being well spent, I may state that, incidentally, 
 I heard that one of the work-girls had commenced taking 
 lessons in shorthand and typewriting since the change. 
 
 MEN. 
 
 (i.) Shortened Hours. After working under this system 
 for a few weeks, I think I may safely say that it has made 
 no material difference to the amount of work I do indeed, 
 I think I work brighter and better in anticipation of the 
 recreation gained. 
 
RESULTS SATISFACTORY TO EMPLOYEES. 155 
 
 (2.) I may say that in my opinion the shortened hours are 
 of great benefit, as it gives the workpeople more leisure for 
 recreation and studying, and thus benefits them both in mind 
 and health, and they feel better fitted for their daily labour, 
 and I think great thanks are due to our employers for being 
 among the first to give the shortened hours a trial. 
 
 (3.) Shortened Hours. Appreciated most decidedly as a 
 boon by the workers, to whom it means lessened strain 
 and more leisure, taking as it does from the day's work the 
 most enervating hour of the day (namely, the last), worked 
 for the great part of the year by artificial light, and under, 
 almost necessarily, somewhat unhealthy conditions. 
 
 For results : we will " learn to labour and to wait" 
 
 (4.) The trial of the fifty hours, I hope, will be a great 
 success, and that we shall soon work on the forty-eight hours 
 system. 
 
 (5.) Shortened hours is a very good idea, for I believe for 
 myself there is as much work done as ever there was before, 
 and not much time wasted either, for there is no breaking 
 off two or three times a day, for doing away with breakfast- 
 time and tea-time saves a lot of time being wasted. 
 
 (6.) The firm have lately conceded a reduction of four 
 hours without interfering with wages. This is a boon to us 
 workpeople, as with lessened hours of work we get more 
 time for, I hope, profitable recreation. 
 
 (7.) Having regards to the shortened hours, I believe 
 that it will be successful. And I sincerely hope it will, as 
 there is no doubt that it is a great boon to the employees. 
 Especially those who reside long distances from the works. 
 
 (8.) Shortened hours. A system very beneficial for a 
 man that has a garden to attend to, or to me that has no 
 garden and a gift for reading, etc. 
 
 (9.) deduced flours. Great boon to men. No loss to 
 masters. 
 
 (10.) As regards shortened hours, I wish to say that I 
 think it is very good of the employers for giving it to the 
 employees. 
 
 (u.) As regards shortened hours, I firmly believe in that 
 
156 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 trial that has just commenced by Messrs. Bushill & Sons. 
 I hope and believe the same quantity of work will be done 
 as hitherto. 
 
 (12.) Shortened Hours. I am of opinion that the trial of 
 shortened hours is a move in the right direction, and one 
 in which every right-minded employee should strive to 
 make a success, and thus assist in its universal adoption. 
 
 (13.) Trial of Shortened Hours. This, I think, is a step 
 in the right direction, because it shows that our employers 
 recognise the fact that their workmen are something more 
 than mere human machines, which can keep going as long 
 as a little motive power is left, and then flung in a corner 
 as useless, when they have got as much work out of them 
 as possible. 
 
 Then as to the other profits, I think if employers would 
 study the matter carefully, they would find that men do not 
 work so much according to the hours as to price, and I feel 
 sure there will be as much work turned out in the fifty 
 hours, as formerly in the fifty-four. 
 
 YOUNG WOMEN. 
 
 (14.) Shortened Hours. A system very beneficial to one 
 fond of recreation, household duties, and studies. 
 
 (15.) As regards the shortened hours, I would rather 
 work an hour later and have tea half-hour. 
 
 5. ON THE "EIGHT HOURS DAY." 
 
 Without doubt there is, in the case of many time-workers, 
 a margin between what the worker actually does turn out 
 as compared with what he might turn out, even without 
 over -exertion. This consideration is placed gracefully 
 before working men by Mr. Schloss when he is arguing 
 against the veto put upon piece-work by some of the Trade 
 Unions. 1 But even in the case of a man who is doing his 
 1 Methods of Inditstrial Remuneration, p. 42. 
 
ON THE "EIGHT HOURS DAY." 157 
 
 "level best" (which we will represent as resulting in an 
 output of 100 units per hour), if the hours are shortened, it 
 is possible for him somewhat to increase his output (say, to 
 105 or no units per hour) without over-exertion; that is to 
 say, a workman can, without physical injury, work at the speed 
 of 105 units per hour for forty-eight or fifty hours, whereas he 
 could not work without overstrain at that speed for fifty-four 
 hours. It would, of course, be possible to carry this argu- 
 ment to an absurd extreme : but though there is evidently 
 a limit, practical experiments are showing that the limit 
 has not yet been reached. And considering the great 
 development in labour-saving machinery during the last 
 twenty years, it may fairly be contended that some reduc- 
 tion of working hours is generally due to the workers. 
 There is also the consideration, which is sometimes over- 
 looked, of the increasing monotony of the day's work under 
 present conditions. At a recent conference between a 
 trades' council and an educational body in the Midlands, 
 ,one of the workmen incidentally said : " The more the work 
 is subdivided, the better it seems to pay ; so I suppose we 
 cannot complain at employers therefore dividing the work 
 up ; but you can't think how monotonous it is to keep on 
 making the same small bit of a machine day after day." 
 
 It must not, of course, be forgotten that in trades subject 
 to the caprice of fashion or to seasonal demands, overtime 
 may be a necessity. The harvest days have to be utilised, 
 else the crops will not be gathered. Literally true in agri- 
 culture, this remark is an accurately approximate metaphor 
 in some trades. 
 
 With regard to the projects of legislation in this matter, 
 it seems to me that a better Case than that which has 
 hitherto been presented to the public will have to be forth- 
 
158 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 coming before an Act of Parliament for a universal Eight 
 Hours Day will be obtained. A serious obstacle though 
 not, of course, a conclusive objection is presented by 
 experience in other countries. On the one hand, in several 
 of the States of North America, "eight hours" laws are 
 nominally in force, but are being entirely disregarded ; 
 while, on the other hand, in the Australian Colonies, the 
 "eight hours day" for most trades has been secured and 
 maintained by Trade Union action. 
 
 But the voluntary concession of this practicable reform 
 offers to the majority of employers a splendid opportunity to 
 arouse and stimulate good-will on the part of their workers. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DESIRABLE LEGISLATIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE 
 DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 i. BONUS TO BE RECOVERABLE LIKE WAGES. 
 
 IT is questionable whether the bonus, even under a 
 definite scheme, is legally recoverable. It is certainly of 
 great importance that there should be no doubt upon this 
 matter. 1 There is, moreover, a good case for giving to 
 bonus the same priority of claim as ordinary wages now 
 have. 
 
 2. NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME, 
 
 Pension schemes initiated by private firms have several 
 drawbacks. It is true that they tend to hold the em- 
 ployees to the particular firm, but the nature of the hold- 
 ing is, to my mind, somewhat similar to the lump of wood 
 tied to a horse's leg to keep him in his paddock. I think 
 that Trade Unions might legitimately raise objections on 
 this score against such schemes. I should wish, generally 
 speaking, the horse to keep to his own paddock, but rather 
 because he liked it best, and found the best feed there. 
 
 Another drawback to individual schemes is that they 
 tend to interfere unduly with the mobility of labour. From 
 1 Profit- Sharing Precedents^ p. 35. 
 
160 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 time to time there is to be found in every business a man 
 who proves unsuitable for his work, and it is to the in- 
 terest of the firm, and of the man, that he should obtain 
 employment elsewhere. If, however, the man has been 
 serving the firm for some years, he would naturally be very 
 loath to move and sacrifice his prospective benefit ; and, on 
 the other hand, most firms would have compunction (for, 
 in spite of the declarations to the contrary, the majority of 
 employers are not Gradgrinds) in discharging him. 
 
 It is certain that there is an urgent need for a system of 
 national pensions. Whether or not the scheme propounded 
 by Mr. Charles Booth is theoretically the best, it is probably 
 not within measurable distance of being adopted, owing to 
 the enormous cost entailed. 1 
 
 The whole subject will assuredly receive careful con- 
 sideration at the hands of the Royal Commission, just 
 appointed. The community has already, through the Poor 
 Law, accepted a large measure of responsibility for provid- 
 ing for the old age of the poor. Would it not be only a 
 natural development of the present situation if the State 
 could arrange a system whereby the thrifty should receive 
 in their old age a portion, at any rate, of the advantage 
 which they would receive if they were thriftless ? In other 
 words, the State may be called upon to take charge of, and 
 to supplement with an additional old age grant, the savings 
 of the working classes. 
 
 As profit-sharing extends, it may reasonably be expected 
 that a far larger number of persons will have money to lay 
 by for this purpose ; what is needed is some State office or 
 
 1 It is, I believe, estimated that a pension of 5-f- given to every per- 
 son over the age of sixty-five would cost upwards of seventeen millions 
 a year. 
 
AN EFFECTIVE LABOUR DEPARTMENT. 161 
 
 department into which the savings and the provident funds 
 of employees may be paid. 1 
 
 3. EMPLOYMENT BUREAUS. 
 
 The evidence of the Rev. Wickham Tozer of Ipswich, 
 and Mr. E. T. Scammell of Exeter, given before the Labour 
 Commission on December i, 1892, emphasises the great 
 need there is at the present time for Municipal or Govern- 
 ment Registry Offices or Employment Bureaus. 
 
 There has seldom appeared a more moving recital than 
 the contribution of Mr. John Burns to the Nineteenth Cen- 
 tury (December 1892), on the text from Carlyle : "A man 
 willing to work and unable to find work is, perhaps, the 
 saddest sight that Fortune's inequality exhibits under the 
 sun." Mr. Tozer, in his evidence, declared that "forced 
 idleness would demoralise an angel." 
 
 It is certain that not unfrequently there is, at a given time, 
 in one locality a supply of labour seeking employment 
 without success, while there is at the same time a demand 
 for that labour in another locality. The consideration of 
 this difficult problem will doubtless receive the careful 
 attention of the Labour Commission and the Government. 
 
 4. AN EFFECTIVE LABOUR DEPARTMENT. 2 
 
 It is very desirable that the Government Labour Depart- 
 
 1 Cf. statement respecting provident funds of our own employees, 
 p. 36, ante. 
 
 2 Cf. Paper on "The Reorganisation of our Labour Department," 
 read before the Royal Statistical Society on January 17, 1893, by Mr. 
 D. F. Schloss. 
 
 Since the writing of this section, the Government has made known 
 its intention to enlarge the Labour Department. 
 
 II 
 
1 62 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 ment should have a larger staff, so that it might, for one 
 thing, undertake the registration of statistics of such labour 
 developments as profit-sharing. The making of the 
 necessary inquiries and the tabulation of the replies for 
 such a purpose is a somewhat onerous duty for private 
 individuals to undertake. 
 
 The insufficient staffing of the Labour Department of 
 the Board of Trade was clearly seen when the late Govern- 
 ment decided to issue a Report on Profit-sharing. The 
 work had to be delegated to a gentleman in the Patent 
 Office, and although he took great pains, and produced a 
 valuable report, the unsatisfactoriness of such a way of 
 doing the work was quite manifest, for the first edition had 
 to be cancelled owing to mistakes of omission and com- 
 mission, and the revised edition contains a statement 
 calculated to give a wrong impression on a vital point. 
 
 Another valuable function for a well-organised Labour 
 Department would be, as Mr. Schloss has suggested, the 
 communication from time to time to workmen in our 
 country of information as to the cost of production in other 
 lands. 
 
 The striking evidence of Dr. Gould (of Washington, 
 U.S.A.) before the Labour Commission, giving the beneficial 
 results of the inquiry of one of the State Labour Bureaus 
 into the profits of manufacturers, 1 raises the question as to 
 
 1 "As to educative influence upon the working people themselves, I 
 might name a prominent instance in Connecticut. A few years ago 
 there had grown up tiie idea that the proportion of profits was alto- 
 gether too large in relation to wages, and a malevolent feeling, a bad 
 feeling, was beginning to manifest itself in the minds of the working 
 people. The Commissioner saw that if this thing proceeded it might 
 result in difficulties and strikes in fact, a great many strikes had sprung 
 up apparently in connection therewith without any cause whatever. 
 
POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK REGULATIONS. 163 
 
 the possibility of an English Labour Department under- 
 taking, in certain cases, work of this kind. The proposal 
 is calculated, at first blush, to shock the mind of the British 
 manufacturer ; but if it could be shown that it is possible 
 to keep the respective profits of individual firms quite 
 private, it is probable that reflection will lead our business 
 men to a more favourable consideration of this new de- 
 parture. 
 
 5. ALTERATIONS IN POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANK 
 REGULATIONS. 
 
 As the system spreads, some firms will be glad to be 
 relieved of the responsibility of holding their employees' 
 provident funds, and it is important that they should be so 
 relieved. At present it is against the regulations for a 
 
 He went to the manufacturers, and said : ' It is a great deal better that 
 we should know the truth, even if it is against you, because the minds 
 of the working people are being poisoned, and they are an easy prey 
 to agitators and selfish demagogues and interested people, and we 
 think it is a great deal better you should let us know the truth.' 
 
 " The Commissioner's resources were so limited that he could not 
 cover everything in one year; he contented himself the first year with 
 inquiring into ninety establishments. He was urged to go on, not 
 merely by the labourers, but by the manufacturers themselves, who 
 said : t It is not a fair thing to stop where you do, you must get more 
 information,' and he has gone on for four years since. I do not know 
 how many establishments he has covered during the last year, but 
 during the four years he investigated nine hundred and seventy 
 establishments in that way. The books of the manufacturers were 
 freely opened to him everywhere. After he had tabulated the data, 
 he returned them to them or destroyed them, according to their wishes, 
 so that the facts could never come out. Each establishment was pre- 
 sented impersonally, and the result was the entire calming down of 
 this unreasonable agitation, which had existed hitherto in the State, 
 and the strikes have been exceedingly infrequent since" (Labour 
 Commission Evidence. December 2, 1892. Question 6508 W). 
 
164 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 workman to have an interest in more than one savings 
 bank account. In order to favour the institution of such 
 provident funds as I have ventured to advocate, which 
 have, according to the voluntary testimony of our employees, 
 in our own case proved so valuable, I think it very desir- 
 able that the regulations should be altered so as to allow 
 of a workman having his own private account, and, in 
 addition, of his being the beneficiary of a separate individual 
 trust account (to which probably the employer or his 
 cashier would be trustee). 
 
 Liberty should also be given to a qualified post-office 
 clerk to attend at the works of such a profit-sharing firm 
 to take the necessary signatures. 
 
 6. A DECIMAL SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTS. 
 
 A most impressive sign of a certain innate conser- 
 vatism in the British commercial mind is afforded by the 
 fact that we still continue to do our business, and keep our 
 accounts, with the cumbersome money system of pounds, 
 shillings, pence, and farthings. 
 
 The assertion cannot be too often reiterated, that Great 
 Britain is alone among civilised nations in its lack of a 
 decimal system of accounts. 
 
 It would be interesting to know the extent to which this 
 fact handicaps us economically. A good field here offers 
 itself for the statistical calculator to compute how great is 
 the waste of time incurred by the old mode of reckoning. 
 I have seen it stated that the average English child might 
 save a full year of his school-time, which would, of course, 
 be devoted to some useful study, if we had a sensible system 
 of weights and measures. 
 
A DECIMAL SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTS. 165 
 
 I have no recommendation to give as to the decimal 
 system as a whole, but it is possible to deal with the money 
 system first, and daily I am impressed with the prodigious 
 wastefulness of our s. d. style of book-keeping. The 
 following suggestion of the writer's was published in the 
 Daily News of July 16, 1886 : 
 
 " Any reform in the coinage, to have a chance of success, 
 must be of a kind that would easily graft on to the old 
 system ; for it is certain that in the popular mind and usage 
 the two systems would for some time exist concurrently. A 
 very feasible plan would be this : Let our present florin 
 (2s.) be the unit of value. A farthing is at the present time 
 ^-th part of a florin. Let it be reduced fractionally in 
 value, and made T J^th of a florin, and perhaps re-named 
 (for convenience and etymology) a cent. This proposal 
 would reduce alterations in our existing coinage to a 
 minimum, while gaining all the advantages of the decimal 
 system. The sovereign would remain of exactly the same 
 value as now, but would be marked 10 florins; half- 
 sovereign, 5 florins (half-crowns would be abolished) ; florin 
 remain same as now ; the shilling (unaltered value) become 
 5o-cent piece ; the sixpenny (unaltered value) become 
 25-cent piece. The chief alteration would be in the value 
 of the penny, which, becoming a 4-cent piece, would count 
 25 to the florin, instead of 24 as now. This would also 
 assimilate our penny to the value of the Channel Islands 
 penny, which at the present time passes current at 25 to the 
 English florin. 
 
 " Many people will raise objections against the reducing of 
 the chief unit from the value of i to 2s., but every system 
 will be attended by certain drawbacks. It seems to me that 
 the drawbacks in question will be infinitely smaller than those 
 of our present awkward system. Seeing that the American 
 unit is of about the value of 4^., and the German and French 
 units are of the value of a shilling or less, if we adopt the 
 middle value of a florin, it would seem demonstrable from 
 
1 66 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 experience of other nations that the system would be quite 
 workable. 
 
 " Another advantage of the system would be the ease with 
 which old values could be turned into new (an important 
 matter in view of the large number of tariffs fixed by Act 
 of Parliament and otherwise). Thus ;ioo becomes 1000 
 fl-i $ = 5 fl-> a d so on. After the first novelty had been 
 got over, the immense convenience of a twofold over a four- 
 fold nomenclature would be apparent to all e.g. 26, los. 
 2\d. would become fl. 265.10." 
 
 It is just such a reform in which the Government should 
 lead the nation, and not wait for the agitation of the people 
 generally, whose minds are naturally preoccupied with their 
 immediate duties. A committee or a commission should 
 decide upon a certain system. If it is thought impracticable 
 to introduce the same forthwith, the new system might be 
 placed among the compulsory subjects in the Education Code 
 the examinations in the old system being gradually 
 moderated with the provision that, in a certain number 
 of years say, seven the system would become the national 
 and legal one. By this time, thousands of boys and girls, 
 thoroughly familiar with the new system, would have entered 
 the business houses and the homes of the land. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 THE LINE OF DELIVERANCE. 
 
 i. As TO THE ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF WORKMEN. 
 
 Need for Thrift and Temperance. It is unnecessary to 
 enlarge at any length upon the need among working men 
 for increased thrift and temperance : the subject has been 
 well discussed by more competent writers. But the satis- 
 faction of this need is so obviously a prime condition 
 of economic improvement, that the subject cannot be 
 altogether passed over in this section. 
 
 Professor Marshall estimates that " perhaps ^"100,000,000 
 annually are spent by the working classes, and ^"400,000,000 
 by the rest of the population of England, in ways that do 
 little or nothing towards making life nobler or truly 
 happier." 1 
 
 Considering that the average income of the artisan is so 
 much less than the average income of members of other 
 classes, it is clear that the wasteful expenditure is, in the 
 first case, more serious. (The bearing of Professor 
 Marshall's statement as to the other classes will be referred 
 to in the second section.) Doubtless there has been 
 considerable improvement in this respect. A very sure 
 way for the leaders and friends of working men to 
 1 Elements of Economics of Indttstry, p. 372. 
 
1 68 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 advance their interest will be to foster and extend this 
 improvement. Middle-class and well-to-do people will be 
 much more ready to view sympathetically tendencies 
 towards new systems and developments, which will increase 
 the income of the working man, if they have not 
 reasonable ground to imagine that the increased income 
 will be fooled away in drink or in gambling. Ridiculous 
 as, to some, the assertion may appear, I believe that there 
 are employers who honestly consider that they are acting 
 philanthropically in neglecting at the present moment to 
 increase the remuneration of people they employ. During 
 the Dock strike in 1889, the fact that some of the strike 
 leaders were, if not teetotallers, outspoken advocates of 
 temperance, encouraged many others besides myself, who 
 found the strike a big nuisance to our businesses, to send 
 subscriptions to Mr. John Burns. 1 
 
 In this connection, it may be well to quote the impressive 
 words of Channing, " On the elevation of the working 
 classes " : 
 
 "There is but one elevation for a labourer and for all 
 other men. There are not different kinds of dignity for 
 different orders of men, but one and the same for all. The 
 only elevation of a human being consists in the exercise, 
 growth, energy of the higher principles and powers of the 
 soul. A bird may be shot upwards to the skies by a foreign 
 
 1 About twenty years ago, Mr. T. G. Beamish, late Chairman of the 
 Coventry Board of Guardians, publicly offered to pay for the mainten- 
 ance of any teetotaller who applied at the Coventry Workhouse. 
 Although the offer has been repeated on several occasions, there has 
 been but one application : work was found for this man, but he, not 
 being over industrious, soon lost it. I am informed that, " as a matter 
 of fact, there has been no genuine application from a genuine 
 teetotaller." 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF WORKMEN. 169 
 
 power; but it rises, in the true sense of the word, only 
 when it spreads its own wings and soars by its own living 
 power. So a man may be thrust upward into a conspicuous 
 place by outward accidents, but he rises only in so far as 
 he exerts himself and expands his best faculties, and 
 ascends by a free effort to a nobler region of thought and 
 action. Such is the elevation I desire for the labourer, 
 and I desire no other. This elevation is indeed to be 
 aided by an improvement in his outward condition, and in 
 turn it greatly improves his outward lot; and, thus con- 
 nected, outward good is real and great ; but supposing it 
 to exist in separation from inward growth and life, it would 
 be nothing worth, nor would I raise a ringer to promote it." 1 
 
 Need for Study of Economics. The need, at the present 
 time, for the study of economics on the part of the working 
 class is very urgent. Many working men have the idea 
 that the limitation of production is in itself a good thing, 
 and tends to create employment. By this reasoning even 
 laziness is made to wear a philanthropic guise. Not to 
 refer to the standard works of Professor Marshall, allusion 
 may be made to Professor Symes, who shows up this fallacy 
 in his little book on Political Economy ', which is well suited 
 for popular study. Mr. Schloss, whose general sympathy 
 with the Trade Union movement for increasing the wages of 
 workers is well known, discusses the matter under the heading 
 of " The Theory of the Lump of Labour," in his book on 
 Industrial Remuneration (p. 46). And I cannot see how any 
 intelligent artisan can read his argument without agreeing 
 with his conclusion that, if it is desired to increase the 
 remuneration of the working classes, it is foolish to lessen 
 the fund namely, the produce from which wages as well as 
 profits are drawn. A convincing illustration may be obtained 
 1 Quoted in Mr. Sedley Taylor's Profit -Sharing, p. 26. 
 
i?o PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 by comparing the average output of the over-worked, half- 
 starved Chinese hand cotton -spinner, with the average 
 output of the intelligent and well-developed Lancashire 
 operative, aided by good machinery. 
 
 Workmen would also learn from such study what some 
 of their fellows have learned from sad experience in co- 
 operative production, that profits are not unlimited. 
 
 Many workmen have a very exaggerated notion of the 
 profits of their employers. I met with an illustration of 
 this fact not very long ago when discussing a new basis of 
 costing for one of our departments ; incidentally, the fore- 
 man, with whom I was speaking, allowed to transpire his 
 opinion of the profit on his department, and I was amused 
 to find that his estimate slightly exceeded the aggregate 
 profits for all our eight departments. Very commonly, 
 workmen overlook altogether the items comprised in 
 " Trade Expenses " (such as rent, travellers' and managers' 
 salaries, bad debts, etc.) According to the evidence of Dr. 
 Gould before the Labour Commission, in Connecticut, 
 U.S.A., the official Labour Department has been enabled 
 to correct these mistaken views on the part of working men 
 there. 1 
 
 There are signs of a growing consciousness among labour 
 men that a knowledge of economics is essential to progress. 2 
 As to the means of extending this knowledge, besides the 
 agency of political clubs, Trade Unions, and so forth, there 
 is a good opening in connection with the Adult School and 
 
 1 See p. 162. 
 
 2 Cf. Report of discussion on Trade Unionism at the Democratic 
 Club, during which one of the principal speakers declared, "If 
 properly instructed in economics, Trade Unionism would never be 
 effete" (Daily Chronicle, December 29, 1892). 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF WORKMEN. 171 
 
 Girls' Club movements, where "upper" and middle-class 
 people are being brought under favourable conditions into 
 direct touch with working people. Technical Institutes 
 could also render aid. 
 
 In thinking of the growing generation of workers now in 
 our elementary schools, few would contend that our present 
 system, whether as regards the teaching of social science or 
 other things, brings about a x n ideal result; and in this 
 connection one welcomes as a cheering sign of the dawn 
 of the social renaissance^ the bold advice given to the Eton 
 boys by Mr. Geoffrey Drage, when he said : " Here, if 
 anywhere, the ancient motto, Noblesse oblige^ applies ; and 
 I say to you that of all the ways in which you can render 
 service to this country at this moment, the most certain, if 
 the least striking, is that of qualifying for and serving in 
 the humble career of a master in a School Board school." 
 
 Need for Reasonableness. I think that some workmen 
 need, if only in their own interests, to be more fair- 
 minded, considerate, and civil. Evident room for im- 
 provement in this respect was revealed in the manifesto 
 of the London Building Trades' Committee of January 
 23, 1890. The object of this circular was to "con- 
 demn" the profit-sharing scheme under which Messrs. 
 Peto Brothers proposed to divide with the workmen em- 
 ployed upon one of their large contracts, 25 per cent, of the 
 net profits. I do not propose to discuss the merits of 
 Messrs. Peto's scheme ; one or two of the smaller provisions 
 may have been open to legitimate objection from the labour 
 point of view. But I am persuaded having carefully 
 investigated the case at the time that the offer was a bona 
 fide one, and I think it probable that Messrs. Peto would 
 have modified the proposal in one or two respects if they 
 
i?2 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 had been approached by the Trade Unions in a civil way. 
 There was certainly no warrant in their proposal for the 
 insulting language which the Committee used when they 
 urged the employees to refuse co-operation in the scheme, 
 "until Messrs. Peto Brothers have shown that full con- 
 fidence in their workmen which they evidently have in 
 their own self-assurance and importance." Certainly the 
 public would hear of it if a firm addressed a communica- 
 tion to their workmen couched in this sort of language. 
 
 At the same time, I am firmly persuaded that the 
 responsibility of the present strained relations cannot be 
 laid exclusively at the door of labour, and in the next 
 section I propose to give reasons for the duty, as it seems 
 to me, laid upon employers to exercise patience. But 
 even if it be admitted that many employers have not done 
 justly by the men in the past, 1 who can fail to see that the 
 men will be unwise if they take as their policy the giving 
 of tit-for-tat? I regret to see advice given to workmen, 
 by some well-informed persons, to the effect, " Get every 
 penny you can : as soon as you see you can get an 
 advance of wages, demand it." 
 
 I hope that, as the productivity of labour increases, 
 wages will go on increasing ; at present it is most im- 
 portant that men should preserve their right to combine, 
 therefore I should never counsel them to take blindly any 
 scheme that is offered them ; but the "good time" will not 
 come by this policy of keeping a constant keen look-out for 
 the employers' weak moment. And when an employer 
 
 1 Cf. incident on p. 180. 
 
 2 For an ethical argument in favour of Trade Unionism, see " The 
 Church and Labour Combinations," by H. Scott Holland (Economic 
 Review, October 1892). 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF WORKMEN. 173 
 
 makes a genuine step to meet his men, as I know many 
 are ready to do at the present moment, 1 should not the 
 men hold themselves in readiness to welcome the disposi- 
 tion, even if they cannot accept the form in which it is 
 first manifested ? 
 
 One would like to know whether certain of the modern 
 labour leaders really wish for the co-operation of any 
 members of other classes. Of course there is a senti- 
 ment which, to a certain extent, is admirable that 
 working men should only care to have advantages which 
 they can earn or extort. If all working men were equal 
 in mental and moral calibre to the member for Battersea, 
 there might be reasonableness in this position. 
 
 Employers of the friendly type referred to would not 
 dream of insulting working men by patronising airs, but 
 they are conscious that they have certain qualities which the 
 average working man has not; and these qualities they 
 wish to dedicate to the good of the people, feeling assured 
 that the best interests of the people cannot be irreconcil- 
 able with their own best interests. Whether the self- 
 sufficient type of labour man holds his own or not, it may 
 safely be assumed that the measure of success which, year 
 by year, will attend labour efforts must, in the nature of 
 things, depend to a certain extent upon the degree of con- 
 fidence labour leaders bestow upon right-minded employers. 
 And it may be hoped that working men will come to realise 
 that, under certain conditions, there is a grace in accepting 
 as well as in extorting. 
 
 The possession of an open and tolerant mind really adds, 
 in the eyes of thoughtful men, to the influence of a leader. 
 Recognition should be made of the broadening sympathies 
 1 Cf. the Letters of Employers in chap. iv. 
 
i?4 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 of some of the leading New Unionists. 1 And the statesman- 
 like development of labour M.P.'s in the past is a hopeful 
 presage of what may be expected from others as they get 
 to feel the responsibilities of power. 
 
 2. As TO THE ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 
 
 A Simple Mode of Life desirable. One very practicable way 
 for employers to help forward industrial peace is for them 
 to choose a simple mode of life. It is not that the ;ioo 
 or ^500 which can be knocked off the average personal 
 expenditure of the employer would go far even if divided 
 among his workpeople, but the less the contrast in the style 
 of life between master and man, the more likely is the man 
 to be reconciled to his lot. An example may be cited : 
 during the bad times, four or five years ago, a Warwickshire 
 colliery owner a really estimable man was speaking to 
 his employees and explaining that their wages could not 
 be made better, that the times were worse for the master 
 than for the man, etc. ; but the effect of his speech was 
 somewhat marred by the ejaculation of one of the miners 
 present : " But what we don't understand is how the 
 carriages and pairs go on all the same." 
 
 Personally, I do not think that workmen are unreasonable 
 
 1 Cf. Speech of Mr. Tom Mann at Scarborough. "As one who 
 had taken part in many strikes and lockouts, he was ashamed to say 
 that the amount of energy wasted by organisations was astounding. 
 The time had gone by for organising a trade for its own end, and it 
 was now their duty to be more cosmopolitan. It was the duty of 
 employers, statesmen, and philanthropists to get a better grip of the 
 industrial situation, and see if they could not run the industries of this 
 country in the interests of all, and not in the interests of a few " 
 (Scarborough, Mercury, November 4, 1892). 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 175 
 
 on this question. It is erroneous to suppose that they want 
 every one to be on a level as regards remuneration, so that 
 artisan, foreman, manager, and partner should be paid an 
 all-round wage of (say) forty shillings a week. When, at 
 the institution of Mr. George Thomson's Industrial Partner- 
 ship, the proposal was made to the committee that Mr. 
 Thomson's salary as manager should be ^"500 a year, the 
 only criticism which was made by the employees on his 
 committee was that they thought it too little. And I fancy 
 that the average journeyman, especially if he had a foreman's 
 berth in view, would dissent from the Levellist theory, 
 which, at the present stage of society, is both inexpedient 
 and impracticable. 
 
 Unfortunately, many ladies and gentlemen still consider 
 that in buying luxuries they are serving the community 
 by finding employment ; and thus they invest extrava- 
 gance with an altruistic grace. Like the working men, 
 they need to go and learn of the economist. They will 
 find, as many have found, that even if the impossible 
 admission be made that the luxuries are harmless to the 
 purchasers their action is, as Mr. Edward Grubb points 
 out in his paper on the ''Economics of Luxury," only 
 equivalent to the employing of men to do useless work. 
 
 One is glad to hear of the increasing attention which is 
 being paid to the study of economics in young ladies' 
 schools. The ladies hold, as many men will admit, the 
 key to the situation : when educated women realise the 
 invaluable gain to the commonwealth which would follow 
 from a carrying out of the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
 counsel to employers, 1 " to live in simpler ways and on 
 more brotherly terms with their employees," it may be 
 1 See p. 108. 
 
176 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 confidently anticipated that their influence will be thrown 
 into the right scale. 
 
 The additional national advantage would be, from some 
 points of view, questionable, if the ^400,000,000 which 
 Professor Marshall estimates to be the wasteful or useless 
 expenditure of the "upper" and middle classes were all 
 " saved " or placed in ordinary business investments. 
 
 The real advantage of a moderate style of living is that it 
 places the employer in a position to view favourably pro- 
 posals or schemes for increasing the welfare of the workers. 
 This course might indeed be suggested by considerations 
 of enlightened self-interest. Ethical demands suggest that 
 there must be at a given time and in a given factory one 
 right proportion of remuneration for labour, management, 
 and capital. That exact proportion may not be easy to 
 determine, but if any one contributor to the concern gets 
 more than his share, that excess will do him harm. 
 
 Attitude towards Workmen. Do not many employers 
 need to begin by reconsidering their personal attitude 
 towards their workmen? It has too often been the case 
 that they have regarded them as helots of different clay 
 with whom it would be infra dig. to take any sort of counsel. 
 This attitude is not always the result of pride, but is some- 
 times due to a mistaken idea of the necessary conditions 
 for the conduct of a business. When, years ago, I mentioned 
 to a successful employer-friend that I had an idea of trying 
 profit-sharing, he said : " You leave well alone ; if you go in 
 for those lines, yon'll have 'Jack as good as his master,' 
 and no business will stand many masters." When, in the 
 following year, the Dock strike occurred, I felt very thank- 
 ful that we had not "left well alone." It will be seen from 
 my earlier evidence how our actual experience has utterly 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 177 
 
 falsified my friend's forebodings. It should be recognised 
 that workmen are human beings, and that many of them 
 possess qualities which can be turned to valuable account, 
 even in spheres which have often been regarded as peculiar 
 to the employer. 
 
 Interest in Industrial Questions. An encouraging sign of 
 the times is that employers are realising in increasing 
 numbers that the study of industrial questions is directly 
 concerned with the proper discharge of their business 
 duties, with the result that the more fully and candidly the 
 middle-class man applies his mind to the consideration of 
 these questions, the more sympathetic does he, as a rule, 
 become with the aspirations of labour after an improved 
 standard of life. In the past, one has been too often met 
 with the declaration, " I have enough to do to look after my 
 own business, I have not time to go into mere theories." 
 Another common attitude was represented by the state- 
 ment, "All these things are settled by the law of supply 
 and demand ; " but the success of the Dock strike has, in 
 fact, somewhat shaken this position. 
 
 There remain, however, too many examples of employers 
 who view these subjects with mild or contemptuous indiffer- 
 ence. These gentlemen are fully entitled in their individual 
 capacities to their own opinions, but they must not be sur- 
 prised if many thousands of working men place somewhat 
 greater reliance upon the judgment of and perhaps base 
 agitations upon the attitude of such men as Mr. John 
 Burns, who occupied his spare time on the Gold Coast in 
 studying the Wealth of Nations, and who, at a much later 
 date, was puzzling his head as to whether to buy a new pair 
 of boots or Mallock's latest philosophical book. 1 
 1 The Idler, January 1893. 
 
 12 
 
178 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Danger lies in any attitude of indifference or apathy; 
 whether these gentlemen like it or not, the balance of power 
 has altered, 1 nor will strong language avail to restore it. It 
 is true that the statement that " Demos is king " requires 
 some qualification; in theory the people have the power, 
 but in practice they are not in a position to give effect to 
 that power. Our monarch, in fact, has not yet attained his 
 majority ; and, while under tutelage, he needs not flattery 
 but a kindlier education and a more sympathetic discipline 
 than many well-to-do people seem inclined to give him. 
 
 Attitude towards "Paid Agitators." The spirit shown 
 by some employers and others towards Trade Union 
 officials is, in my opinion, provocative of strife. "Paid 
 agitator" is the reproachful epithet commonly applied 
 as if it were possible to secure any reform or improvement 
 without agitation, and without sustenance from third parties. 
 An unexceptionable type of agitator may be cited in the late 
 Mr. John Bright, if any think that the term is misapplied, 
 I would ask them to consider that "the agitator" is but 
 the chrysalis stage of the reformer statesman, and some 
 will remember how, on one occasion, the " Tribune of the 
 People" declared in Rochdale that all his public labours 
 would have been impossible but for the fact that his brother 
 had kept the business going which furnished them both 
 with the means of livelihood, and if he had thought of it, 
 he would no doubt have included in his acknowledgment 
 the services of his workpeople. That is to say, John Bright 
 
 1 Cf. Lowell : " The beggar is in the saddle at last," cries Proverbial 
 Wisdom; "why, in the name of all former experience, doesn't he 
 ride to the devil?" "Because, in the very act of mounting he ceased 
 to be a beggar, and became part owner of the piece of property he 
 bestrides " {Democracy ', p. 8). 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 179 
 
 could not have " agitated " continuously if he had been 
 compelled to earn his own living. 
 
 That is just the position of the Trade Union secretary ; 
 but there is this difference, that the Trade Union official, 
 instead of having admiring relatives or passive employees 
 or passive tenantry as his economic base, too often has 
 a vast number of ill-informed, and therefore unreasonable, 
 constituents to deal with. 
 
 A forcible example of the prejudice still existing even 
 among intelligent and well-meaning business men, I met 
 with in a report of a recent political meeting. 1 The 
 principal speaker, in referring to Mr. Chamberlain's proposal 
 for the establishment of tribunals of arbitration, welcomed 
 the plan for the reason which was applauded by his 
 hearers that "// would sweep away that fiend, the paid trade 
 agitator." Knowing that some of these "fiends" are spending 
 fourteen or fifteen hours a day in worrying work, in striving to 
 obtain an " eight hours day " for their fellows, I am glad to 
 anticipate, as one of the wholesome results of the careful 
 and dispassionate inquiries of the Labour Commission, the 
 revealing of the average Trade Union official in his true 
 light. A labour man, in conversation with me recently, 
 said : "Trade Union officers are human, and therefore they 
 sometimes make mistakes ; but it is a great error to suppose 
 that their interests are for war ; a big strike often means the 
 disruption of the Union, and, consequently, the temporary 
 loss of their employment." 
 
 The fact is to be deplored that some labour leaders at 
 
 times use violent, uncharitable, and unwise language. The 
 
 measure of our condemnation should, however, be tempered 
 
 by the reflection that capital has had in the past an unfair 
 
 1 Coventry Herald, November 2$, 1892. 
 
i8o PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 proportion of the profits of industry, and that the greater 
 number of the working population have not yet had 
 time to get their judgment sobered by the discipline of 
 education. 
 
 The first contention may be supported in this way. It 
 is obvious that, at the present time, labour is obtaining a 
 larger proportion of the profits of industry than it obtained 
 fifty or even thirty years ago. Who has yet met with 
 the capitalist who would maintain at any rate in public 
 that labour is getting an excessive reward at the present 
 time ? The logical inference, therefore, is that labour did 
 not get a fair reward in the past. In illustration, I may 
 quote a spontaneous declaration made to me by a large 
 employer of labour, and which was the more creditable to 
 him because his men at the moment were on strike. He 
 said : "We are suffering for the sins of our fathers. Up till 
 twenty or thirty years ago, the masters had all the power, 
 and they did not do justly by the men ; now that the 
 balance is changed, we must not wonder at getting 
 tit-for-tat." 
 
 Another illustration may be taken from the story of a 
 business man's life with which I have had some personal 
 knowledge. This gentleman commenced business about 
 sixty years ago with a capital of, I believe, ^20, and he 
 died recently, leaving an estate of the net value of ^240,000. 
 He led a kindly and useful life, but the nature of his 
 business did not give scope for the play of exceptional 
 organising or inventive ability; so that it may fairly be 
 concluded that a considerable portion of his estate must 
 have been due to the past order of industrial life, which 
 rewarded his investments with a large "unearned incre- 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 181 
 
 There has been, at any rate, apparent injustice in the 
 respective lots and fortunes of equally worthy members of 
 the community, and it is only natural that the feelings 
 of some of the working classes should find expression in 
 unparliamentary language, because of the very poor educa- 
 tion they have received. In the report of the political 
 meeting above referred to, the following account of a work- 
 ing man's speech appeared : " Mr. . . . responded to the 
 toast. He had not much to say, because he did not know 
 much ; he only went to school one half day in his life, and 
 then the master was out, so that he did not learn much 
 there." 
 
 There is another piece of evidence which I should like 
 to quote as being still more impressive. A working man 
 of middle age was speaking at a meeting of the Book Club 
 connected with the Cow Lane Adult School at Coventry, 
 and in order to enforce his quiet exhortation to his hearers, 
 young and old, to make the most of their present advantages, 
 he alluded to the childhood experience of his wife. He 
 said that her earliest recollection related to her being called 
 up early in the morning, and, because she was too small to 
 dress herself properly, she used to be helped on with her 
 things by her mother, in order to be sent off to work. On 
 making inquiries in order to verify the stpry, I learnt that 
 this little girl was about seven years old when she was thus 
 sent out to work from 6 A.M. till 7.30 P.M. in the summer, 
 and from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. in the winter; her wages being 
 one shilling and sevenpence per week. 
 
 It may be objected that these things belong entirely to 
 the past. It is true that, thanks to the Factory Acts and 
 the Education Acts, such social scandals as those above 
 narrated are now impossible; but my point is, that the 
 
182 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 people, who form the bulk of the present labour parties 
 now, are, of course, middle-aged or elderly people, and 
 their demeanour must be largely affected by the recollec- 
 tion of their own early life. 
 
 For myself, I confess that it is not the rhetoric of the 
 (so-called) demagogue it is the labourer's dumb endurance 
 which arouses my sympathy and sometimes stirs my 
 indignation. Is it surprising, as once was ingeniously 
 asked, that people whose education has been so sadly 
 neglected, should sometimes spell "evolution" with an 
 initial "r"? And when some chance charlatan leads his 
 followers into wild and unreasonable courses, and the 
 reproof of the community is due, I respectfully submit that 
 such reproof does not come with good grace from those 
 who are living lives of luxury, from those who are, some 
 of them, enjoying fortunes which in great part have been 
 built up on the starved and blighted lives of their fellow- 
 creatures, hapless toilers, whose only prayer in myriad 
 cases, hitherto, a hopeless one has been that they might 
 not die in the workhouse. 
 
 Employers are sometimes apt to overlook the fact that 
 the conditions of industry have largely changed. Owing to 
 various causes, the rights and conditions of employers and 
 workers in one place are now affected by the rights and 
 conditions of employers and workers in other places. It 
 is no doubt pleasant to be " master of one's own business : " 
 " outside influence " is naturally objectionable ; but if em- 
 ployers will only dispassionately study the question, and 
 " look not only on their own things," it is likely that their 
 opinion will be, as mine has been, largely modified. 
 
 Even a cursory examination of some of the evidence 
 given before the Labour Commission has made me ac- 
 
ATTITUDE AND ACTION OF EMPLOYERS. 183 
 
 quainted with functions in Trade Unionism which were 
 previously altogether unsuspected. Evidence was given 
 before the Commission on May 18, 1892, from which we 
 can see the beginnings of a beneficent transformation of a 
 Trade Union into something very much like a Trades 
 Guild. The evidence respecting the discipline in the 
 "Boiler Makers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilding Society" 
 showed how a Trade Union was punishing ineffective and 
 disorderly workmen. 1 Discipline of some degree is also, as 
 Mr. Schloss informs me, exercised in the Boot Trade 
 Unions, and the " Associated Iron and Steel Workers of 
 Great Britain." 
 
 1 Mr. John Rae, in his analysis of evidence given before the Labour 
 Commission (Economic Journal r , Sept. 1892, pp. 553, 554) writes with 
 reference to the "Boiler Makers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilding 
 Society": "Other societies fine or expel disobedient members, but 
 this society compensates the employer for breach of engagement by its 
 members. Thus lately at Hartlepool, ten men working on a vessel that 
 was required in a hurry struck, contrary to agreement, for two shillings 
 advance, and the firm wired to the Council of the Trade Union, who 
 immediately wired back, 'Pay the difference.' This was done, and 
 then, when the vessel was finished, the Council compelled the members 
 who had struck to refund the money, and sent the firm a cheque for 
 the amount. Then, if any members of the Society contract for work, 
 and leave it in an unfinished state, or make a bad job of it, or one not 
 according to contract, the Council undertakes to compensate the 
 employers for the loss they have sustained. Three members left a 
 contract unfinished recently, which it cost the firm ^10 to finish, 
 and the Council paid the ^"10 and then compelled the three 
 members to make it good. Another member made a bad job of two 
 boilers for an Isle of Wight firm, who complained to the Council. 
 The Council sent an inspector to examine the work, and as he found 
 the complaint just, and assessed the damage at 5, the Council 
 sent a cheque for that amount to the firm." 
 
 Question 20,978 A, in the evidence of Mr. R. Knight (the secretary of 
 this Society) is especially noteworthy. 
 
1 84 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 3. CONCLUSION. 
 
 As long as we begin with the determination to preserve 
 unaffected our own powers and emoluments whether we 
 are landlords, employers, Trade Unionists, or what not 
 we must go wrong. We can all laugh at the maxim of 
 the estimable Bunker, the East End house owner and 
 agent, in All Sorts and Conditions of Men, whose position 
 is denned by his remark to Miss Kennedy, " Rent, Miss, is 
 sacred." But we may find that the key to our own position 
 is not altogether dissimilar. 
 
 The real concern, as it seems to me, of co-operators, 
 Trade Unionists, and even Socialists, is to make it easier for 
 the industrious man to get a living, and to make it harder 
 for the idle man to get his. This should not shock us. 
 Work is good. "In every age, in every nation, in every 
 rank of society, those who have known how to work well 
 have been more numerous than those who have known how 
 to use leisure well." * 
 
 The signs of the times appear to be distinctly en- 
 couraging. There is a growing desire on the part of 
 various classes to know and to do their duty. Co-operators 
 are confessing that co-operation alone will not cure all 
 economic ills. Trade Unionists as they increase in in- 
 telligence are growing in reasonableness. Fabians are 
 declaring that enthusiasm and declamation will not avail 
 without an instmcted public opinion. 
 
 In Great Britain we have national advantages. We have 
 the priceless boon of an honourable and an incorrupt local 
 1 Professor Marshall, Principles of Economics. 
 
CONCLUSION. 185 
 
 and imperial administration. 1 We have, moreover, in the 
 character of the people, the "true grit" which wins for 
 them a degree of comfort which will compare favourably 
 with that of other nations, even in spite of the sterilising 
 influence of class bitterness and the large proportion of our 
 wasted national income. 
 
 "Our healing, indeed, is not in aristocracies or demo- 
 cracies," not in individualism nor in collectivism not in 
 profit-sharing nor in co-operation not in * free labour ' nor 
 in Trade Unionism, " but it will be revealed by the still 
 small voice that speaks to the conscience and the heart, 
 prompting us to a wider and wiser humanity." 2 
 
 1 Cf. "Municipal Institutions in America and England" (The 
 Forum, November 1892), by the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain. 
 The writer states that the cost of local government in the United 
 States is five times as great proportionately as in Great Britain. 
 
 2 Lowell. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PRESS EXTRACTS. 
 
 ^N 
 
 i. ON LABOUR AND THE LABOUR COMMISSION. 
 
 [From the "Daily Chronicle" of February 25, 1891.] 
 
 .-..." WE are glad that a Royal Commission is to inquire into 
 the relations of Capital and Labour. The business of such 
 a Commission ought, indeed, to be of momentous interest, 
 inasmuch as it is of vital concern to the nation. c Do you 
 not know,' exclaims Bastian Monsen in Henrik Ibsen's 
 League of Youth, ' what the nation means ? It means the 
 people, the common people the people who have nothing 
 and are nothing, and who are bound in servitude.' But 
 these people are now enfranchised. We must therefore, 
 as Lord Randolph Churchill tells us, be prepared to hear 
 them soon demanding that they shall have something and 
 be something, and that the terms of their servitude shall be 
 compatible with a larger, loftier, and fuller life. ' All these 
 things the enfranchised people will demand of our rulers 
 one of these days,' M. Zola is reported to have remarked 
 casually to a friend, 'and when they demand them they 
 will be refused.' 'And then?' put in M. Zola's friend. 
 'And then,' said the novelist, 'the enfranchised people 
 will demand them no more. They will simply take them.' 
 

 PRESS EXTRACTS. 
 
 Here we have, of course, only a half truth, though a side 
 of the truth to which we must not shut our eyes. Because 
 we have felt that the catastrophe to which M. Zola points 
 is the inevitable penalty for such blindness, we have long 
 urged the imperious necessity for devoting the best energies 
 of the State and of the Legislature to the conciliation of 
 Labour and Capital. We regard the appointment of this 
 Royal Commission, therefore, as a message of good-will from 
 the classes to the masses, as the first step towards that 
 great social reform which the late James Hinton had in his 
 mind when he likened it to 'the getting of an inverted 
 pyramid straight.' 
 
 " But the process described by Mr. Hinton implies a 
 revolution of a far more thorough-going kind than the 
 world has ever seen yet. It is so complete that it almost 
 implies the realisation of John Rosmer's dream the 
 purification of will achieved along with the conquest by 
 humanity of unrestricted intellectual and spiritual freedom. 
 It would be too much to expect this to be the work of a 
 day. Even the sanguine Ferdinand Lassalle thought it 
 would take two centuries of mental and moral evolution to 
 fit the Democracy for entering on their inheritance. But 
 if it must be long ere we reap the harvest, there is all the 
 more reason why we should hasten to sow the seed ; and 
 the work of this Commission will be the work of the sower 
 alas ! in some respects, it is to be feared, like that of the 
 sower in the Christian parable. The ideas of social re- 
 formers, even on the very simplest subjects bearing on the 
 realisation of their hopes, are in a state of absolute chaos. 
 A Royal Commission will hardly be able to recommend any 
 group of them as a practicable basis for legislation. But it 
 can, at all events, collect a rich storehouse of materials for 
 
i88 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 enabling us to test their relative value and worth. More- 
 over, it can eliminate from the field of discussion plans 
 which are little better than the delusive nostrums of 
 quackery. Unfortunately, as Carlyle says, at a time when 
 men's ideas are vague and vacillating, your quacks, who are 
 nothing if not definite and decided, have an enormous 
 advantage in impressing their views on a people too 
 ignorant to test them. A Royal Commission will tell us 
 much that will dispel that ignorance. Another thing this 
 Commission, we hope, will at least attempt that is, the 
 guidance of the aims of Labour into the proper direction. 
 Just now Labour has but one object to do as little work 
 as possible, and get as much money for it as it can. Yet 
 this ought not to be the sole or chief aim of the working 
 class. Its leaders ought to abandon an ideal which is 
 essentially that of the huckstering shopkeeper, and recog- 
 nise that to increase the quantity and quality of what we 
 produce by our work is to increase the possibilities of 
 happiness and well-being for ourselves as well as others. 
 Increased wages and leisure are not ends in themselves 
 worth striving for, and their utility has limits. The wise 
 man strives after them merely because he knows that 
 poverty and overwork, which imply social degradation, 
 make labour inefficient and unproductive, and that without 
 the means of self-improvement and self-development i.e. 
 without ample wages and leisure he can have no hope 
 whatever of usefully fulfilling his destiny. 
 
 " This leads us to say that the true aim of the working 
 class should be, not the plunder of the capitalists, but the 
 reconquest of their social position, their readmission into 
 the aristocracy of life. For the working class, social pro- 
 gress has had little real meaning in our time. That 
 
PRESS EXTRACTS. 189 
 
 Macaulay was able to boast that a working man had better 
 food and his wife better clothes to-day than the lords and 
 ladies of the Feudal Period is not to the purpose. The 
 social gulf between the hand-worker and the middle or 
 professional class has vastly widened, and as the employer 
 has risen in the social scale the handicraftsman has gone 
 down. It was not altogether theatrical blague that tempted 
 Napoleon I. to say his ideal was a state of society in which 
 every artisan would be an artist. Why, that state of society 
 actually existed centuries ago in England, and but for the 
 obstructive social prejudices of ' the classes ' it could be 
 made to exist again. How many, for example, realise the 
 fact that the bishops, priests, and monks, who are popularly 
 described as ' architects ' of our old cathedrals, were only 
 servile clerks of works and timekeepers; that the real 
 architects and designers and decorators of these splendid 
 structures were the persons we should now call 'the 
 workmen,' and that these workmen were not only socially 
 regarded as the equals, but, in cases where their ability and 
 originality were high, as the superiors of the lettered 
 operarii? No mere advance in wages, no mere exaction of 
 shorter hours, ought, therefore, to satisfy the working class 
 of England so long as they cease to occupy the position of 
 honour which they held in mediaeval times, when through 
 their guilds they controlled creative handicrafts, and when 
 a competent artisan could hope for just recognition of his 
 dignity and worth at the hands of a society grateful for his 
 services. The highest task before those who would guide 
 the new Labour Commission, or who desire to improve 
 the relations between employers and employed, is that of 
 discovering how to put the latter in a social position which, 
 quite apart from the wealth it secures, confers on those 
 
190 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 who attain it the frankest and most ungrudging concession 
 of general honour and esteem. The power to attain this 
 position is dormant within the heart of Labour indeed, if 
 it be not there, it exists nowhere. It is the duty of the 
 new Commission to tell us how it can be quickened into 
 waking life." 
 
 2. THE HOMESTEAD STRIKE. 
 
 By N. O. NELSON, Brass Goods Manufacturer, St. Louis, U.S.A. 
 [From " Employer and Employed" for October 1892.] 
 
 "Had'Mr. Carnegie adopted profit-sharing instead of the 
 sliding-scale, the chances are there would have been no 
 Homestead massacre, and the stoppage of work throughout 
 the country incidental to the strike would have been avoided. 
 Mr. Carnegie adopted the sliding-scale plan, with profit- 
 sharing in mind. He was, at the time, greatly interested 
 in the relation between master and men in all its bearings. 
 He triumphantly eulogised American democracy, American 
 protection, labour unions, arbitration, and co-operation, 
 which is profit-sharing carried to its ultimate conclusion. 
 He not only ventured to hope that complete co-operation 
 would become the industrial system of the future, but, in 
 declaring the proprietor's wealth to be a trust fund, he 
 called upon public sentiment to make it a ' disgrace to die 
 rich.' The gentle aroma of socialism in all this, was more 
 startling then than now. Except for Mr. Carnegie's well- 
 known money-making powers, his four-in-hand coaching 
 tours, and his Scotch head, these declarations might have 
 been set down to a sympathetic familiarity with Plato or 
 More or Godin. The motive in adopting the sliding- 
 scale was good enough. He meant to pay larger wages 
 
PRESS EXTRACTS. 191 
 
 when he got larger prices. There was a bed-rock of selling 
 price and a bed-rock of wages. More price, more pay. 
 Here is the rub. The plan is wages, pure and simple ; but 
 the amount of the wages varies according to the market 
 price of the product. It embodies no element of profit- 
 sharing. The increase of wages is due to causes upon 
 which the workman has no influence whatever. Whether 
 he or his fellows do well or ill, work carefully or slovenly, 
 rapidly or slowly, it has no effect on the tonnage rate paid 
 him. As he is paid by weight, these differences affect the 
 amount he will receive; but they do so no more under 
 the sliding-scale than under any piece-work system. As to 
 the general results, the actual profits of the business, the 
 workman has no interest. As to his own output, the slight 
 increase in the rate per ton could have no effect on the 
 character of his work. A piece-work man works his hardest, 
 and he cannot be speeded up by adding two cents or five 
 cents to the dollar of schedule. 
 
 " One essential of profit-sharing is that the earner's share 
 is saved up. He does not get it day by day. The most 
 serious evil that surrounds the wages system is the facility 
 afforded for spending every copper that is earned. A wage- 
 earner is relieved of all responsibility outside of the par- 
 ticular work which is provided for him. He can rent a 
 house, and buy furniture on the instalment plan, or rent it 
 at 5 per cent, a month. He can supply every want that his 
 week's wages will cover, and a little more, by paying high 
 prices for credit purchases. He can buy every variety of 
 amusement. He gets his pay every Saturday night; and 
 with all their worldly possessions in their pockets, it will be 
 none but exceptional men who will of their own voluntary 
 determination hunt up a place in which to lay by money 
 
IQ2 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 which it is so convenient and so agreeable to spend at once. 
 Profit-sharing hoards up till the end of the year, and it then 
 offers some tangible and attractive plan of investment. 
 There is nothing of this in the sliding-scale. I^ r ^* >T her 
 wages, but still only wages, to be spent as wages are. 
 
 " The sliding-scale applies to but a small fraction of the 
 whole force, usually not more than five to eight in a hundred. 
 Those who benefit by it are only the skilled men ; those 
 who manipulate the expert processes are highly paid. The 
 mass of the workers are excluded. There is no recognition 
 of mutuality, no fusion of interests, no co-operation. It 
 does not touch the rank and filei It applies to the very 
 portion which neither requires it as a spur, nor deserves it 
 as justice. The men to whom it does apply are paid by 
 weight ; and the incentive of increased pay, by reason of 
 increased production, will inevitably hold them up to their 
 utmost efforts. Of a thousand men, 950, embracing 
 every variety of labour, earning from $1.25 a day upward, 
 go moping around at a snail's pace, doing the least 
 amount of work that will hold the job, anxious to make 
 work for as many as possible, and utterly indifferent whether 
 a slight breakdown stops a thousand men for an hour, or 
 whether oil, coal, and waste are saved or squandered. There 
 is no inducement on the part of either those who share in 
 the sliding-scale, or those who do not, to economise in 
 material or improve in methods. Every improvement in 
 machinery implies a corresponding reduction in the scale at 
 the next settlement day. Why should the worker facilitate 
 or welcome economical contrivances ? His interest is con- 
 fined to his own day's wages, and his employer's or his 
 fellow's income is no concern of his. 
 
 " The highest value of profit-sharing lies in its influence in 
 
PRESS EXTRACTS. 193 
 
 bringing proprietor and employee together. It breaks down 
 the t wall which separates them. It teaches them that con- 
 structive co-operation is better than destructive opposition. 
 Whe^ a -'itually satisfactory plan of apportionment of profits 
 is reacheu, and this is not difficult, then mutual interest 
 is self-evident. The tendency becomes inevitable to make 
 the most of united effort. Under the sliding-scale, it is not 
 pretended that one workman or all the workmen can in the 
 slightest degree affect the sum out of which the increased 
 pay comes. In profit-sharing every man knows that he and 
 his fellow-employee can and do affect their individual 
 incomes. Individual interest and common interest are 
 bound up together. Proprietor and employee alike know 
 that indifference reacts upon themselves. If there is any 
 truth in the asserted superiority of free labour, then there is 
 superiority in interested labour. 
 
 "Had Mr. Carnegie adopted a liberal system of profit- 
 sharing, what would have been the result ? To skilled men 
 he would have paid the Association rate of wages prevalent 
 throughout the country, and to ordinary mechanics and 
 labourers the day rate current in the Pittsburg district. 
 During the six years in question the steel industry has been, 
 on the average, highly profitable. It has been protected by 
 an import duty, and home competition has been forestalled 
 by combinations. A liberal dividend could have been paid 
 upon wages, perhaps as much as 10 per cent., without 
 reducing the earnings of capital below a rate at which an 
 abundance of it would gladly seek investment. 
 
 " In large industrial operations, such as railroads and iron 
 works, services are apt to be extremely slipshod and waste- 
 ful. It is more than probable that, after dividends had 
 been paid for a year or two, the extra earnings due to 
 
 13 
 
194 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 superior care and alacrity would yield a good dividend to 
 wages without drawing anything whatever from the ordinary 
 earnings of capital. 
 
 " Profit-sharing would have exactly suited the theory of 
 stewardship which Mr. Carnegie promulgated. It would 
 have increased the income of all his fifteen thousand men by 
 a sum which would have enabled them to live in better 
 houses, eat better food, and send their children more to 
 school. For the libraries and art galleries to which his 
 millions have been diverted, these men have no adaptability ; 
 nor will their children have, if they are brought up under 
 the average mill conditions. 
 
 " Not only are more pay and steadier work prime con- 
 ditions in the safety and improvement of society ; a fuller 
 recognition of mutual duties and equal rights is demanded. 
 Profit-sharing is a beginning of democracy in business, 
 through which we may find the way out of war into peace. " 
 
 3. ON THE ATTITUDE OF SOME SOCIALISTS TOWARDS 
 EMPLOYERS. 
 
 [From the "Christian Socialist" for November 1890.] 
 
 "An Employer" writes : "A few months ago I wrote to 
 a friend who has very advanced views on labour subjects, 
 asking him if he would attend a then forthcoming meeting 
 of the Christian Socialist Society. His reply was to this 
 effect, ' I cannot very well attend the meeting of the 
 Christian Socialist Society; the fact is, the language of 
 these people is so violent and their economics so unsound, 
 that I don't think it worth one's while to trouble about them.' 
 I wish to leave out of discussion entirely the reference to 
 the ' economics ' of Christian Socialists, and to ask, with all 
 
PRESS EXTRACTS. 195 
 
 respect, whether there is any justification for the foregoing 
 criticism of their ' language ' ? 
 
 " In an article on * Centres of Influence, Bristol,' in your 
 September number, I read words which called to my mind 
 this criticism. Take this sentence, for example, ' A beautiful 
 West End with palatial residences, etc., where they dwell 
 who neither toil nor spin ; hovels in courts and alleys for 
 those who do all the toiling and spinning.' I suppose that 
 more than half of the West End residences referred to are 
 tenanted by * employers.' So that the clear teaching of this 
 passage is that the hand-workers do all the essential work 
 of the world, and that the employers the leaders and 
 organisers of industry do none. 
 
 " Now, I have no wish to attempt to magnify the import- 
 ance of my own class. Doubtless, many employers fail to 
 discharge their duties ; perhaps these duties will be better 
 done when ' the good time coming ' has evolved a substitute 
 for the ' employer ' class. But, meanwhile, is the Christian 
 Socialist writer's teaching true to existing facts ? 
 
 " I was in Bristol a short time ago, and I had occasion 
 to call upon a manufacturer who lives in one of the ' West 
 End residences ' referred to. He excused himself for being 
 too tired to discuss the business I had called upon, on the 
 ground that he had been up all night trying to get one of 
 the blocked pumps at the works started. 
 
 " A few days before, I was staying a night at a London 
 'West End residence.' The gentleman of the house 'did 
 not get back from business for dinner till 10.45, an d at 
 11.45 ne was off to catch the midnight train to Manchester, 
 where he had business all the following day. This manu- 
 facturer during his busy time sometimes worked from 10 A.M. 
 to 2 A.M., employing a double shift of shorthand writers. 
 
196 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 " I do not mean to adduce the cases of these employers 
 as typical of their class (or to hold up their action for 
 admiration), but surely it is unwise to ignore the fact that 
 the sum of the exertion of many employers equals if it does 
 not exceed that of any of their employees, for brain-work 
 is generally more exhausting than hand labour. The 
 employer's 'profits' are, under normal conditions, his 
 piece-work wages for management. Those employers 
 who are familiar with Schiller's Lay of the Bell will, I 
 imagine, frequently find themselves repeating with feeling 
 the lines 
 
 ' Ledig alter Pfticht 
 
 Hort der Bursch die Vesper schlagen: 
 
 Meister muss sich immer plagen. ' 
 
 " I hope that I do not under-estimate the blackness of 
 our social evils. It is because I want my fellow-employers 
 and others to be aroused, and because I feel persuaded 
 that exaggeration, and still more, misstatement, repels 
 rather than attracts, that I venture to write thus. The 
 value and ability of the Christian Socialist articles are un- 
 doubtedly great ; one other feature the lay mind desiderates, 
 ' The rhetoric of under-statement.' " 
 
 " NOTES" BY THE EDITOR OF THE "CHRISTIAN SOCIALIST." 
 
 "In another column will be found a letter from an 
 employer of labour, in which he asks if it is the case that 
 Christian Socialists use violent language. Let me inform the 
 readers of this journal, by the way, that the writer of that 
 letter is a really good fellow, and a man who honestly 
 desires to know and to do his duty. Any criticism he passes 
 on us should be taken in good part, for it is well meant. 
 
PRESS EXTRACTS. 197 
 
 " As regards the point raised by our friendly critic, whether 
 it is right for some of us to say that the employing class 
 does nothing for the good of the community, whilst the 
 working class does everything, I think that he is wrong in 
 his way of putting things. No Socialist denies that many 
 capitalists are at present workers, and no Socialist would 
 prevent them from continuing to be workers. What we 
 object to is their continuing to be capitalists, the monopolists, 
 that is, of certain essential aids to labour in the production 
 of wealth, by letting out which they grew rich without 
 working. It is in the character of usurers, of non-producers 
 they are attacked ; and we must be pardoned for pointing 
 out that they are, as a class, more conspicuous in that 
 character than in any other. 
 
 " But granting that many capitalists are to some extent 
 workers, what has that to do with the real point at issue ? 
 Our friend would ask us to use only the ' rhetoric of under- 
 statement, which is just as hurtful and harmful as the 
 rhetoric of exaggeration. We want exact statement the 
 declaration of the simple truth. Now the truth is that 
 under the present system a man is paid, not for what he 
 does, but for what he has. A small capitalist may toil, say 
 in a little wretched shop, like a galley-slave, but he gets 
 little in return, for he is only a small capitalist. A big 
 capitalist may only indulge in such ' labour ' as signing 
 and endorsing cheques, for an hour or so each day, but 
 great is his reward, for great is his capital. 
 
 "All of which points to the fact that the profits and 
 dividends of the capitalist class are paid to them, not as 
 wages for work done, but as interest on something lent or 
 supposed to be lent by them. It is as usurers they amass 
 money, not as workers, and their best friends are they who 
 
198 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 tell them this. By all means arouse the consciences of the 
 capitalist class, but do not let us allow them to live in a 
 fool's paradise any longer. Better by far that they should 
 realise at once, if that be possible, that as holders of capital 
 they are altogether superfluous persons, who are a burden 
 on the real workers. If they mean to be considered workers, 
 let them come down into the ranks of the workers like the 
 rest of us, and take their pay openly for work fairly and 
 squarely done." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 OBITER DICTA ON LABOUR SUBJECTS. 
 
 i. BEARING OF A BETTER DISTRIBUTION OF THE NATIONAL 
 INCOME UPON THE UNEMPLOYED QUESTION. 
 
 IN attempts to deal with the "Unemployed," the first 
 necessity is, as Mr. John Burns has shown in his remarkable 
 article, 1 to separate the "labouring sheep" from the "loaf- 
 ing goat." Some relief works were started by the Charity 
 Organisation Society in Camberwell, and Mr. Loch told the 
 Labour Commission that about 40 per cent, of the un- 
 employed proved to be either inefficient or unwilling to 
 work. 2 A few years ago, I saw a procession of the unem- 
 ployed in Coventry, which no doubt included some worthy 
 men, but every individual whom I happened to recognise 
 in that procession had to my knowledge shown himself 
 deficient or faulty either physically or morally. On the 
 other hand, recently in Coventry, there have been numbers 
 of good, steady workmen in sad necessities, and I should 
 hope that Mr. Loch's proportion would not apply to the 
 unemployed generally ; in fact, the proportion must neces- 
 sarily be a varying one. It may be anticipated that, as the 
 general standard of living and education rises, the propor- 
 tion of inefficients will steadily fall. 
 
 1 Nineteenth Century, December 1892. 
 
 2 Evidence for Nov. 30, 1892. Ques. 5853 W. 
 
200 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 One is constrained to think that the demand exists for the 
 goods which the unemployed could make, and that there 
 is capital sufficient in the country to provide the means to 
 satisfy that demand. The mischief seems to be that the 
 wealth is not in the hands of those whose demand for 
 goods would give occupation to the unemployed. 1 
 
 The prominent facts are these (i) There are the piles 
 of capital in Lombard Street, piles which confer upon their 
 owners such an anxious problem as to how they may be 
 invested or used ; and (2) there is an enormous demand, 
 at present largely " ineffective," for clothing, houses, etc., 
 on the part of the multitude. Then there are so many 
 hundred thousands of the employed. And so many tens 
 of thousands of the unemployed. 
 
 I do not pretend to be an economist, but would not such 
 methods as profit-sharing, while increasing the remuneration 
 of the employed, tend to help the unemployed ? 
 
 Mention may be made of what, incidentally, came to my 
 knowledge respecting the use made of some of the cash 
 bonuses of our employees. One man used his bonus to 
 buy an overcoat ; another to buy a bicycle ; and another to 
 pay instalments for a house through a building society. 
 So many sovereigns were distributed last autumn. Some 
 represented wealth which would not have been produced 
 but for the stimulus of profit-sharing, and these certainly 
 represent clear gain to the community. The remainder 
 represented pounds which might otherwise have gone to 
 the firm, to be spent in luxuries or in charity, or to add 
 to the piles in Lombard Street. As a matter of fact, some 
 of these sovereigns purchased goods which employed the 
 
 1 Cf. "The Impediment to Production," by Francis Minton, M.A. 
 {Economic Review, October 1891). 
 
OBITER DICTA ON LABOUR SUBJECTS. 201 
 
 tailor and clothmaker for about three days, the cycle artisan 
 for about three weeks, and the building artisan for about 
 six months. 1 So it looks desirable that, by all possible 
 equitable means, the better distribution of the national 
 income should be hastened. To adopt Tennyson's figure : 
 " The mounded heaps must slowly melt in many streams 
 to fatten lower lands." 
 
 It is to the credit of the ordinary British working man 
 that he will not listen to any proposals involving the com- 
 pulsory seizure of property from its present owners. Justice 
 requires that, generally speaking, the actual and bare 
 possessions of present proprietors should be respected ; and 
 they will be respected by the democracy, if the Legislature 
 promptly endeavours to check and to counteract the 
 unfair advantages which capitalists have had during the 
 past hundred years or more. 
 
 2. TECHNICAL EDUCATION FOR THE "ENTREPRENEUR." 
 
 The movement for promoting the technical education of 
 workmen continues to extend the range of its beneficent 
 influence, and there is evidently a need, which comes in 
 fact as a corollary to this movement, for the better in- 
 struction of young employers in the science of management. 
 
 The young employer has, to a very great extent, to 
 depend upon the methods of his father or predecessor in 
 the business. Although he may, if of a progressive nature, 
 constantly devise improvements, he has no means of taking 
 advantage of the accumulated results of the inventions in 
 this sphere of his class. The consequence is, that the 
 " rule of thumb " prevails in many quarters, with the result 
 1 The respective times here quoted are approximately correct. 
 
202 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 that there is a great waste of energy on the part of, presum- 
 ably, the most valuable agent in the industrial concern. 
 In order to illustrate this suggestion, I give the following 
 notes upon subjects which, although doubtlessly familiar 
 and commonplace to many readers, may need the attention 
 of some employers. 
 
 Value of Professional Audit. I have never yet met with 
 a firm who, after having experienced the advantage of an 
 outside audit, wished to go back to the old system. The 
 benefits are manifold, and they distinctly outweigh the 
 comparatively small cost. A manufacturer said to me 
 recently, " If I had only employed an accountant years 
 ago, I should have been a rich man to-day." There is 
 no doubt that many " failures " occur through imperfect 
 book-keeping. Unnecessary temptation is also placed in 
 the way of employees by the lack of an efficient system of 
 audit. 
 
 In the event of bankruptcy, the employees of a firm are 
 almost certain to suffer through loss of employment. It 
 would be quite in accord with the trend of recent legislation 
 if some disability were placed upon employers who neglect 
 this reasonable and economical safeguard. Masters now 
 run the risk of penalties if they do not take all reasonable 
 precautions with respect to the state of their boilers. It is 
 probable that, except as regards direct physical suffering, as 
 much distress amongst employees is sometimes caused by 
 a large failure as by an ordinary boiler explosion. A step 
 in the right direction would be made if the Bankruptcy Law 
 were amended, so as to provide that a debtor could not be 
 granted his discharge, or be entitled to make any binding 
 arrangement with his creditors, for a certain number of years 
 (say, seven) if he had not, prior to the failure, been in the 
 
OBITER DICTA ON LABOUR SUBJECTS. 203 
 
 habit of having his accounts duly audited by a chartered 
 accountant. 
 
 Payments and Receipts. Some employers lose a great deal 
 of time by paying their accounts at irregular times. The 
 adoption of a fixed monthly pay day is a great economical 
 gain. Prior to this pay day, the Bough t-ledger clerk can 
 check and arrange all statements, and write out the cheques, 
 a course which leaves to the employer only perhaps halt 
 an hour's work in appending his signature. A separate 
 cheque-book can, of course, be kept for private payments. 
 
 Firms may be strongly advised to pay all their cash 
 receipts into a bank. The consequent saving of time and 
 trouble will astonish any firm which has not hitherto tried 
 this plan, and will largely counterbalance the slight extra 
 charge incurred for bank commission. 
 
 Shorthand Clerks and Typewriting. Perhaps the most 
 valuable office development of the present day lies in the 
 improved methods for conducting correspondence. In 
 writing a letter, one's brain is contemporaneously concerned 
 with two operations the origination of matter, and the 
 mechanical recording of it on paper. The saving of nerve 
 force when the latter operation is done by an outside agent 
 is great. 
 
 The typewriting machine was in general use in America 
 for some years before it obtained a good footing here. The 
 advantages of the instrument are now found to be so great 
 that one would welcome some system which would popularise 
 such inventions at an accelerated rate. 1 
 
 Through the adoption of the foregoing improvements 
 
 1 Some useful hints may be taken from " Oxborrow and Money-Kent's 
 Universal Office Manual." ( W. S. Oxborrow & Co., Public Accountants, 
 17 Victoria Street, London, S.W. 5*. 6d. post free.) 
 
204 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 during the last five years, I estimate using a large degree 
 of caution that the time occupied by my routine duties has 
 been lessened by at least 25 per cent. If the economy of 
 employer's energy consequent upon the good-will of the 
 staff be included in the estimate such subjects as profit- 
 sharing would, of course, come within the range of the 
 desiderated education l the contrast would be much 
 greater. 
 
 Suggestions on several other matters of administrative 
 technique will be found in the Appendix, p. 255. 
 
 1 In Paris there is an institution for commercial education the 
 " Ecole Pratique de Commerce et de Comptabilite," at Rue Rivolli, 
 No. 53 ; established in 1850 by M. Pigier. A favourable notice may 
 be seen in The Counting- House for Nov. 1892. (Raithby, Lawrence, 
 &Co.) 
 
CONTENTS TO APPENDIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COPY OF PROFIT-SHARING RULES (T. BUSHILL & SONS), . 206 
 FORMS FOR NECESSARY ACCOUNT BOOKS, . . .213 
 
 COPY OF "EQUITABLE CHARGE" (SECURITY FOR PROVI- 
 DENT FUND), ...... 216 
 
 REMAINDER OF BALLOT OPINIONS RESPECTING PROFIT- 
 SHARING, ....... 218 
 
 "COVENTRY TIMES" ON THE LABOUR COMMISSION, . 231 
 
 GENERAL FORM FOR SIMPLE PROFIT-SHARING, . . 233 
 
 LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING, ETC., . 238 
 
 RULES OF WORKS (T. BUSHILL & SONS), . . . 240 
 
 NOTICES TO EMPLOYEES RESPECTING FEES, HOLIDAYS, 
 
 ETC., . . .245 
 
 RULES OF SICK AND BENEVOLENT FUNDS, . . 247 
 
 SANITARY AND OTHER FACTORY RECOMMENDATIONS, . 255 
 INDEX, ........ 259 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 RULES OF THE BONUS AND PROVIDENT 
 FUND SCHEME. 
 
 Established in 1888 on a Profit-Sharing Basis by Thomas Bushill 
 & Sons, Manufacturing Stationers , Coventry, for the benefit of 
 their Employees. 
 
 (i.) Method of Profit- Sharing. From and after the ist 
 of September 1888, the surplus (if any) of the clear profits 
 of the business beyond such definite sum as is for the time 
 being reserved to the firm for their own benefit (herein- 
 after referred to as the " Reserved Limit " ) shall be divided 
 into two equal parts : one thereof to be distributed gratuit- 
 ously as a bonus to the employees in the manner defined 
 /by these rules, and the other to be retained by the firm. 
 
 (2.) The " Reserved Limit '." The present Reserved Limit 
 has been communicated confidentially to Mr. Charles J. 
 Angus, 43 Finsbury Circus, London, E.G., Chartered 
 Accountant, and will not be altered for the first three years 
 if the scheme so long subsists. Thereafter it may be raised 
 or reduced by the firm, but (unless altered during some 
 month of September) not so as to affect the distribution of 
 profits for the financial year current at the time of the 
 alteration. Notice of any alteration will be given to the 
 employees in such manner as to let them know how far 
 such alteration would have affected the last preceding dis- 
 tribution had it then been in force. 
 
 (3.) Accountant's Certificate. The amount (if any) avail- 
 
COPY OF PROFIT-SHARING RULES. 207 
 
 able for distribution will each year be certified by a 
 chartered accountant, and will be communicated to the 
 employees. 
 
 V" (4.) Qualifications for Profit -Sharing. The employees 
 entitled to share in the profits for any financial year are 
 such only as at the commencement of such year on the ist 
 day of September were members of the sick club, and have 
 on or before that date delivered to the firm's cashier for the 
 time being a certificate or other satisfactory evidence of 
 age, and a request to be entered on the list of profit- 
 sharers. 
 
 (5.) Duration of Scheme. The scheme is to continue in 
 force only until the firm give notice to the employees 
 putting an end thereto; but such notice, unless giving 
 during some month of September, will not take effect until 
 thejend of the financial year current at the time it is given. 
 \^(6.) Method of Distribution. The employees' share of 
 profits accruing in each financial year is (subject as after 
 mentioned) to be distributed among them in proportion to 
 their respective salaries or wages at the commencement of 
 such year, taken for one week, exclusive (i) of premiums, 
 overtime, or other variable allowances ; or (2) of loss caused 
 by short time. As to employees who are piece-workers, 
 such week's wages in the case of each such worker is to be 
 arrived at (exclusively as aforesaid) by averaging the wages 
 earned by him during the last month of the preceding 
 financial year. In making any year's distribution it shall 
 be permissible to the firm to carry forward undivided to the 
 credit of the following year's employees' share of profits any 
 sum which, if divided, would have given to them less than 
 one week's wages calculated as aforesaid. 
 
 (7.) Employees' Reserve Fund. (a.) If in any year the 
 employees' share of profits should exceed such sum as 
 would, if divided, give a bonus to them equivalent to six 
 weeks' wages (that is, six times the amount of the one week 
 mentioned in Rule 6), the surplus above such sum shall go 
 to form an employees' reserve fund. 
 
 (b.) This fund will remain in the hands of the firm, bear- 
 
208 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 ing interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, and may 
 be applied, at the discretion of the firm, in aid of a subse- 
 quent year's distribution. 
 
 (<r.) If any such year's surplus should not be so applied 
 within five years of its transference to the reserve fund, 
 the same, with interest thereon, shall, at the end of such 
 five years, be allotted to the provident funds of such of the 
 employees as shall then be in the employ of the firm 
 (subject as after mentioned) under the title " Bonus from 
 Reserve." 
 
 (a 7 .) No employee shall be entitled to benefit by any 
 " bonus from reserve " who was not a profit-sharer for the 
 year in which the money allotted in reserve bonus was 
 earned. 
 
 (e.) The allotment shall be made in proportion to the 
 respective wages or salaries of the employees sharing in the 
 allotment (computed in accordance with Rule 6) for the 
 year in which the money allotted was earned. 
 
 (f.) It shall be permissible to the firm at their discretion 
 to allot a " bonus from reserve " at an earlier date than 
 provided for in clause (c) of this rule. 
 
 (g.) The accounts of this fund (whenever any monies 
 stand therein) will be audited yearly by a chartered 
 accountant, and submitted (confidentially) to the firm's 
 cashier for the time being. 
 
 (8.) Treatment of Bonus. The share of the profits 
 accruing to each employee (hereinafter called " Bonus ") is 
 to be divided into three equal parts one of these will be 
 paid over to him within two months of the end of the 
 financial year, and the other two parts will be credited to 
 him in the books of the firm as a provident fund for his 
 benefit. There will be delivered to him a pass-book in 
 which the account of his provident fund will be entered, 
 and which must be produced when any payment from it is 
 demanded. 
 
 (9.) Employees Leaving. An employee whose service ends 
 by notice given on either side, by illness, or by death, will 
 have a right to bonus for the financial year in which his 
 
COPY OF PROFIT-SHARING RULES. 209 
 
 service ends in proportion to the portion of the year elapsed 
 to the end of the month preceding the end of his service. 
 Any employee leaving under circumstances other than 
 before mentioned shall lose such right. Any sum lost to 
 an employee under this rule does not accrue to the firm, 
 but goes wholly to increase the distribution to the other 
 employees. 
 
 (10.) Proviso in event of Damage or Embezzlement. If an 
 employee ceases to be in the service of the firm upon or by 
 reason of any act or default on his part causing loss or 
 damage to the firm, or is at the time indebted to the firm, 
 his provident fund shall be applied to making good such 
 loss or damage or to payment of such debt. If the act be 
 embezzlement or felony, his provident fund shall be wholly 
 and absolutely forfeited, and shall be applied, subject as 
 before mentioned, to such purpose, beneficial to the 
 employees generally, as may be determined upon by the 
 Consulting Committee (formed under Rule 20). Whenever 
 this rule is called into operation, the circumstances of the 
 case will be reported to the said Consulting Committee. 
 
 (n.) As to Withdrawal of Provident Fund. Subject as 
 after mentioned, no employee shall be entitled to withdraw 
 /any portion of his provident fund. 
 
 / (12.) As to Withdrawal after Leaving. Subject to Rule 
 10, if an employee during his life ceases to be in the service 
 of the firm from any cause, he shall remain entitled to his 
 provident fund, but he, or any person claiming from or 
 under him, shall not be entitled to withdraw it until such 
 time as, if he had continued in the service of the firm, he 
 would have been so entitled under Rule 13; provided, 
 however, that he may be voted earlier payment if the firm 
 and the Consulting Committee (formed under Rule 20) 
 should be of opinion that exceptional circumstances, exist- 
 , ing in his case, make such earlier payment advisable. 
 
 / (13.) On attaining Sixty-five Years of Age^ or completing 
 Twenty-five Years of Service. An employee on attaining the 
 age of sixty-five years, or completing twenty-five years of 
 continuous service, may, on the following 3ist day of 
 
210 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 December, receive his provident fund accruing during that 
 period. In reckoning the twenty-five years' service to the 
 firm or predecessors of the firm, commencing at any time 
 since the ist of January 1880 is to be included, but not 
 service while under the age of twenty-one years. Any such 
 employee, notwithstanding receiving his provident fund, if 
 he continues on in the service of the firm, will, as to future 
 bonuses and otherwise, have the benefit of and be subject 
 to these rules. 
 
 I/ (14.) In Case of Marriage. A female employee, who, 
 after leaving the service of the firm, marries, may thereupon 
 claim an immediate payment of her provident fund. 
 
 t/ (15.) In Case of Death. If an employee dies, his legal 
 personal representatives will be entitled to immediate 
 payment of his provident fund. 
 
 (/ (16.) Claims to be in Writing. In every case where an 
 employee or any person claims payment, such claims shall 
 be in writing, and delivered to the firm's cashier for the 
 time being. 
 
 v (17.) In Case Scheme is Discontinued. If the firm should 
 put an end to the scheme, the provident funds of all the 
 employees will become payable to them on the 3ist day of 
 /December following. 
 
 v (18.) Interest on Provident Funds. The provident fund 
 of each employee will, while the same remains in the hands 
 of the firm, be credited with interest at the rate of 4 per 
 cent, per annum, but no interest will be allowed for any 
 fraction of a financial year. The firm may, if they choose, 
 deposit the provident fund of any employee or part of such 
 fund in a savings bank, in which case the amount deposited 
 is to be credited with such interest only as may be allowed 
 by the savings bank. 
 
 (19.) Security given for Provident Funds. The firm will 
 give security upon property of ample value for all monies 
 from time to time belonging to the employees' provident 
 funds, or so much thereof as may be remaining in their hands. 
 (20.) Consulting Committee. The Sick Club Committee 
 are to form a Consulting Committee under this scheme for 
 
COPY OF PROFIT-SHARING RULES. 211 
 
 the firm to consult with on any question affecting any 
 employee, or arising under these rules, on which the firm 
 may desire assistance ; nevertheless the ultimate decision of 
 every question is to rest with the firm. 
 
 (21.) Partnership not Conferred. The employees or any 
 of them will have neither the rights nor liabilities of 
 partnership, nor are they or any of them to intermeddle or 
 be concerned in the management of the business or the 
 book-keeping or accounts of the firm. 
 
 (22.) Giving of Notices. Notices or communications to 
 the employees are to be deemed effectually given or made, 
 if given or made in writing to the Consulting Committee 
 (formed under Rule 20). 
 
 (23.) Alteration of Rules. Alterations or modifications of 
 these rules which experience may suggest as desirable 
 may from time to time be made by the firm; but such 
 changes, unless made during some month of September, 
 are not to take effect until the end of the financial year 
 current at the time they are made, nor are any such 
 changes to take effect retrospectively, so as to affect the 
 amount of the provident fund at the time they are made 
 of any employee. Notice of every such change will be 
 given pursuant to Rule 22. 
 
 (24.) Definitions. In these rules, unless there be some- 
 thing in the subject or context requiring a different con- 
 struction, words importing the masculine gender include 
 also females. 
 
 "Firm" includes the present members of the firm, as 
 also any person or persons succeeding to the business, 
 whether such person or persons shall be the present 
 members, or one or more of them, together with any other 
 person or persons, or of any other person or persons only. 
 
 "Business" means the business of the firm, whatever 
 changes may take place in the nature or branches of such 
 business, or places where the same is carried on. 
 
 "Sick Club" means the Cow Lane Steam Works Sick 
 Club, and " Sick Club Committee " the committee for the 
 time being of such club. 
 
212 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 "Financial Year" means the year from the ist of 
 September to the ist of September. 
 
 "Scheme" includes all relations between the firm and 
 employees under these rules. 
 
 " Continuous Service " as also any analogous expression, 
 means (notwithstanding temporary absences) the whole 
 period during which the relation of employer and em- 
 ployee virtually subsists and there is no dismissal. 
 
 " Provident Fund " includes additions thereto under 
 Rule 7 and of interest. 
 
 Revised Rules 
 Dated this 3oth day of September 1891. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 THOMAS BUSHILL & SONS. 
 
 [FORM OF REQUEST, UNDER RULE 4.] 
 
 Pass-Book No 
 
 18 
 
 To Messrs. Thomas Bushill & Sons, 
 Coventry. 
 
 I beg to request you to place my name on the list of 
 profit-sharers, and I hereby agree to accept the Rules for 
 the time being of the Firm's Bonus and Provident Fund 
 Scheme. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Name (in full) 
 
 Address (in full) 
 
 Date of Birth 
 
FORMS FOR NECESSARY ACCOUNT BOOKS. 213 
 
 
 
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 SECTIO 
 
 NAME. 
 
 CQ Q fc W 
 < U W 
 
 -ription ofBook.-ioo leave 
 inary date, rate, and doubl 
 ns given above (not printec 
 \ firm with 200 employees, 
 Der, about iys. 6d.).] 
 .The calculation of the 
 
 
 fc 
 
 M (S CO 
 
 w 
 
 11 1 
 
214 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 COPY OUTSIDE OF COVER OF PASS-BOOK. 
 
 Pass-Book No 
 
 Name 
 
 Address l 
 
 EMPLOYEES' PROVIDENT FUND. 
 
 Established in 18 by 
 
 No payment on this account can be made until the 
 times specified in the Rules, or without the production of 
 pass-book. 
 
 If this book be lost, a fine of 2s. 6d. will have to be paid 
 before a new book is furnished. 
 
 All pass-books must be handed to the Firm's Cashier for 
 making up on the pay day before Christmas day. 
 
 Note. No claim to the Participant's Provident Fund 
 by any person, whether holding this pass-book or other- 
 wise, will be recognised by the Firm, except subject to their 
 Rules. 
 
 [Description. Size, fcap. 8vo (6f by 4); 16 pages in 
 all. First six pages giving the printed rules. Next ten 
 pages ruled, date, rate, and money column. Good paper. 
 Durable cover. (Cost of 250 about 2, 16^.)] 
 
 1 Any change of address must be at once notified to cashier 
 
FORMS FOR NECESSARY ACCOUNT BOOKS. 215 
 
 COPY INSIDE OF COVER OF PASS-BOOK. 
 No 
 
 Name 
 
 Born 
 
 Admitted to Participation, . . . Sept. i, 18 
 Payment due 
 
 If a female (under Rule 14), immediately after 
 
 marriage. 
 
 After 25 years' service (under Rule 13), Dec. 31, 18 
 After attaining age of 65 years, . . Dec. 31, 18 
 Upon death (under Rule 15). 
 
 (Signature of Firm) 
 
 PROVIDENT FUND APPLICATION FORM. 
 To Messrs. 
 
 I beg to apply for the payment of the Provident Fund, 
 
 No , belonging to 
 
 Name 
 
 Address 
 
 Reason for applying. 
 
 Signature- 
 Address 
 
 Claim made as. 
 Date 1 8 
 
 (This Receipt Form not to be filled up until money is received.) 
 
 RECEIVED the sum of Pounds shillings 
 
 pence in full and final discharge of the Provident 
 
 Fund above described. 
 
 .18 
 
COPY OF EQUITABLE CHARGE." 
 
 FOR SECURING PROVIDENT FUNDS OF THE EMPLOYEES OF 
 THOMAS BUSHILL & SONS. DECEMBER 28, 1888. 
 
 AGREEMENT made the twenty-eighth day of December 
 one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight between Ann 
 Bushill, of the city of Coventry, widow of the first part ; 
 Thomas William Bushill and Newsome Bushill, both of 
 the same city, and with the said Ann Bushill, trading in 
 partnership together as manufacturing stationers at the said 
 city, under the style or firm of "Thomas Bushill & Sons," 
 of the second part ; and Charles Philetus Newman, of the 
 said city, bank manager, and John Hine Sharp, of the said 
 city, cashier to the said Thomas Bushill & Sons, of the 
 third part. Whereas the said Thomas Bushill & Sons 
 (hereinafter called "the Firm") have established a bonus 
 and provident fund scheme for the benefit of their 
 employees, under certain printed rules, dated the thirty-first 
 day of October last. And whereas it is provided in Rule 19 
 of the said rules that the provident fund of each employee 
 would, while the same remained in the hands of the firm, 
 be credited with interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, 
 computed as therein mentioned, and Rule 20 requires that 
 the firm shall give security upon property of ample value for 
 all monies from time to time belonging to the Employees' 
 Provident Funds, or so much thereof as might be remaining 
 in the hands of the firm. And whereas it has been agreed 
 between the said Ann Bushill, Thomas William Bushill, and 
 Newsome Bushill that the said Ann Bushill shall, for and 
 on behalf of the firm, and in conformity with the said rules 
 
COPY OF "EQUITABLE CHARGE." 217 
 
 give such security as hereinafter expressed, and the said 
 Charles Philetus Newman and John Hine Sharp have, at 
 the request of the firm, consented to be trustees in respect 
 of such security for the employees of the firm from time to 
 time entitled to the benefit of such security. ' 
 
 Now it is witnessed that in consideration of the premises, 
 the said Ann Bushill hereby subjects and charges her estate 
 in fee simple of, and in the hereditaments described in the 
 schedule hereunder, written with the payment to the said 
 Charles Philetus Newman and John Hine Sharp, their 
 executors and administrators, as trustees as aforesaid of the 
 principal sums . . . now in the hands of the firm, and all 
 further principal sums which shall from time to time accrue 
 under the recited or referred to rules, and be in the hands 
 of the firm, and being or belonging to the respective 
 provident funds of their respective employees, under the 
 said rules, and also interest at the rate of 4 per cent, per 
 annum, computed according to the said rules upon the 
 respective sums from time to time, standing to the credit of 
 the said respective provident funds, in the respective books 
 thereof, while the same respectively remain in the hands of 
 the firm or upon so much of the said respective sums as so 
 remain. As witness the hands of the said parties hereto 
 the day and year first above written 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS (REMAINDER) OF 
 EMPLOYEES ON PROFIT-SHARING. 1 
 
 [COPY OF ENQUIRY FORM.] 
 COW LANE PRINTING WORKS, COVENTRY. 
 
 The Employees' Consulting Committee hears with 
 satisfaction (November i, 1892) that the "Royal Commis- 
 sion on Labour," now sitting, is seeking evidence as to the 
 success or non-success of the profit-sharing system, and 
 with a view to secure a free and independent expression of 
 opinion from each adult employee, they propose : 
 
 " That a paper be given out on Saturday, November 1 2, 
 to each employee above the age of twenty-one, on 
 which he may write briefly (in ink) his opinion from 
 his own point of view : 
 I. Of the principle of profit-sharing. 
 II. Of the results here (no figures to be mentioned). 
 III. Of the details of our system." 
 Own handwriting not necessary, and no name to be 
 signed. A free expression is invited. 
 
 If any one wishes to express an opinion on the Shortened 
 Hours, the space on the back of this paper should be used. 
 For further explanation, see p. 151. 
 
 MEN. 
 
 (8.) My opinion of the principle of profit-sharing is that it 
 is a thorough sound principle, and in my opinion is to a great 
 extent the real solution of the labour and old age questions. 
 1 Ballot opinions, Nos. 1-7, will be found on pp. 30 and 36. 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 219 
 
 The result here has been very satisfactory indeed, both 
 with the work done and the bonus shared. 
 
 So far as I am able to judge, the details of our system is 
 very practical ; and I think the whole matter of principle, 
 results, and system may be summed up as decidedly pro bono 
 publico. 
 
 (9.) Of the Principle of Profit- Sharing. A principle which, 
 if carried out by all manufacturers throughout the country, 
 would bind master and man together in unity, peace, and 
 concord. Master would be sympathising with his man, where- 
 as man would feel it his duty and also pleasure to do what 
 he could for his master's interest. 
 
 Of the Results here. At our own workshop the results 
 already accomplished are very encouraging ; when a man 
 knows that at a certain age (when he is not able to work no 
 more) that he has a little by that he can obtain at that age, 
 the encouragement he will feel gives him more energy and 
 strength to work more for that end. 
 
 (10.) Of the Principle. A thoroughly sound commercial 
 principle, and the most practical solution of the problem 
 relating to capital and labour of the present day. 
 
 Of the Results here. Increased wages to the operatives. 
 Provision for advanced age that in most cases would never 
 have been made. Lessened friction in the working out of 
 the year's results amongst the labourers. A sense in the 
 individual of responsibility to the whole. A thoroughly 
 sound relationship between employer and employed, and 
 an utter absence of antagonism or the spirit of it in any 
 department. 
 
 Of the Details. Entirely free from binding clauses of an 
 obnoxious character, and in that freedom possessing the 
 real guarantee of success and its greatest safeguard from 
 outside influence of any kind. 
 
 (11.) The principle of profit-sharing is that all (both 
 employers and employees) may participate as far as 
 practicable in the profits accruing from any business or 
 employment. 
 
220 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 Profit-sharing is very beneficial to all right-minded people 
 both as regards employers and workpeople. It gives en- 
 couragement to the employees to show that they feel 
 their employers' kindness and consideration by their more 
 constant and careful attention and also extra energy in their 
 work, and I consider the results so far very satisfactory. 
 
 (12.) I think profit-sharing is one of the best connections 
 between employer and employee. 
 
 The results of profit-sharing are very plain in the work as 
 being more work done, and with much more satisfaction 
 than before ; there is much less waste of time, more care 
 with material, and generally more satisfaction in seeing 
 something returned after the year's work, and to know that 
 there is a certain amount put by for the future. 
 
 The bonus is divided into three parts. One part paid 
 into the bank in the employee's name, and two parts retained 
 till having been with the firm twenty-five years, or attain- 
 ing the age of sixty-five years. I think the age of sixty-five 
 years would be better altered to fifty-five, as sixty-five is 
 much above the average life of workers at our trade. 
 
 (13.) The principle of profit-sharing is a very good scheme 
 we ought to be proud of. For one thing, I think it gives us 
 more encouragement to work with more of a will, not only 
 for the benefit of the master, but for ourselves as well ; the 
 results is proved a very good thing, which we all know. Of 
 the details of our system, I hope it will continue the same 
 as is now going en. 
 
 (14.) The principle of profit-sharing to my mind is a step 
 in the right direction to the solving of the social problem. 
 It makes a man feel more interest in his work in that he 
 knows he has an interest, in a certain degree, in the actual 
 profits of his firm besides wages, and by such knowledge 
 makes relations between employer and employee of a more 
 pleasant character. 
 
 The Results here. Without quoting figures, I may say 
 that they are very satisfactory indeed, and I am certain the 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 221 
 
 firm feel as great a pleasure in paying the said share of 
 profits as we employees do in receiving it. 
 
 (15.) Principle of profit-sharing is a form of co-operation 
 between employer and employed, the latter partaking of a 
 certain part of the profits gained year by year (if successful) 
 after interest has been deducted for use of capital. 
 
 Results. After working under the system of profit-sharing 
 for some years, I find it has been the means of making me 
 work more economically, trying to get out the most possible 
 work in the least possible time. It has also been an incen- 
 tive to save, fostering in me ideas of thrift which perhaps 
 I never should have had. 
 
 (16.) The principle of profit-sharing is very good. 
 
 Results. Very good indeed. 
 
 Of the Details. -I think that they could not be better, 
 for they are very good. 
 
 (17.) The principle of profit-sharing is praiseworthy, and 
 when worked on a broad and generous basis is calculated 
 to do a vast amount of good among working people. It 
 establishes a good feeling between employers and employed, 
 encourages thrift, promotes content, peace, and goodwill 
 among all parties concerned. 
 
 The results at our works have doubtless created a desire 
 in many workers to do their work in a more economical 
 yet masterly way than hitherto ; departments work more 
 smoothly towards each other ; and, financially, the results 
 have been most gratifying considering the keen competition. 
 
 Speaking of details, I consider the payment of the cash 
 portion through the savings bank is trouble unnecessary ; 
 it entails a lot of bookwork, while it does not have the effect 
 desired by the promoters upon the participant. At the 
 same time, I much admire the provision of the provident 
 fund, which to my mind is the very best and wisest provision 
 of the whole concern. 
 
 (18.) I. Very good. 
 
 II. Most gratifying. Laying up, as it were, a provision 
 for old age without the strain of present payments. 
 
222 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 III. The system works well here by taking all responsi- 
 bility of management off the workmen's shoulders, leaving 
 him only the pleasure of receiving the amount set aside for 
 his benefit. 
 
 (19.) Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in expressing my 
 opinion on the principle of profit-sharing. The principle is 
 very good, and I only add that other employers of labour 
 would do well to adopt the same. 
 
 As to the result here during the last four years, has done 
 much good both to employers and employees especially 
 to the latter. As regards details of our system, nothing 
 could give better satisfaction, as it tenders to draw the 
 breach between masters and men, binding both into one 
 common cause ; and to the employees it is especially good, 
 because in many cases it engenders thrift where none 
 existed before. 
 
 It helps the workpeople to interest themselves in their 
 work, knowing it is for their benefit as well as their master's ; 
 at the same time, we esteem our masters more than before, 
 for bringing forward such a grand thing as the present 
 system of profit-sharing. 
 
 (20.) I have much pleasure in expressing my opinion on 
 profit-sharing. The principle is very good, as it helps to 
 bring employers and their employees more in harmony with 
 each other, and causes us to know our employers are 
 thinking of our welfare as well as their own, and I should 
 think causes every employee to give more thought to his 
 work, both in pleasing his employer and for his own benefit. 
 I can only add that other employers of labour would do 
 well to adopt the same. 
 
 As to the results of our profit-sharing it is very good, 
 for it has given us a good start in the bank in the past four 
 years ; and even those who did not think of saving before, 
 it is good encouragement now. And the provident fund is 
 even better, for that provides for old age, which is a great 
 advantage to men. 
 
 Of the Details of our System. That after a certain sum 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 223 
 
 being reserved to the firm for their own benefit, the profit 
 is then divided among the employees one-third in cash, and 
 two-thirds is put into the provident fund for old age. I 
 am sure such a grand scheme will cause us to esteem our 
 employers better than before. 
 
 (21.) The principle of profit-sharing, in my opinion, is a 
 very good thing, tending as it does to make master and 
 employees more closely united. 
 
 The results here up to the present, dating from 1888, is 
 very satisfactory indeed, as since the beginning, in my 
 opinion, the employees seem to work much better 
 together, and also are aware that they are not only serving 
 their master right, but benefiting themselves also. 
 
 In my opinion, the system at work here at the present 
 time is a very good one indeed ; it not only provides for 
 old age, but it also gives an employee an excellent oppor- 
 tunity for trying to put a few pounds by also. 
 
 (22.) I consider the principle of profit-sharing very good. 
 The result, after three years' experience, very satisfactory, 
 and the rules fair and just. 
 
 Am perfectly satisfied with the annual audit. 
 
 (23.) Messrs. T. Bushill & Sons. Gentlemen, My free 
 and honest opinion is that the principle of profit-sharing is 
 decidedly good, and would, I am sure, do well for other 
 employers of labour to do the same. 
 
 As to the results, I am perfectly satisfied. 
 
 (24.) I quite agree with the principle. 
 The results have been quite satisfactory during the last 
 four years. 
 
 The working of the system is very good indeed. 
 
 (25.) Messrs Bushill & Sons, Coventry, Speaking from 
 my point of view on the principle of profit-sharing, I think 
 it is one of the best methods in connecting the employer 
 with the employees, as it not only encourages the employees 
 to study the interests of the firm as they reap part of the 
 
224 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 benefits. So by doing their best for the firm they also 
 help themselves. 
 
 The result of profit-sharing is very satisfactory, as it helps 
 all to a little each year, but also provides for us when we 
 cannot provide for ourselves. And I earnestly hope that, 
 as long as our firm continues, the system will continue. 
 
 (26.) I don't think there is a fault to be found in the 
 principle of profit-sharing, and I am sure the results have 
 been grand. 
 
 (27.) The profit-sharing as worked with us is very good. 
 The working is very satisfactory, and is an excellent scheme 
 for working men. 
 
 It is been a great boon to me, and I have been greatly 
 benefited thereby. 
 
 (28.) I. With regard to the first question, I think that the 
 principle of profit-sharing is an equitable system between 
 master and man. 
 
 II. Perfectly satisfactory. 
 
 III. As far-reaching and in accord to our times as my 
 knowledge goes. 
 
 (29.) I. Very good. 
 
 II. Show a substantial sum for the needs of old age. 
 
 III. Works well all round. 
 
 (30.) The principle of profit-sharing I consider to be one 
 of the best systems ever adopted to benefit the working man, 
 and am very glad it has been adopted by our firm. 
 
 The results during the four years it has been in force have 
 been most satisfactory. 
 
 (31.) The principle of profit-sharing is, I think, a right and 
 just system that the masters of labour ought to go in for. 
 Speaking from my own point of view, I think it is a grand 
 success for the employees of the above firm. 
 
 The results of the above principle is universal to all that 
 partake in it, year by year. We certainly have that part that 
 is due to us, for the extra rush for more work to be done. 
 
 Details of the System. Is to provide for old age; but we 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 225 
 
 have the pleasure of en joying part 01 the profits now, while 
 the greater part is put by for that which I call an old age 
 pension. 
 
 (32.) I. Yes. 
 
 II. When one considers the bonus received by the work- 
 men the result is astonishing, and proves that the workmen 
 only needed some such encouragement to throw all their 
 energies into what they have in hand. 
 
 III. They are decidedly the best rules that have been 
 introduced in profit-sharing. 
 
 (33.) Dear Sir, I have great pleasure to say that I have 
 well please with the profit-sharing for the last four years it 
 his a thing to the workpeople if all Masters Wood do it the 
 Workpeople Wood try to do the Best for his (firm), for his 
 self an his master he must do his Marster good for he Can 
 do his self (good) then. The Profit Corns with Good lock. 
 Twenty six years work and kep good time. 
 
 (34.) Gentlemen, In regards to the whole scheme, I 
 believe that it is a very Grand thing and in the shareing of 
 the profits. I Believe that it does us all good, and not only 
 doing our master good it does ourselves good ; and it gives 
 us more delight of doing our work every time we think of it. 
 And I am sure it gives me a great Favour in writeing a few 
 lines in favouring it. 
 
 (35.) I have much pleasure in expressing my opinion on 
 the principle of profit-sharing, the principle is very good, and 
 I only wish that other employers would do the same. 
 
 As to results of our firm during the past three years, 
 it has done much good both to employers and employed. 
 
 As regards details of our system, nothing could give better 
 satisfaction. It helps the workpeople to take more interest 
 in their work and we respect and esteem our employers 
 more than before, for bringing forward a grand thing as the 
 present system of profit-sharing. 
 
 (36.) Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in expressing 
 my opinion of the principle of profit-sharing. I cannot say 
 
 15 
 
226 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 more than I consider the principle of the above question to 
 be very good I myself feel perfectly satisfied. 
 
 As to the results. Having had four years' experience I 
 feel perfectly satisfied, and I can only add that it has done 
 me much good. 
 
 As to details, I firmly believe them to be very satisfactory 
 indeed, therefore I believe no comment need be made from 
 me. Hoping the above system may be carried on for many 
 years to come. 
 
 (37.) The principle of profit-sharing, I believe, is (i) to 
 encourage the worker to take an interest in his labour; (2) 
 to give him a just share of the results of such labour ; and 
 (3) to establish a better feeling between employer and 
 employed in short, for the benefit of all. 
 
 Of the Results here. An evident desire on the part of 
 those that understand the scheme properly to make the 
 most of both time and material, to do justice to each other, 
 an absence of tyranny and grinding, and a substantial show 
 of the profits at the end of the financial year, honesty, 
 sobriety, and thrift being more conspicuous here over those 
 engaged in non-profit-sharing businesses. 
 
 (38.) The principle of profit-sharing is good, but requires 
 working in the spirit as well as in the letter ; everything 
 should be open, so as to win the confidence of the employee. 
 
 The results here are everything that can be desired, 
 chiefly due to the excellent feeling existing between 
 employers and employed. 
 
 The chief feature of our system is the present payment 
 of part and the deferred payment of remainder in old age, 
 both of which are necessary for the successful working of 
 any profit-sharing scheme, and I would draw the attention 
 of all to the last part, which is the most important. 
 
 (39.) Very good both from the master and man's 
 point of view. It encourages the man to study economy 
 in the shop, and so forms a habit which would make itself 
 felt in his private affairs. 
 
 It has been the means of some being in possession of a 
 
BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 227 
 
 sum, the amount of which they otherwise would never have 
 got together, thus enabling them to purchase some luxury 
 they would never have been able to obtain. Besides which 
 the provident fund has laid by for them a considerable 
 sum. 
 
 (40.) I think profit-sharing is a very good scheme. . . . 
 It is a very good thing to keep masters and workpeople 
 more united, and I think it a very good plan. 
 
 YOUNG WOMEN. 
 
 (41.) I. I have much pleasure in expressing my opinion 
 on the principle of profit-sharing. The system is very good, 
 as it helps to bring employers and their employees more in 
 harmony with each other, and causes us to know our 
 employers are thinking of our welfare as well as their own, 
 and, I should think, causes every employee to give more 
 thought to his work, both in pleasing the employer and for 
 his own benefit. I can only add that other employers of 
 labour would do well to adopt the same. 
 
 II. As to the results of our profit-sharing it is very good, 
 for it has given us a good start in the bank in the past four 
 years. And even those who did not think of saving before, 
 it is good encouragement now, and the provident fund is 
 even better, fur that provides for old age, which is a great 
 advantage to men. And in the case of young women 
 getting married, it will be a start in life for them, for if it 
 is put into the bank it will be encouragement to add more. 
 
 III. Of the details of our system. ... I am sure such 
 a grand scheme will cause us to esteem our employers 
 better than before. 
 
 (42.) To encourage workpeople to take an interest in 
 their master's business for the mutual profit of both. . . . 
 
 (43.) I think the profit-sharing is a very good system. I 
 wish it had begun long ago : I feel a great benefit from it 
 now, but it would have been much better. I think a good 
 many more firms might do the same if they liked to be 
 
228 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 more equal with their employees, and I hope it will be 
 spread all over the country. Our firm has set them a good 
 example. I hope they will follow. From one who thinks 
 much about it. 
 
 (44.) The principle of profit-sharing is highly to be com- 
 mended, as it enables employees to work with a combined 
 will, knowing that it is for their benefit as well as that of 
 the employers. 
 
 The result of the experiment here has, I hope, been as 
 satisfactory to employers as that of employees, and, provid- 
 ing trade is maintained, I think that the future result of the 
 system will surely equal, if not surpass, that of the past. 
 
 The details of this system is excellent, as it encourages 
 thrift, and therefore provides a good source for old age. 
 
 (45.) I think that the present principle, results, and 
 systems are exceedingly good. 
 
 (46.) I will try and give you my opinion of the profit- 
 sharing. I think it is a grand system, and sincerely hope 
 that other firms besides ours will adopt it. It has proved in 
 every way successful to us so far, and hope it will continue 
 to do so in the future. 
 
 From one who is strongly in favour of it. 
 
 (47.) I quite agree with the principle of profit-sharing, 
 and the results have been far better than we anticipated, 
 especially as trade altogether has been so bad. The details 
 of our system are that, after a certain amount of profit, the 
 other is divided into two equal parts, one as a bonus to the 
 employees, and the other to be kept by the firm. 
 
 (48.) Of the Principle of Profit-Sharing. It is in my 
 opinion one of the grandest things that ever was introduced 
 for the working masses. 
 
 Of the Results here. Is to my satisfaction. 
 
 Of the Details of our System. Is in my opinion very 
 satisfactory to all my fellow-workpeople and to myself. 
 
 (49.) I am of opinion that the profit-sharing system, as 
 

 BALLOT OPINIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 229 
 
 carried out at our works, induces and encourages thrift, 
 frugality, and industry on the part of the participants. 
 
 Also that it has helped me and many more to provide 
 ourselves with a good supply of clothing, and also an 
 account in the savings bank which they, or I, otherwise 
 would not have had. 
 
 (50.) The principle is very satisfactory, and the results 
 have been very good. 
 
 (51.) I consider the profit-sharing principle a complete 
 success. 
 
 (52.) I think the principle of profit-sharing a very good 
 one. It keeps employers and employee in touch with each 
 other, and gives them greater confidence towards one 
 another. 
 
 (53.) I think the system of profit-sharing is very good, 
 and the results are satisfactory to me. 
 
 (54.) I fully believe in the system of profit-sharing. It 
 gives encouragement to work with a good-will. 
 
 (55.) I quite agree with the principle of profit-sharing; 
 we have all benefited. We have, year by year, reaped good 
 benefit in the shape of bonuses. 
 
 (56.) I quite agree with the bonus system, and I think 
 it has been quite a success since it started. 
 
 (57.) I. The principle of profit-sharing is very good, and 
 should be carried out in all large establishments. 
 
 II. There is no doubt that it encourages thrift, and 
 stimulates the employee to greater exertions. 
 
 (58.) I. The principle of profit-sharing is very good. 
 Should, in my opinion, be carried out in all large establish- 
 ments. 
 
 II. There is no doubt that it encourages thrift, and 
 stimulates the employee to greater exertions. 
 
 (59.) I. The employee sharing in the clear profit. 
 II. I, speaking for myself, am quite satisfied with the 
 results. 
 
230 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 III. I, as an employee, have proved the bonus a great 
 benefit, and hope it will continue in the future years as it 
 has done in the past. 
 
 (60.) The scheme of the profit-sharing proves very 
 successful and very satisfactory. 
 
 (61.) I entirely agree with the principle of profit-sharing, 
 as I think it is a great encouragement to the workpeople, 
 and also, under our system, tends to encourage thrift. 
 
 (62.) I thoroughly agree with the bonus scheme, and 
 think it is a grand scheme for masters and employees. 
 
 (63.) The employees sharing in the clear profit. The 
 results being very satisfactory. I, as an employee, have 
 proved the bonus a benefit. 
 
 (64.) The scheme of the profit-sharing proves successful 
 and very satisfactory. 
 
 (65.) I quite agree with the profit-sharing system. 
 
 (66.) I believe from what I have seen of the profit- 
 sharing system, it has proved very beneficial to the 
 employees, as it is the means of a little money being saved, 
 which, in the majority of cases, would not have been saved, 
 and therefore must be a great comfort to those who have 
 it; and I further believe the system in vogue at our employers, 
 Messrs. Bushill, is a very good and just one. 
 
THE "COVENTRY TIMES" ON THE LABOUR 
 COMMISSION. 
 
 It will be remembered that a Royal Commission is 
 investigating, inter alia, the trade differences between 
 employers and employed. Under this head the .following 
 topics have to be considered and reported upon viz. the 
 causes of such differences, their development, organisation, 
 etc., their cost, and their prevention or settlement. The 
 Chairman of the Commission is the Duke of Devonshire. 
 It will be of interest to some of our readers to be informed 
 that a citizen of Coventry is to appear before the Commis- 
 sion on Friday next. It seems that the rule of procedure 
 has been as follows : The Commission has announced that 
 it is willing to receive evidence from both employers and 
 workmen, and such as wish to be heard are left to take the 
 initiative by applying to be allowed to appear ; if permission 
 is granted, they are expected to forward an abstract of the 
 information they wish to lay before the Commission. It is 
 not unnatural for many competent men to be reluctant to 
 push themselves forward by volunteering to render assist- 
 ance, as their action might easily be misconstrued. The 
 Commission, however, does not always wait for witnesses to 
 present themselves, for in exceptional cases they inform 
 persons whom they wish to hear that their evidence is 
 "required." About twelve months ago the Commission, 
 acting upon the supposition that Mr. T. W. Bushill would 
 like to contribute to the discussion, sent him the usual 
 instructions, and received a reply to the effect that Mr. 
 Bushill had expressed no desire to be examined, and that 
 he did not feel at liberty to proffer his services. A second 
 
232 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 communication of the same sort received a similar answer, 
 and apparently the matter dropped. It has been revived, 
 and the Commission, presumably holding that its researches 
 would be incomplete in the absence of some fuller evidence 
 regarding " profit-sharing," has sent Mr. Bushilla "request" 
 to narrate his experience on this subject, and to state what 
 he knows of the system as practised by others. To this 
 request Mr. Bushill has acceded, and his evidence will 
 probably be taken in Westminster Hall on Friday next. 
 The findings of the Commission will be received by all 
 classes of the community with the keenest interest, and we 
 are glad that one of our own citizens has been required to 
 take part in investigations that are of supreme importance 
 to the nation at large. November 16, 1892. 
 
GENERAL FORM FOR A SIMPLE PROFIT- 
 SHARING SCHEME. 
 
 Established by . 
 
 (i.) Method of Profit- Sharing. From and after the ist of 
 January 1890, the surplus (if any) of the clear profits of the 
 business, beyond such definite sum as is for the time being 
 reserved to the firm for their own benefit (hereinafter 
 referred to as the " Reserved Limit "), shall be divided into 
 two equal parts : one thereof to be distributed gratuitously 
 as a bonus to the employees in the manner defined by these 
 rules, and the other to be retained by the firm. 
 
 (2.) The " Reserved Limit" The present Reserved Limit 1 
 has been communicated confidentially to 
 
 Chartered Accountant, and will not be altered for the first 
 three years if the scheme so long subsists. Thereafter it 
 may be raised or reduced by the firm, but (unless altered 
 during some month of January) not so as to affect the dis- 
 tribution of profits for the financial year current at the time 
 of alteration. Notice of any alteration will be given to the 
 employees in such manner as to let them know how far 
 such alteration would have affected the last preceding dis- 
 tribution had it then been in force. 
 
 1 It is very desirable that some intimation of the possible benefit to 
 the employees should be given w.hen the scheme is introduced. A 
 simple style of communication would be " If the profits during the 
 present year equal the average of the past three years, there would be 
 a bonus equal to weeks' wages for each participant." 
 
234 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 (3.) Accountants Certificate. The accounts of the business 
 will be audited each year by a chartered accountant, who 
 will certify to the employees the bonus (if any) to which 
 they are entitled. 
 
 (4.) Qualifications for Pro fit- Sharing. The employees 
 entitled to share in the profits for any financial year are such 
 only as were employed at the commencement of such year, 
 and have furnished a request to be entered on the list of 
 profit-sharers. The acceptance of the terms herein offered 
 is not to be in any way a condition of employment or of 
 promotion. Profit-sharers will be free to become or remain 
 members of any trade or friendly society. 
 
 (5.) Duration of Scheme. The scheme is to continue 
 in force only until the firm give notice to the employees 
 putting an end thereto; but such notice, unless given 
 during some month of January, will not take effect until 
 the end of the financial year current at the time it is 
 given. 
 
 (6.) Method of Distribution. The employees' share of 
 profits accruing in each financial year is (subject as after 
 mentioned) to be distributed among them in proportion to 
 their respective salaries or wages at the commencement of 
 such year, taken for one week, exclusive of premiums, over- 
 time, or other variable allowances. In making any year's 
 distribution, it shall be permissible to the firm to carry 
 forward undivided to the credit of the following year's 
 employees' share of profits any sum which, if divided, would 
 have given to them less than one week's wages calculated 
 as aforesaid. 
 
 (7.) Payment oj Bonus. Each employee's bonus shall, 
 within two months of the end of the financial year, be paid 
 into his account at some savings bank, and will then become 
 his absolute property. 
 
 (8.) Employees Leaving. An employee whose service ends 
 by notice given on either side, by illness, or by death, will 
 have a right to bonus for the "financial year in which his 
 service ends, in proportion to the portion of the year elapsed 
 to the end of the month preceding the end of his service. 
 
FORM FOR PROFIT-SHARING SCHEME. 235 
 
 Any employee leaving under circumstances other than before 
 mentioned shall lose such right. Any sum lost to an employee 
 under this rule does not accrue to the firm, but goes wholly 
 to increase the distribution to the other employees. 
 
 (9.) Proviso in Event of Damage. If an employee ceases 
 to be in the service of the firm by reason of any wilful act 
 or default on his part, causing loss or damage to the firm, 
 or is at the time indebted to the firm, his bonus shall be 
 applied to making good such loss or damage or to payment 
 of such debt. 
 
 (10.) Partnership not Conferred. The employees, or any 
 of them, will have neither the rights nor liabilities of partner- 
 ship ; nor are they to intermeddle or be concerned in the 
 management or the accounts of the business. 
 
 (n.) Alteration of Rules. Alterations or modifications 
 of these rules, which experience may suggest as desirable, 
 may from time to time be made by the firm ; but such 
 changes, unless made during some month of January, are 
 not to take effect until the end of the financial year current 
 at the time they are made. 
 
 (12.) Definitions. In these rules, words importing the 
 masculine gender include also females : 
 
 " Firm " includes the present members of the firm, as also 
 any person or persons succeeding to the business ; 
 
 " Business " means the business of the firm, whatever 
 changes may take place in the nature or branches 
 of such business or places where the same is carried 
 on; 
 
 " Financial Year" means the year from the ist of January 
 to the ist of January; 
 
 "Scheme" includes all relations between the firm and 
 employees under these rules. 
 
 Dated this day of .1890. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
236 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 [FORM OF REQUEST, UNDER RULE 4.] 
 
 To Messrs. 
 
 I beg to request you to place my name on the list of 
 profit-sharers, and I hereby agree to accept the rules for the 
 time being of the Profit-Sharing Scheme. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Name (in full) 
 
 Address (in full). 
 
 This form should be handed to the firm on or before Feb. 1st. 
 
 [FORM OF ACCOUNTANT'S CERTIFICATE, RULE 3.] 
 
 18 
 
 I have examined the Balance-Sheet and Profit and Loss 
 
 Account of Messrs for the year 
 
 ending 3ist December 1890, and also the Wages List for 
 January 1890, and certify that under the Rules of the 
 " Profit-Sharing Scheme," the bonus permits of a distribu- 
 tion of weeks' wages for each participant, and 
 
 that there remains an undivided balance equivalent to 
 
 about days' wages to be carried forward to the 
 
 credit of tjie Employees' Bonus Fund of next year. 
 
 Chartered Accotmtant. 
 
FORM FOR PROFIT-SHARING SCHEME. 237 
 
 SOME ALTERNATIVE RULES. 
 
 An alternative " Method of Profit-Sharing," found to be 
 preferable in some cases, e.g. with rapidly growing busi- 
 nesses. The actual percentage can, if desired, be com- 
 municated confidentially to a chartered accountant ; but in 
 such a case it would be advisable to give the employees 
 some intimation of the addition to ordinary wages it will be 
 possible for them to earn. 
 
 (i.) In Lieu of Rules i and 2 above. From and after the 
 ist of January 1890, per cent, of the clear profits of the 
 business will be distributed gratuitously as a bonus to the 
 employees in the manner defined by these rules. 
 
 An alternative "Method of Distribution," suitable to 
 businesses in which the majority of the employees are piece- 
 workers. 
 
 (6.) In Lieu of Rule 6 above. The employees' share of 
 profits accruing in each financial year is (subject as after 
 mentioned) to be distributed among them in proportion to 
 the respective salaries or wages earned by them during such 
 year. 
 
 If this alternative rule be adopted, the last clause in the 
 first sentence of Rule 8 above (commencing " in proportion 
 to ") should be omitted. 
 
PUBLICATIONS ON OR REFERRING TO 
 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 " Profit-Sharing between Employer and Employed." By Nicholas P. 
 
 Oilman. (1889, Macmillan & Co., 75. 6d.) 
 "Profit-Sharing Precedents." With Notes. By Henry G. Rawson. 
 
 (1891, Stevens & Sons Ltd., 6s.) 
 "Profit-Sharing between Capital and Labour." By Sedley Taylor. 
 
 (1884, Kegan Paul, 2s. 6d. Out of print.) 
 "Profit-Sharing and the Labour Question." By T. W. Bushill. 
 
 (1893, Methuen & Co., 2s. 6d.) 
 "Sharing the Profits." By Mary W. Calkins. (1888, Edward 
 
 Arnold, is. 6d.) 
 "Board of Trade Report on Profit-Sharing." (1891, Eyre & Spottis- 
 
 woode, 4^d.) 
 "Profit-Sharing in Agriculture." By Albert Grey. (1892, Spottis- 
 
 woode & Co.) 
 " Methods of Industrial Remuneration." By David F. Schloss. (1892, 
 
 Williams & Norgate, 35. 6d.) 
 "A Brief Sketch of the Maison Leclaire and its Founder." By Mary 
 
 H. Hart. (1882, D'Oyly & Co., 405 Oxford Street, gratis.} 
 "Report of the Industrial Remuneration Conference." (1885, Cassell 
 
 & Co.) 
 
 OTHER PUBLICATIONS REFERRED TO IN THE 
 TEXT. 
 
 "A Shorter Working Day." By R. A. Hadfield and H. de B. 
 
 Gibbins. (1892, Methuen & Co., 2s. 6d.) 
 "The Economics of Industry." By A. and M. P. Marshall. (1888, 
 
 Macmillan & Co., 3s. 6d.) 
 
 "Political Economy." By J. E. Symes. (1889, Rivingtons, 2s. 6d.) 
 "The Economics of Luxury." By Edward Grubb. (1892, Edward 
 
 Hicks, jun., 3d.) 
 "Private Companies and Syndicates." By F. B. Palmer. (1892, 
 
 Stevens & Sons Ltd., is.) 
 
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ON PROFIT-SHARING. 239 
 
 LABOUR COMMISSION EVIDENCE. 
 
 (Eyre & Spottiswoode, Daily Reports, 2d. each.) 
 
 Nov. 13, 1891 (C). 
 May 1 8, 1892 (A). 
 
 July 26, 1892 (A). 
 Oct. 25, 1892 (W).- 
 Oct. 26, 1892 (W).- 
 
 Dec. i, 1892 (W). 
 
 Dec. 2, 1892 (W). 
 Nov. 30, i892(W). 
 
 -Mr. George Thomson on Industrial Partnership. 
 -Mr. R. Knight, Secretary of a Shipbuilding 
 
 Trade Union. 
 -Mr. A. F. Hills on "Fellowship Scheme," and 
 
 Trade Unions. 
 Mr. J. T. W. Mitchell and Mr. W. Maxwell of the 
 
 Co-operative Union. 
 Mr. J. Greenwood of the Hebden Bridge Fustian 
 
 Manufacturing Co-operative Society. 
 Mr. T. W. Bushill on Profit-Sharing and Shorter 
 
 Hours. 
 Rev. W. Tozer and Mr. E. T. Scammell on 
 
 Employment Bureaus. 
 Dr. Gould (of U.S.A.) on the United States 
 
 Labour Department. 
 Mr. W. Allan on Strikes and the Eight Hours 
 
 Day. 
 
 Mr. C. Booth on London Labour Conditions. 
 Mr. C. S. Loch, Secretary of the Chanty Organ- 
 isation Society. 
 
 DIGESTS OF EVIDENCE. 1 
 
 Group A. Vol. i. (iod.); vol. ii. (is. 7d.) 
 Group B. Vol. i. (pjd.) ; vol. ii. (is. ;d.) 
 Group C. Vol. i. (iod.); vol. ii. ( ) 
 
 Commission (sitting as a whole) not yet published. 
 
 1 These Digests are of exceptional completeness and value. 
 
GENERAL RULES. 
 
 Cow LANE PRINTING WORKS, COVENTRY. 
 
 (i.) Acceptance of Rules. Employment by the firm shall 
 imply acceptance on the part of the employee of the rules 
 of the firm. A copy of the rules will be supplied to every 
 employee as early as practicable. 
 
 (2.) Notice before Leaving. An employee must give (when 
 there is no special agreement otherwise) a week's notice 
 before leaving; such notice to date from a pay day. A 
 week's notice or a week's pay is to be given when there is 
 no agreement otherwise, before dismissing any employee, 
 except in cases when staying away from work without 
 reasonable excuse, or disorderly conduct may warrant 
 instant dismissal. 
 
 Female employees thinking of leaving for marriage are 
 requested to inform the firm as soon as arrangements 
 are made, and not to limit their notice to the regular 
 week. 
 
 (3.) Time Registering. Time will be registered by means 
 of the time machine. Each employee, whether time-worker 
 or piece-worker, on entering must lift his own check from 
 the board and place it in the machine, and at once proceed 
 to his work. Checks so dropped into the jnachine up to 
 two minutes past the hour will be registered as full time, 
 but employees will be unwise to take advantage regularly of 
 this provision. The lost time of employees coming in later 
 will be registered by level quarters of an hour, or as shown 
 by the machine. After half an hour past the hour for com- 
 mencing work, time will only be credited to employees who 
 
RULES OF WORKS. 241 
 
 obtain a note from the sub-manager or foreman, who is 
 first to satisfy himself that the absence was reasonable. 
 
 The machine being automatic, no question as to 
 accuracy of time registration can be entertained : em- 
 ployees will, in fact, register their own time, and only when 
 so registered will payment accrue. New employees must 
 apply to the cashier for time-checks. 
 
 (4.) Interfering with Checks. Any one wilfully depositing 
 or interfering with any check other than his own will be 
 held to have acted fraudulently, and will render himself liable 
 to the severest consequences. 
 
 (5.) Leaving before Time. After once depositing his check, 
 no employee will be allowed to leave the premises until the 
 next interval, except by special permission from a member 
 of the firm, or from an authorised official, when the appli- 
 cant, if a time-worker, must bring a note for signature, and 
 afterwards hand it to his foreman before leaving. It will 
 be the duty of the foreman to pass these lost-time notes on 
 to the timekeeper the same day the time is lost, and to 
 report to the timekeeper if any employee belonging to his 
 department leaves work from any cause before the regular 
 time. 
 
 (6.) Lunch. If lunch is taken, it must not interfere with 
 the progress of the work, and must not be of a greasy 
 nature. Plain biscuits recommended. 
 
 (7.) Dinner Hour. No one is to stay in the works during 
 dinner-time except by special permission. 
 
 (8.) Tea. Employees (not being "young persons") 
 authorised to work overtime, will be allowed a quarter of an 
 hour for tea. Tea-time for young persons to be half an 
 hour. Hot water will be supplied near the engine-room, 
 and no heating of water elsewhere will be permitted. 
 
 (9.) Overtime. Overtime will be paid for only when the 
 proper ticket is filled up and initialled by the foreman. 
 This ticket must be filed at the warehouse office on the 
 same day on which the overtime is made, or before 9 A.M. 
 on the following day. 
 
 (10.) Conduct. All rises given from the present date to 
 
 16 
 
242 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 boys and girls under eighteen will be subject to the pro- 
 vision that 6d. therefore will (under this rule) be deemed 
 a premium, and will be liable to stoppage in case of un- 
 satisfactory conduct or unsatisfactory work. The extra 6d. 
 always added to the indentured wages of apprentices is 
 subject to the foregoing provision. 
 
 (n.) Premiums. Premiums are only payable in con- 
 sideration of good conduct and extra care with the work. 
 If the employee gives reasonable ground for complaint, the 
 premium will be liable to be stopped in whole or in part. 
 Premium books must always be in cashier's office by n 
 o'clock on Friday mornings. 
 
 (12.) faulty Work. Piece-workers will not be entitled to 
 charge for work done in a faulty manner. 
 
 (13.) Sickness. Seeing that opportunity is provided for 
 every employee to provide against sickness by joining the 
 Works' Sick Club, wages will not be payable to any 
 employee absent from work through sickness or other- 
 wise. 
 
 (14.) Bad Language, etc. Bad language or intemperance 
 will not be tolerated, and the sending out for intoxicating 
 liquors is strictly prohibited. 
 
 (15.) The jFirm's Tools, etc. No article whatever belong- 
 ing to the firm may be taken from the premises, nor any 
 of the firm's implements used by workmen for their own 
 purposes, without permission from one of the members of 
 the firm, or the firm's cashier. This rule applies also to 
 specimens of printing. 
 
 (16.) Broken Windows. All windows broken through 
 carelessness will be charged according to value; the 
 foreman of the room to report the damage at once to the 
 cashier. 
 
 (17.) Damaged Work or Machinery. Each employee will 
 be liable to make good a certain proportion of the loss in- 
 curred by any spoilage to work or damage to machinery 
 through negligence on his part. Each case will be 
 treated on its own merits. All accidents to be reported 
 immediately. 
 
RULES OF WORKS. 243 
 
 (18.) Cleaning Machines. No one is allowed to go 
 inside a machine for cleaning purposes while the belt is 
 on. 
 
 (19.) Rags. All machine rags must be taken out of the 
 building and placed in the stoke-hole before leaving on a 
 Saturday. . 
 
 (20.) Hoist. Only authorised persons are allowed to 
 use the steam hoist. No one is allowed to ride in the 
 hoist. The bar must always be put back before leaving the 
 landing. 
 
 (21.) Disposal of Stoppages. The amount of stoppages 
 under these rules in all cases where there is no direct loss 
 to the firm will be handed over to the Employees' Benevo- 
 lent Fund, and will thus go towards the benefit of the 
 employees generally. 
 
 (22.) Christmas Boxes. Employees are forbidden to apply 
 for Christmas boxes or any similar gratuities in connection 
 with their services under the firm. Should any Christmas 
 box be offered, the amount is to be handed over to the 
 Benevolent Fund. 
 
 FIRE PRECAUTIONS. 
 
 (23.) Lighting. The use of matches is strictly forbidden 
 in every part of the premises. Paper must on no account 
 be lighted. Any light required must be obtained by means 
 of the lamps or lighters provided for the purpose. 
 
 (24.) Smoking. No smoking will be allowed on the 
 premises, and workmen should fully extinguish their pipes 
 before entering the building. 
 
 (25.) Fire Buckets. Fire buckets will be placed on the 
 landings. The water therein must not be used for ordinary 
 purposes. 
 
 (26.) Fire Brigade. The Fire Brigade appointed by the 
 firm shall have a practice four times a year. An extra day's 
 pay will be allowed yearly to each member of the same in 
 consideration of his services. 
 
244 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 ORDER OF MERIT. 1 
 
 (27.) Membership. The Order of Merit is open to those 
 employees who have been in the continuous service of the 
 firm for not less than five years, and who satisfactorily 
 manifest their desire to do their "level best" in all their 
 work, and who work smoothly with their fellow-employees. 
 Apprentices are eligible from the January ist following date 
 of indentures. 
 
 (28.) List. At the beginning of each year a list of 
 members will be made out of all those who in the opinion 
 of the firm are qualified for membership. The membership 
 will be valid for the current year only. 
 
 (29.) Certificate. Those who are placed on the list will 
 annually be presented with a certificate, which must be 
 returned with the provident fund pass-book on the pay day 
 before the following Christmas day. 
 
 (30.) Holiday. All members of this Order will be entitled, 
 during the year of membership, to one week's holiday with 
 full pay. 
 
 (31.) Application. The date of such holiday to be selected 
 to suit the convenience of the firm and the work of the 
 department. Applications for leave of absence must be 
 made at least a fortnight beforehand. 
 
 (32.) Committee. All members of the Consulting Com- 
 mittee are eligible (without regard to length of service) for 
 the privileges of the Order during their year of office. 
 
 1 In forming this Order of Merit (January 1893), tne nrm nave 
 combined features from the plans initiated respectively by M. Leclaire, 
 of Paris, and by Mr. Greening of the Agricultural and Horticultural 
 Association, London. The firm in the first case proposed that the 
 membership of the Order should be nominated jointly by the employees' 
 committee and the firm ; but the employees' committee asked that 
 the firm should take ihe sole responsibility. The institution is, at 
 present, only in an experimental stage, but it is hoped that the scheme 
 will tend to the formation of a " noyatt " or "old Guard" of worthy 
 employees, which, in the case of the Maison Leclaire, has proved so 
 valuable an arrangement ; and, at the same time, that it may provide 
 for a regular beneficial holiday, without the serious drawback of 
 loss of pay. 
 
RULES OF WORKS. 
 
 245 
 
 (33.) Clerks. The clerical staff will continue to be entitled 
 to a week's holiday (with pay) each year, but application 
 must be made at least a month beforehand. 
 
 THOMAS BUSHILL & SONS. 
 
 fanuary 20, 1893. 
 
 [FORM OF CERTIFICATE.] 
 COW LANE PRINTING WORKS, COVENTRY. 
 
 Order of Merit. 
 
 THE "Order of Merit" is open to those employees who have been in 
 the continuous service of the firm for not less than five years who 
 satisfactorily manifest their determination to do their "level best" 
 in all their work and who work smoothly with their fellow- 
 employees. Apprentices are eligible from the January 1st follow- 
 ing date of indentures. 
 
 ADMITTED FOR 
 
 1893. 
 
 T. B. & S. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This certificate entitles the holder to one week's holiday with full 
 pay during the current year. 
 
 NOTICES TO EMPLOYEES. 
 
 (i.) 
 
 In nominating the membership for the Order of 
 Merit, the firm take account of the following qualities 
 amongst others quality and quantity of out-put, 
 inventiveness, punctuality, steadiness at work, and 
 smooth inter-working with others. 
 
 (2.) It will be observed that no fines have been prescribed 
 in the present rules. The firm hope that compliance 
 on the part of employees with reasonable regulations 
 
246 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 will be so loyal as to warrant the continuance of this 
 omission. 
 
 (3.) The Sick Club Dividends are paid out on the pay day 
 preceding Christmas day. 
 
 (4.) The cash portion of bonus (if any) is paid through 
 individual accounts in the Coventry Savings Bank, 
 Hertford Street, during the month of October. 
 
 (5.) The Provident Fund Books are closed for balancing, 
 etc., during the fortnight preceding August 31. 
 
 (6.) Cases for the Benevolent Fund can be introduced by 
 any member of the sick club. (See Bye-law 5.) 
 
 (7.) The firm will pay half the fees incurred by any 
 apprentice in attending approved classes of the 
 School of Art, the Technical Institute, or elsewhere. 
 
 (8.) A Cycling Club has been established. Application 
 should be made to the hon. sec., Mr. A. T. Ward. 
 
 (9.) The establishment of a Book Club (for facilitating the 
 purchase by employees of books) was resolved upon 
 at the meeting of the Sick Club Committee on 
 January 12, 1893. Application should be made to 
 the hon. sec., Mr. W. R. Albrow. (Present number 
 of members 118, subscribing for 319 shares.) 
 (10.) A Lending Library ', for the circulation of a few books 
 of technical, economic, and general interest, is being 
 established. Application should be made to the 
 hon. sec., Mr. A. B. Hailing. 
 
 (n.) The Hospital Saturday Collection is made through the 
 rooms on the first Saturday in each month. All are 
 invited to contribute. (Amount contributed for year 
 
 1892, ;ll, IS. lid.) 
 
 (12.) Anyone detained at home by sickness, etc., is expected 
 to send word of reason of absence to the office by 
 10 A.M. 
 
 January 20, 1893. 
 
RULES OF SICK AND DIVIDEND CLUB. 247 
 
 RULES OF THE COW LANE PRINTING WORKS 
 SICK AND DIVIDEND CLUB. 
 
 Established 1874. 
 
 (i.) Qualification for Membership. Membership in this 
 club shall be open to all persons in the regular employ of 
 Messrs. Thomas Bushill & Sons, Manufacturing Stationers, 
 Coventry. Entry into the club can be made at the 
 commencement of any half year. 
 
 (2.) Application Form. A printed application form will 
 be supplied, in which each applicant shall state the sum 
 which he wishes to contribute, and shall request that the 
 same be deducted from his weekly wages. 
 
 (3.) Contributions. Each member shall contribute not 
 less than id. per week, or more than 6d. per week. The 
 payment must be in such proportion that the member does 
 not receive from the sick club, in case of illness, more than 
 half the amount of his wages. 
 
 (4.) In Case of Sickness Doctor's Certificate. When a 
 member becomes ill, and wishes to declare on the funds of 
 this club, a doctor's certificate must be produced (stating 
 the nature of his illness), which must be handed to the 
 honorary secretary within three days of the date thereof. 
 The sick pay shall commence from the date of the said certifi- 
 cate. Such certificate must be renewed every fortnight. 
 
 (5.) In Case of Sickness Benefit. When a member 
 becomes ill, and declares on the funds of the club, he 
 shall receive benefit according to his payments, as follows : 
 For every penny per week he shall receive the sum of 25. 
 per week for the first eight weeks, and after that time, half 
 that amount so long as he remains ill. 
 
 (6.) Visitation. While a member is in receipt of sick 
 pay, he shall (if thought necessary by any of the committee) 
 be visited once a week, except in cases of contagious 
 disease. The visitors shall be appointed by the honorary 
 secretary, choice being made from those who reside nearest 
 the sick member's home. Members not complying with 
 this duty to be fined 6d. for every neglect. 
 
248 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 (7.) Forbidden Hours. Any member in receipt of sick 
 pay shall not be away from home after 7 P.M. during winter 
 (viz. from October ist to March 3ist); or after 9 P.M. 
 during summer (viz. from April ist to September 3oth). A 
 fine of 6d. per share will be incurred for the first offence, 
 and for a second offence during same illness, all sick pay 
 shall be at once discontinued. 
 
 (8.) Leaving for a Change. Any member, being in receipt 
 of sick pay, who wishes to leave the town for a temporary 
 change, during or after an illness, must first obtain from a 
 local doctor a certificate to the effect that the removal is 
 urgent or necessary. During his absence a certificate must 
 be forwarded fortnightly to the honorary secretary, signed 
 by a doctor in the town or establishment visited, reporting 
 condition of patient. In default of such certificates being 
 forthcoming, sick pay shall be discontinued. 
 
 (9.) In Case of a Relapse. In case of a relapse or second 
 illness, the member must have declared off the funds of the 
 club six clear weeks before he is entitled to recommence 
 the eight weeks' full pay under Rule 5. If a shorter time 
 than six weeks has elapsed, the rate of sick pay must be 
 reckoned from date of first declaration. 
 
 (10.) Disqualification for Sick Pay. Any member being 
 rendered incapable of following his employment by immoral 
 or disorderly conduct, or by provoking or engaging in 
 wanton quarrels or pursuits, or by accident arising from 
 intoxication (or in case of females suffering from pregnancy 
 and kindred disorders), shall not he entitled to sick pay. 
 
 (n.) Annual Meeting. A general meeting shall be held 
 at the close of each year (to be called " Annual Meeting"), 
 when an abstract of the cash account for the year shall be 
 read, and two auditors shall be appointed. 
 
 (12.) Distribution of Balance. The balance of funds 
 which. remain in the hands of the treasurers at the end of 
 each year, over and above the firm's original permanent 
 deposit of ;io, shall be dealt with as follows : Sixpence 
 per share shall be passed to the Employees' Benevolent 
 Fund, and the balance shall be distributed to the members 
 
RULES OF SICK AND DIVIDEND CLUB. 249 
 
 in proportion to their payments, and paid to them on the 
 last pay day before Christmas. 1 Any member who has 
 received more than four weeks' sick pay from the funds 
 of the club shall not be entitled to any share in the said 
 allotment, unless the dividend (including contribution to 
 benevolent fund) exceed 4s. per share. If 4^. or under be 
 declared, the non-dividend receiving members shall divide 
 the odd balance only in proportion to their payments. 
 
 (13.) Benevolent fiund. The Employees' Benevolent 
 Fund shall be available for grants at death, grants in aid 
 of employees' special need, subscriptions to convalescent 
 homes, etc. The precise application is to be voted by the 
 Sick Club Committee. 2 
 
 (14.) Members Leaving. Any member leaving the firm's 
 employ shall be entitled to receive from the funds of the 
 club the amount which he shall have paid in during the 
 current sick club year, after deducting his estimated share 
 of liability for sickness. 
 
 (15.) Officers. At the annual meeting the honorary 
 secretary and treasurer for the ensuing year shall be elected. 
 
 (16.) Executive Committee. The business of the club 
 shall be transacted by an executive committee of not more 
 than twelve in number, in addition to the members of the 
 firm, and the honorary secretary for the time being, who 
 shall be ex-officio members of the committee. The said 
 twelve shall consist of the foreman in each of the eight 
 departments, the warehouseman, and the sub-manager, and 
 in addition two members of the club to be elected at the 
 annual meeting (according to Rule 17), such members not 
 to be eligible to serve two years in succession. No one shall 
 be eligible to serve on the committee who was not a member 
 of the club at the commencement of the year in question. 3 
 
 1 Information respecting the sick club dividends is given on p. 251. 
 
 2 For Committee's Bye-Laws, see p. 252. 
 
 3 As a rule, it would be desirable to have a larger proportion of 
 elective members. In our case the old basis of representation has been 
 maintained because it has worked well in practice, and because it 
 ensures at least one representative from each department. 
 
250 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 (17.) Alteration of Rules. If any alteration or addition to 
 these rules is proposed, due notice of same in writing, with 
 name of proposer, must be handed to the honorary secretary 
 at least three days before the general meeting at which such 
 proposal is to be introduced. The alteration can only 
 come in force by vote of a subsequent general meeting. 
 
 (18.) Voting. On the demand of any two members, the 
 voting on any question shall be in proportion to the number 
 of shares held, at the rate of one vote for each share. 
 
 (19.) Fines to be Stopped. All fines incurred under these 
 rules are to be stopped from wages or sick pay as the case 
 may be, and are to be handed over to the funds of the club. 
 
 (20.) Definitions. The definition of terms given in Rule 
 24 of the firm's bonus and provident fund scheme shall 
 apply to these rules also. 
 
 [FORM OF REQUEST, UNDER RULE 2.] 
 
 COW LANE PRINTING WORKS SICK AND DIVIDEND CLUB, 
 COVENTRY. 
 
 To Messrs. Thomas Bushill & Sons. 
 
 I hereby request and authorise you to deduct my sick 
 
 club contribution of _pence per week from my 
 
 weekly wages, and to pay over the same, in current coin, on 
 my behalf, to the treasurer of the club. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 Full name 
 
 Full address 
 
 Dated 18 
 
 Note. When a member is in receipt of sick pay, it is understood 
 that the same amount is to be deducted weekly from such pay. 
 
 Rules revised October 9th, 1892. 
 To come into force, January 1893. 
 
RULES OF SICK AND DIVIDEND CLUB. 251 
 
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252 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 COMMITTEE'S BYE-LAWS, EMPLOYEES' 
 BENEVOLENT FUND. 1 
 
 Established 1889. 
 
 (ADOPTED JANUARY i, 1892.) 
 
 (i.) Application of Annual Income. The application of 
 the fund shall be voted by the Cow Lane Printing Works 
 Sick and Dividend Club Committee for the time being, on 
 the following basis, with power to deal with each case on 
 its own merits, viz. : A sum not exceeding one-fourth of 
 the estimated annual income may be paid in subscriptions 
 to convalescent homes or hospitals: 2 a similar proportion 
 may be devoted to grants in aid of employees special need ; 
 and not less than one- half shall be reserved for "life 
 insurance." 
 
 (5.) "Life Insurance" If, in the judgment of the 
 committee, the funds permit, the following is to be the 
 scale of insurance payments : To the representatives of any 
 employee dying, a sum not exceeding \ for each penny per 
 week paid by the deceased to sick fund, an additional sum 
 not exceeding ^3 when a widow is left, and an additional 
 sum not exceeding los. for each child under thirteen years 
 
 1 This fund was instituted in January 1889, when the plan which has 
 been in use for many years with Messrs. De le Rue & Co.'s, London, 
 for supplying tea to the employees was adopted. The supplies were 
 bought in the wholesale market, and the working expenses were borne 
 by the firm. The tea was sold at id. per pint (to boys and girls at \d. 
 per pint), and the profits were passed to an Employees' Benevolent 
 Fund. Owing to the adoption of Shortened Hours, the tea supply 
 department has naturally been suspended. The accumulated profits 
 on December 31, 1892, amounted to ^72, which sum forms the reserve 
 for the " Life Insurance " payments under the bye-laws recently adopted 
 by the Committee. 
 
 2 Oct. 1892. Subscriptions (securing tickets) are at present sent 
 to the Kenil worth Convalescent Home, Rhyl Men's Convalescent 
 Home, Rhyl Women's Convalescent Home, and the Birmingham Eye 
 Hospital. 
 
BYE-LAWS OF BENEVOLENT FUND. 253 
 
 of age. When any claim under this rule arises, an applica- 
 tion, giving the necessary particulars, is to be made in 
 writing to the honorary secretary. 
 
 (3.) Mode of Payment. The manner of distribution of 
 the insurance payment is to be at the discretion of the 
 committee in weekly payments, or otherwise and, unless 
 definite written instructions are left by the deceased, to 
 such person or persons as the committee .may consider best ; 
 but in no case shall it go to pay for an unduly expensive 
 funeral. 
 
 (4.) Advanced Age. When an employee ceases to be in 
 the service of the firm through advancing age or infirmity, 
 the committee may vote a special grant (for immediate or 
 deferred payment) in lieu of an insurance payment, such 
 grant to be smaller in amount than the said insurance 
 payment. 
 
 (5.) Grants in Aid or Home Tickets. Any sick club 
 member wishing to bring a case before the committee must 
 do so in writing, the application to be countersigned by a 
 member of the committee, and handed to the honorary 
 secretary. The secretary may then appoint two members 
 of the committee to make (in confidence) full inquiries, and 
 report at an early meeting of the committee. 
 
 (6.) Reports. All cases reported in committee and dis- 
 cussion thereon shall be considered strictly private and 
 confidential. 
 
 (7.) Participants. Only those persons who are members 
 of the Cow Lane Printing Works Sick Club are entitled to 
 receive benefit from this fund, and no person who has left 
 the employ of the firm has any claim. 1 
 
 No application can be entertained in the case of the 
 
 1 With respect to this provision, it should be stated that, generally, 
 the whole of the contributions of the employees will be paid out, year 
 by year, in ' ' grants-in-aid " or " home " tickets. There is therefore no 
 hardship inflicted upon a person leaving, because he will have had an 
 equal chance with others of benefiting during the period of his employ- 
 ment. The firm subscribes, at present, ,10 per annum to the 
 Benevolent Fund. 
 
254 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 sickness or death of a relative, and therefore it is recom- 
 mended that provision for such cases should be made 
 through the various societies in existence. 
 
 (8.) Audit. The accounts of the fund shall be audited 
 annually by the sick fund auditors appointed at the annual 
 meeting of the sick club, and shall be communicated to the 
 committee. 
 
 (9.) Officers. The sick club officers shall serve for this 
 fund also. 
 
SANITARY AND OTHER FACTORY RECOM- 
 MENDATIONS. 
 
 i. VENTILATING FANS. 
 
 THE economic value of good air in work-rooms was 
 suggested in an impressive way by a public statement 
 of the Chairman of the Coventry School Board (Mr. John 
 Atkins), in which he compared the educational results 
 obtained in schools fitted with the latest mechanical 
 ventilating apparatus, and those obtained in schools 
 " naturally " ventilated. Mr. Atkins has been kind enough 
 to lend me a pamphlet on the subject, 1 from which the 
 following table is extracted : 
 
 State of Air. TJ Gov. Grant 
 
 CarbonicAcid *** earned per 
 
 Dundee One mechanically venti- 
 lated school, 
 Eighteen naturally venti- 
 lated schools (mean), . 
 
 Aberdeen Three mechanically 
 ventilated schools 
 (mean), . 
 
 Fifteen naturally venti- 
 lated schools (mean), 
 
 The great improvement in the new 
 method may be set out as follows : 
 
 Dundee Superiority of mechani- 
 cal over natural venti- 
 lation, per cent., 
 
 Aberdeen Superiority of mechani- 
 cal over natural venti- 
 lation, per cent., 
 
 per 10,000. 
 
 12-8 
 
 20 '0 
 
 22'2 
 
 of Passes. 
 
 89-2 
 
 96-6 
 
 90*0 
 
 head. 
 
 21/5 
 16/8 
 
 21/8 
 19/6 
 
 35% purer 7% more 28% more 
 
 30% purer 7% more n% more 
 
 1 Report on the Heating and Ventilation of Schools, pp. 56, 57, by 
 Thomas Cafnelley, D.Sc., F.C.S. (Winter, Duncan & Co., Dundee, 
 
 1889.) 
 
256 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 It may be argued that if a purer air increases the 
 efficiency of school children by at least 10 per cent., the 
 state of the atmosphere must be of direct economic import- 
 ance ; this is, of course, especially the case when the nature 
 of the processes generates dust. A splendid example of 
 the utility of mechanical appliances in the carrying away of 
 waste material which, under ordinary circumstances, may 
 make a trade unhealthy is to be seen in the new Boot 
 Works of the Co-operative Wholesale Society at Leicester. 
 
 We have found the Blackman Fans (agents, F. Ashwell & 
 Co., 14 John Street, Adelphi, W.C.) of great value for 
 purifying the atmosphere, and we purpose extending the 
 use of them. 
 
 2. SMOKE-CONSUMING METHOD. 
 
 Years ago it was considered the natural thing for factory 
 chimneys to be emitting volumes of black smoke. It is 
 now found that by careful stoking on the one hand, and 
 with the aid of simple mechanical methods on the other, 
 the necessity for this corruption of the atmosphere can be 
 almost entirely obviated. The degree of success attained 
 by different towns varies, presumably, in proportion to the 
 vigilance of the authorities. The appearance of Leicester on 
 an ordinary working day not long ago was suggestive of a 
 general holiday to my mind. I am told that, where 
 furnaces are in question, a special difficulty arises. Gener- 
 ally speaking, however, the interests of the public in this 
 matter are identical with the interest of the mill-owner ; the 
 more fully the products of combustion are consumed before 
 they leave the boiler, the more economical the firing is. 
 The bearing of this consideration upon the duty of 
 inspectors will not be overlooked, 
 
 We have found no necessity for any patent or costly 
 apparatus. A simple device was introduced into our boilers 
 by our engineer, Mr. Banks, some years ago, which, with 
 care on the part of the stoker, results in an almost total dis- 
 appearance of black smoke. The engraving on opposite 
 page will illustrate our method, which can be applied by any 
 
SANITARY RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 257 
 
 ! 
 
 IT 
 
 fe <u 
 
 g * 
 
 o 
 
 d 
 
 3 i 
 I I 
 
 1 
 
 '7 
 
258 PROFIT-SHARING. 
 
 mechanic. The ordinary grate and fire-bars are retained, 
 but on the bridge are placed three tiers of fire-bricks, 
 without cement, and arranged so as to leave about i inch 
 clearance between each brick. Underneath the grate at 
 this part is fitted an iron plate, about | inch thick, which 
 nearly closes up the under part of the flue. About J inch 
 clearance is left all round so as to allow a small portion of 
 the air-current to pass through and play upon the flame 
 above, to ensure, as it were, a second combustion. The 
 clearance between the bricks is an important feature, as it 
 permits a certain portion of flame and air to pass through. 1 
 
 3. TIME-CHECKING MACHINES. 
 
 Frequent disputes on the part of workpeople are caused 
 by questions relating to the accuracy of time registration. 
 American inventiveness has been able to solve this problem, 
 and a machine has been devised which we have found to 
 be entirely efficacious. The post of timekeeper, under 
 ordinary circumstances, is, it must be admitted, an un- 
 enviable one, and employers who appreciate internal peace 
 should give due consideration to a machine which obviates 
 all grounds for complaints, and which, in the graphic words 
 of the inventor, " Continues its work unmoved by profanity, 
 black looks, or kicks." (Full particulars can be obtained 
 from Llewellin's Machine Company, Bristol.) 
 
 1 On the general subject, cf. "Waste Products made Useful," by Lord 
 Playfair, in the Nortli American Review (November 1892). 
 
 " To know that the processes which sap the health of the worker 
 are not economic, because they are most unscientific and wasteful, 
 renders it very difficult to contemplate them with any degree of patience 
 or tolerance." (Daily Chronicle ', December 24, 1892.) 
 
INDEX. 1 
 
 ADDRESSES to employees, 71 
 Adult School movement, 25, 170, 
 
 181 
 Allan, Mr. Win., evidence of, 151, 
 
 239 ; letter from, 104 
 Annual wages, 33, 54, 140 
 
 Bad debts, 93 
 
 Ballot opinions of employers re 
 profit - sharing system, 30, 38, 
 218-230; shorter hours, 154 
 Basis of division, 26 
 Beneficiaries and allotment of 
 
 bonus, 26 
 
 Benevolent Fund bye-laws, 252 
 Better distribution of national in- 
 come, 199 
 
 Bonus not to affect wages, 37 
 Bonus to be recoverable, 159 
 Booth, Charles, evidence of, 239 
 Bright's, John, career, 178 
 Browett, Mr. Thos., 25, 146 
 Burns, John, 161, 177 
 Burt, Thomas, letter from, 105 
 
 Calkins, Miss, Sharing tlic Pro- 
 fits, 6 1, 238 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishop of, letter 
 from, 1 08 
 
 Carlyle quoted, 20, 141 
 Carnegie, Mr., and the Homestead 
 
 Strike, 190 
 Channing quoted, 1 68 
 Circumstances leading to profit- 
 sharing, 24 
 
 Clifford, Dr., letter from, 109 
 Committee of employees, 27, 93, 149 
 Compulsory saving, 62, 101, 191 
 Conditions of labour remuneration, 
 
 23 
 
 Co-operative production, profit- 
 sharing and, in, 143-145 
 
 Co-operative Union, evidence re, 
 
 239 
 
 Co-operative Watch Society, 67 
 Courtney, Mr., 57, 70 
 " Cross-examination " of writer, 49 
 
 Daily Chronicle, 138, 186-190 
 Dale, Mr., 49 
 
 Decimal system, 8, 164-166 
 Description of scheme, 25 
 Developments, possible further, 
 
 '45 
 
 Discontinued cases of profit-shar- 
 ing, 127 
 
 Drage, Geoffrey, quoted, 171 
 Duncan, Robert, letter from, 89 
 
 1 Entries in this Index, which are unaccompanied with the name of any firm, refer 
 generally to the profit-sharing system in force with Thomas Bushill & Sons. 
 
200 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Economics, need for study of, 169, 
 
 175 
 Effects of scheme for employees, 28 ; 
 
 firm, 40 
 
 " Eight hours day," on the, 156 
 Embezzlement, provision against, 
 
 27, 209 
 Employees' committee, 27, 93, 
 
 149 
 Employers, some Socialists and, 
 
 194 
 
 Employer and Employed, 190 
 Employment bureaus, 161 
 Entrepreneur, technical education 
 
 for, 201 
 Equitable charge, 27, 216 
 
 "Failures" of profit-sharing, 127 
 Fallibility of employers, 13, 154; 
 workmen, 13, 141, 169 
 
 Ga ; n-sharing, profit-sharing and, 
 
 .135 
 Gilman, N. P., letter from, 112 ; 
 
 "Profit-Sharing," 238 
 Godin's profit-sharing, 147, 149 
 Goffinon, Maison, Effect of system 
 
 at, 35 
 
 Gould, Dr., 162, 170, 239 
 Grey, Albert, letter from, 106 
 Grubb, E., Economics of Luxury, 
 
 I75> 238 
 
 Hadfield, R. A. , A Shorter Work- 
 ing Day, 151 ; letter from, 96 
 
 Hart, Miss, on Leclaire, 238 
 
 " Healing," our, 133, 185 
 
 Hebden Bridge Fustian Society, 
 evidence re, 239 
 
 Hills, A. F., evidence of, 142, 150, 
 239 ; letter from, 105 
 
 Hilton, R., letter from, 102 
 
 Holyoake, G. J., letter from, no 
 
 Homestead Strike, 190 
 
 Hopefulness, grounds for, 12, 106, 
 171, 174, 184 
 
 Hours of labour with Thomas 
 Bushill & Sons, 24, 151 
 
 Hughes, Thoma?, letter from, in 
 
 Incidents satisfactory, 46 ; un- 
 satisfactory, 45 
 
 Industrial partnership, 115, 145 
 Industrial questions, interest in, 
 177 
 
 Knight, R., evidence of, 183, 239 
 
 Labour Commission, 21, 186 ; 
 
 published evidence of, 239 
 Labour Department, an effective, 
 
 161 
 Leclaire, early difficulties of 
 
 scheme, 147 ; sketch of life, by 
 
 Miss Hart, 238 
 Livesey, Mr., 61, 67 
 Loch, C. S., evidence of, 199, 239 
 Lowell quoted, 43, 178, 185 
 Luxury discussed, 174 
 
 Management retained, 28, 65 
 Mann, Mr. Tom, 68; quoted, 174 
 Marriage portions, 27, 88 
 Marshall, Prof., 56; quoted, 167, 
 
 176, 184 
 
 Maxwell, Mr., evidence of, 239 
 Method of profit-sharing, 25 
 Middle-class interest, in, 144 
 Mill, J. S., quoted, 8, 9 
 Mitchell, Mr., evidence of, 239 
 Municipalisationj 54 
 
 National pension scheme, 36, 159 
 Nelson, N. O., on Homestead 
 
 Strike, 190 
 Nicholson, Prof. J. S., quoted, 117 
 
 Obiter Dicta on labour subjects, 
 199 
 
 "Paid agitators, "attitude towards, 
 
 178 
 
 Partnership not conferred, 28, 65 
 Patience necessary, 128, 150, 172, 
 
 179 
 Pension schemes, national, 36, 159 
 
INDEX 
 
 261 
 
 Peto Brothers' experiences, 171 
 Piece-work and profit-sharing, 53, 
 
 61 
 
 Plebiscite of employees, 28 
 Post Office Savings Bank regula- 
 tions, alteration of, 163 
 Precautions against fluctuations, 37 
 Production, limitation of, 107, 
 169 ; profit-sharing and, 40, 
 140; shortened hours and, 153 
 Profit-sharing, definition, 113 
 
 ,, classification, 117 
 
 , , general form, 233 
 
 ,, list of firms, 122 
 
 ,, methods, 119 
 
 publications on, 
 
 238 
 ,, recommendations as 
 
 to starting, 147 
 ,, statistics, Chap. VI. 
 
 ,, societies, 129 
 
 ,, writer's estimate of, 
 
 146 
 
 Profit-sharing, in the writer's firm, 
 Chaps. I., II., 
 III. 
 ,, account books for, 
 
 213 
 ,, ballot opinions on, 
 
 30, 38, 218-230 
 ,, copy of rules, 206 
 
 ,, security for provi- 
 
 dent funds, 27, 
 216 
 
 Provident fund and pension 
 schemes, 36 ; interest and secur- 
 ity, 27, 216 ; weak point of, 36 ; 
 withdrawal of, 27, 58 
 
 Rae, John, quoted, 183 
 
 Rawson, H. G., Profit -Sharing 
 
 Precedents, 27, 149, 159 
 Reasonableness, nted for, 171 
 Reserve fund, employees, 61, 64, 
 
 207 
 
 Reserved Limit, 25 
 Results of profit-sharing as affecting 
 
 employee?, 28 ; firm, 40 
 
 Retention of provident funds, tem- 
 porary, 33, 60 
 
 Robert, Charles, 129 
 
 Ross & Duncan, quotation from 
 letter, 35 
 
 Rules of Benevolent Fund, 252 ; 
 Profit-sharing, 206 ; Sick Club 
 247 ; Works, 240 
 
 Ruskin quoted, 48 
 
 Ruskin's influence, 25 
 
 Savings Bank statement, 63 
 Scammell, E. T., evidence of, 161, 
 
 239 
 
 Schloss, D. F., quoted, 36, 39, 
 113, 117, 118, 121, 127, 135, 
 137, 156, 161, 169, 183 
 
 Security of provident funds, 27, 
 56, 216 
 
 Shareholding by employees, 67, 
 
 145 
 Shortened working hours, Chap. 
 
 VIII. 
 Shufflebotham, Charles, letters 
 
 from, 100 
 Sick Club accounts, 251 ; rules, 
 
 247 
 
 Simple mode of life desirable, 174 
 Smoke-consuming method, 256 
 Socialists and employers, 194 
 Starting profit-sharing, sugges- 
 tions, 147 
 
 Symes, Prof., Political Economy, 
 169, 238 
 
 Tait, Mr., 53 
 
 Tangye. Richard, letter from. 95 
 
 Taylor, Sedley, Introduction hy, 
 
 7; letters from, u, 109, 117; 
 
 Profit-Sharing, 25 
 Technical education for entrepre- 
 
 neiir, 20 1 
 Thomson, George, evidence of, 
 
 239 
 Thomson's George, Industrial 
 
 Partnership, 116, 148, 175 
 Thrift and temperance, need for, 
 
 62, 167 
 
262 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Time-checking machines, 258 
 Trade Unionism, profit-sharing 
 
 and, 136 ; relations with, 39 
 Trade Unions, functions of, 91, 
 
 182; discipline in, 183 
 Tozer, Rev. W., evidence of, 161, 
 
 239 
 
 Unemployed, the, 69, 94, 199 
 
 Ventilating fans, 255 
 Ventilation in schools, 255 
 
 Wages to be unaffected, 37 
 Withdrawal of provident fund, 27, 
 
 58 
 
 Workmen, attitude towards, 176 
 Works, rules of, 240 
 
 MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. 
 
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 OCTOBER 1892 
 
OCTOBER 1892. 
 
 MESSRS. METHUEN'S 
 
 AUTUMN ANNOUNCEMENTS 
 
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 social, and religious a careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent 
 changes, a statement of the present position of the University, and chapters on 
 Women's Education, aids to study, and University Extension. 
 
 Driver. SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT. By S. R. DRIVER, D.D., Canon of 
 Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of 
 Oxford. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 An important volume of sermons on Old Testament Criticism preached before the 
 University by the author of ' An Introduction to the Literature of the Old 
 Testament." 
 
4 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 Prior. CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by C. H. PRIOR, 
 
 M. A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various 
 preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott. 
 
 Kaufmann. CHARLES KINGSLEY. By M. KAUFMANN, 
 
 M.A. Crown 8z'0. $s. 
 A biography of Kingsley, especially dealing with his achievements in social reform. 
 
 Lock. THE LIFE OF JOHN KEBLE. By WALTER LOCK, 
 M.A., Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. With Portrait. 
 Crown 8v0. $s. 
 
 Hutton. CARDINAL MANNING : A Biography. By A. W. 
 HUTTON, M.A. With Portrait. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 
 $v0. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Sells. THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. 
 SELLS, M. A. Illustrated. Crown 8v0. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Kimmins. THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. 
 By C. W. KIMMINS, Downing College, Cambridge. Illustrated. 
 Crown 8v0. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Potter. AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By M. C. POTTER, 
 Lecturer at Newcastle College of Science. Illustrated. Crown 8v0. 
 2s. 6d. 
 The above are new volumes of the " University Extension Series." 
 
 Cox. LAND NATIONALISATION. By HAROLD Cox, M.A. 
 Crown 8v0. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hadfield & Gibbins. A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By 
 R. A. HADFIELD and H. de B. GIBBINS, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 The above are new volumes of " Social Questions of To-day " Series. 
 FICTION. 
 
 Norris. HIS GRACE. By W. E. NORRIS, Author of 'Mdle. de 
 Mersac,' ' Marcta,' etc. Crown 8vo. 2 vols. 2is. 
 
 Pryce. TIME AND THE WOMAN. By RICHARD PRYCE, 
 
 Author of ' Miss Maxwell's Affections,' 'The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,' 
 etc. Crown 8vo. 2 vols. 21 s. 
 
 Parker. PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. By GILBERT 
 PARKER. Crown 8v0. Buckram. 6s, 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 5 
 
 Marriott Watson. DIOGENES OF LONDON and other 
 Sketches. By II. B. MARRIOTT WATSON, Author of 'The Web 
 of the Spider.' Crown 8vo. Buckram, 6s. 
 
 Baring Gould. IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA. By S. BARING 
 GOULD, Author of 'Mehalah,' 'Urith,' etc. Cheaper edition. 
 Crown 8v0. 6s. 
 
 Clark Russell. MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By W.CLARK 
 RUSSELL, Author of ' The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' ' A Marriage 
 at Sea,' etc. With 6 Illustrations by W. H. OVEREND. Crown 8vo. 
 6s. 
 
 Mabel Robinson. HOVENDEN, V. C. By F. MABEL 
 
 ROBINSON, Author of 'Disenchantment,' etc. Cheaper Edition. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 2 s - &? 
 Meade. OUT OF THE FASHION. By L. T. MEADE, Author 
 
 of 'A Girl of the People,' etc. With 6 Illustrations by W. PAGET. 
 
 Crown 8u0. 6s. 
 
 Cuthell. ONLY A GUARDROOM DOG. By Mrs. CUTHELL. 
 With 1 6 Illustrations by W. PARKINSON. Square Crown 8v0. 6s. 
 
 Collingwood. THE DOCTOR OF THE JULIET. By HARRY 
 COLLINGWOOD, Author of 'The Pirate Island,' etc. Illustrated by 
 GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Bliss. A MODERN ROMANCE. By LAURENCE BLISS. 
 Crown 8vo. Buckram, y. 6d. Paper. 2s. 6d. 
 
 CHEAPER EDITIONS. 
 
 Baring Gould. OLD COUNTRY LIFE. By S. BARING 
 GOULD, Author of ' Mehalah,' etc. With 67 Illustrations. Crown 
 8vo. 6s. 
 
 Clark. THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD. Edited by A. 
 CLARK, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. 8vo. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Russell. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLING- 
 WOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of ' The Wreck of the 
 Grosvenor.' With Illustrations by F. BRANGWYN. 8vo. IDS. 6d. 
 
 Author of 'Mdle. Mori.' THE SECRET OF MADAME DE 
 Monluc. By the Author of 'The Atelier du Lys,' 'Mdle. Mori.' 
 Crown 8vo. 3^. 6d. 
 ' An exquisite literary cameo.' World. 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 anti Eecent 25ooftg, 
 Poetry 
 
 Rudyard Kipling. BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS; And 
 
 Other Verses. By RUDYARD KIPLING. Fourth Edition. Crown 
 &vo. 6s. 
 
 ' Mr. Kipling's verse is strong, vivid, full of character. . . . Unmistakable genius 
 rings in every line." Times. 
 
 ' The disreputable lingo of Cockayne is henceforth justified before the world ; for a 
 man of genius has taken it in hand, and has shown, beyond all cavilling, that in 
 its way it also is a medium for literature. You are grateful, and you say to 
 yourself, half in envy and half in admiration : " Here is a book ; here, or one is a 
 Dutchman, is one of the books of the year." ' National Observer. 
 
 ' " Barrack-Room Ballads " contains some of the best work that Mr. Kipling has 
 ever done, which is saying a good deal. " Fuzzy- Wuzzy," " Gunga Din," and 
 " Tommy," are, in our opinion, altogether superior to anything of the kind that 
 English literature has hitherto produced.' Athenezum. 
 
 1 These ballads are as wonderful in their descriptive power as they are vigorous in 
 their dramatic force. There are few ballads in the English language more 
 stirring than "The Ballad of East and West," worthy to stand by the Border 
 ballads of Scott.' Spectator. 
 
 ' The ballads teem with imagination, they palpitate with emotion. We read them 
 with laughter and tears ; the metres throb in our pulses, the cunningly ordered 
 words tingle with life; and if this be not poetry, what is?' Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Ibsen. BRAND. A Drama by HENRIK IBSEN. Translated by 
 
 WILLIAM WILSON. Crown %vo. $s. 
 
 'The greatest world-poem of the nineteenth century next to "Faust." "Brand" 
 will have an astonishing interest for Englishmen. It is in the same set with 
 "Agamemnon," with " Lear," with the literature that we now instinctively regard 
 as high and holy.' Daily Chronicle. 
 
 Henley. LYRA HEROICA: An Anthology selected from the 
 best English Verse of the i6th, I7th, i8th, and iQth Centuries. By 
 WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY, Author of 'A Book of Verse,' 'Views 
 and Reviews,' etc. Croivn Svo. Stamped gilt buckram^ gilt top, 
 edges uncut. 6s. 
 
 ' Mr. Henley has brought to the task of selection an instinct alike for poetry and for 
 chivalry which seems to us quite wonderfully, and even unerringly, right.' 
 Guardian. 
 
 Tomson. A SUMMER NIGHT, AND OTHER POEMS. By 
 GRAHAM R. TOMSON. With Frontispiece by A. TOMSON. Fcap. 
 Svo. 31. 6d. 
 Also an edition on handmade paper, limited to 50 copies. Large crown 
 
 8vo. los. 6d. net. 
 
 1 Mrs. Tomson holds perhaps the very highest rank among poetesses of English birth. 
 This selection will help her reputation.' Black and White. 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 7 
 
 LangDridge. A CRACKED FIDDLE. Being Selections from 
 the Poems of FREDERIC LANGBRIDGE. With Portrait. CrownZvo. 5*. 
 
 Langbridge. BALLADS OF THE BRAVE : Poems of Chivalry, 
 Enterprise, Courage, and Constancy, from the Earliest Times to the 
 Present Day. Edited, with Notes, by Rev. F. LANGBRIDGE. 
 . Crown 8vo. 
 
 Presentation Edition, 3*. 6d. School Edition, 2s. 6d. 
 1 A very happy conception happily carried out. These "Ballads of the Brave" are 
 intended to suit the real tastes of boys, and will suit the taste of the great majority. 
 Spectator. ' The book is full of splendid things.' World. 
 
 History and Biography 
 
 Gladstone. THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES 
 OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. With Notes 
 and Introductions. Edited by A. W. HUTTON, M.A. (Librarian of 
 the Gladstone Library), and H. J. COHEN, M.A. With Portraits. 
 8vo. Vol. X. 12s. 6d. 
 
 Russell. THE LIFE OF ADMIRAL LORD COLLING- 
 WOOD. By W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of ' The Wreck of the 
 Grosvenor.' With Illustrations by F. BRANGWYN. 8vo. los. 6d. 
 
 1 A really good book." Saturday Review. 
 
 ' A most excellent and wholesome book, which we should like to see in the hands of 
 every boy in the country." St. James's Gazette. 
 
 Clark. THE COLLEGES OF OXFORD : Their History and 
 their Traditions. By Members of the University. Edited by A. 
 CLARK, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College. 8vo. I2s. 6d. 
 
 ' Whether the reader approaches the book as a patriotic member of a college, as an 
 antiquary, or as a student of the organic growth of college foundation, it will amply 
 reward his attention.' Times. 
 
 'A delightful book, learned and lively." Academy. 
 
 ' A work which will certainly be appealed to for many years as the standard book on 
 the Colleges of Oxford." Atheneeum. 
 
 Hulton. RIXAE OXONIENSES : An Account of the Battles 
 of the Nations, The Struggle between Town and Gown, etc. By 
 S. F. HULTON, M.A. Crown 8vo. $s. 
 
 James. CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY PRIOR 
 TO THE REFORMATION. By CROAKE JAMES, Author of 
 ' Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.' Crown 8vo. ys. 6d. 
 
8 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 Clifford. THE DESCENT OF CHARLOTTE COMPTON 
 (BARONESS FERRERS DE CHARTLEY). By her Great-Granddaughter, 
 ISABELLA G. C. CLIFFORD. Small ^to. ios. 6d. net. 
 
 General Literature 
 
 Bowden. THE IMITATION OF BUDDHA: Being Quota- 
 tions from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled 
 by E. M. BOWDEN. With Preface by Sir EDWIN ARNOLD. Second 
 Edition. i6mo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 DitcMeld. OUR ENGLISH VILLAGES : Their Story and 
 their Antiquities. By P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.R.H.S., Rector 
 of Barkham, Berks. Post &vo. 2s. 6ct. Illustrated. 
 1 An extremely amusing and interesting little book, which should find a place in 
 every parochial library.' Guardian. 
 
 Ditchfield. OLD ENGLISH SPORTS. By P. H. DITCH- 
 FIELD, M.A. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. Illustrated. 
 ' A charming account of old English Sports.' Morning Post. 
 
 Burne. PARSON AND PEASANT: Chapters of their 
 Natural History. By J. B. BURNE, M.A., Rector of Wasing. 
 Crown 8vo. 55. 
 
 ' " Parson and Peasant ' is a book not only to be interested in, but to learn something 
 from a book which may prove a help to many a clergyman, and broaden the 
 hearts and ripen the charity of laymen." ' Derby Mercury. 
 
 Massee. A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By 
 
 G. MASSEE. 8vo. iSs. net. 
 
 Cunningham. THE PATH TOWARDS KNOWLEDGE: 
 Essays on Questions of the Day. By W. CUNNINGHAM, D.D., 
 Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, Professor of Economics at 
 King's College, London. Crown 8vo. 45-. 6d. 
 Essays on Marriage and Population, Socialism, Money, Education, Positivism, etc. 
 
 Anderson Graham. NATURE IN BOOKS : Studies in Literary 
 Biography. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 The chapters are entitled : I. ' The Magic of the Fields ' (Jefferies). II. ' Art and 
 Nature' (Tennyson). III. 'The Doctrine of Idleness' (Thoreau). IV. 'The 
 Romance of Life ' (Scott). V. ' The Poetry of Toil ' (Burns). VI. ' The Divinity 
 of Nature ' (Wordsworth). 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST o 
 
 Works by S. Baring Gould. 
 
 Author of * Mehalah,' etc. 
 
 OLD COUNTRY LIFE. With Sixty-seven Illustrations by 
 W. PARKINSON, F. D. BEDFORD, and F. MASEY. Large Crown 
 8vo, cloth super extra, top edge gilt, los. 6d. Fourth and Cheaper 
 Edition. 6s. [Ready. 
 
 '"Old Country Life," as healthy wholesome reading, full of breezy life and move- 
 ment, full of quaint stories vigorously told, will not be excelled by any book 
 to be published throughout the year. Sound, hearty, and English to the core.' 
 World. 
 
 HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. Third 
 
 Edition, Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 1 A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful 
 reading. ' Times. 
 
 FREAKS OF FANATICISM. (First published as Historic 
 
 Oddities, Second Series.) Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 1 Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has 
 chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly 
 fascinating book. - Scottish Leader. 
 
 SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional Ballads and Songs of 
 the West of England, with their Traditional Melodies. Collected 
 by S. BARING GOULD, M.A., and H. FLEETWOOD SHEPPARD, 
 M.A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts (containing 25 
 Songs each), Parts /., //., ///., 3*. each. Part IV., $s. In one 
 Vol., roan, \$s. 
 
 ' A rich and varied collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy. ' Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE EVENTS. 
 
 Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 SURVIVALS AND SUPERSTITIONS. Crowntvo. Illustrated. 
 
 [In the press. 
 
 JACQUETTA, and other Stories. Crown %vo. $s.6d. Boards,**. 
 
 ARM I NELL: A Social Romance. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 
 
 3*. 6d. Boards, 2s. 
 
 1 To say that a book is by the author of " Mehalah" is to imply that it contains a 
 story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic 
 descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery. All these expecta 
 tions are justified by " Arminell." 'Speaker. 
 
io MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 URITH: A Story of Dartmoor. Third Edition. CrownZvo. y.6d. 
 
 ' The author is at his best.' Times. 
 
 1 He has nearly reached the high water-mark of " Mehalah." 'National Observer. 
 
 MARGERY OF QUETHER, and other Stories. Crown 8vo. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA : A Tale of the Cornish Coast. 
 New Edition. 6s. 
 
 Fiction 
 
 Author of 'Indian Idylls.' IN TENT AND BUNGALOW: 
 
 Stories of Indian Sport and Society. By the Author of ' Indian 
 Idylls.' Croivn &vo. 3-r. 6d. 
 
 Fenn. A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author 
 of ' The Vicar's People,' etc. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 
 Pryce. THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE, 
 Author of 'Miss Maxwell's Affections,' etc. Crown %vo. 3-r. 6d. 
 Picture Boards ', 2s. 
 
 Gray. ELSA. A Novel. By E. M 'QUEEN GRAY. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 ' A charming novel. The characters are not only powerful sketches, but minutely 
 and carefully finished portraits.' Guardian. 
 
 Gray. MY STEWARDSHIP. By E. M'QUEEN GRAY. 
 
 Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 Cobban. A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By J. MACLAREN 
 
 COBBAN, Author of ' Master of his Fate,' etc. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 ' The best work Mr. Cobban has yet achieved. The Rev. W. Merrydew is a brilliant 
 
 creation.' National Observer. 
 'One of the subtlest studies of character outside Meredith.' Star. 
 
 Lyall. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. By EDNA 
 LYALL, Author of 'Donovan.' Crown 8vo. $ist Thousand. 
 35. 6d. ; paper, is. 
 
 Linton. THE TRUE HISTORY OF JOSHUA DAVIDSON, 
 Christian and Communist. By E. LYNN LINTON. Eleventh and 
 Cheaper Edition. Post 8vo. is. 
 
 Grey. THE STORY OF CHRIS. By ROWLAND GREY, 
 
 Author of ' Lindenblumen,' etc. Crown $vo. 5-r. 
 Dicker. A CAVALIER'S LAD YE. By CONSTANCE DICKER. 
 
 With Illustrations. Crown %vo. 3*. 6d. 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST n 
 
 Dickinson. A VICAR'S WIFE. By EVELYN DICKINSON. 
 Crown &vo. 6s. 
 
 Prowse. THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. ORTON PROWSE. 
 
 Crown Svo. 6s. 
 Taylor. THE KING'S FAVOURITE. By UNA TAYLOR. 
 
 Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 Novel Series 
 
 3/6 
 
 MESSRS. METHUEN will issue from time to time a Series 
 of copyright Novels, by well-known Authors, handsomely 
 bound, at the above popular price of three shillings and six- 
 pence. The first volumes (ready) are : 
 
 1. THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 
 2. JACQUETTA. By S. BARING GOULD, Author of ' Mehalah, 
 
 etc. 
 
 3. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By Mrs. LEITH ADAMS (Mrs. 
 
 De Courcy Laffan). 
 
 4. ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN. 
 
 5. ARMINELL : A Social Romance. By S. BARING GOULD, 
 
 Author of ' Mehalah,' etc. 
 
 6. DERRICK VAUGHAN, NOVELIST. With Portrait of 
 
 Author. By EDNA LYALL, Author of ' Donovan,' etc. 
 
 7. DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 
 8. DISARMED. By M. BETHAM EDWARDS. 
 
 9. JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS. 
 
 10. MARGERY OF QUETHER. By S. BARING GOULD. 
 
 11. A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH. 
 
 12. A MARRIAGE AT SEA. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. 
 
 13. MR. BUTLER'S WARD. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 
 14. URITH. By S. BARING GOULD. 
 
 15. HOVENDEN, V.C. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 
 Other Volumes will be announced in due course. 
 
4 
 
 12 MESSRS. METIIUEN'S LIST 
 
 NEW TWO-SHILLING EDITIONS 
 
 Crown 8vo, Ornamental Boards, 
 
 ARMINELL, By the Author of ' Mehalah.' 
 ELI'S CHILDREN. By G. MANVILLE FENN. 
 DISENCHANTMENT. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. MABEL ROBINSON. 
 JACQUETTA. By the Author of ' Mehalah.' 
 Picture Boards. 
 
 A DOUBLE KNOT. By G. MANVILLE FENN. 
 THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By RICHARD PRYCE. 
 JACK'S FATHER. By W. E. NORRIS. 
 A LOST ILLUSION. By LESLIE KEITH. 
 
 Books for Boys and Girls 
 
 Walford. A PINCH OF EXPERIENCE. By L. B. WAL- 
 FORD, Author of 'Mr. Smith.' With Illustrations by GORDON 
 BROWNE. Crown &vo. 6s. 
 
 1 The clever authoress steers clear of namby-pamby, and invests her moral with a 
 fresh and striking dress. There is terseness and vivacity of style, and the illustra- 
 tions are admirable. ' A nti-J acobin. 
 
 Molesworth. THE RED GRANGE. By Mrs. MOLESWORTH, 
 Author of 'Carrots.' With Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. 
 Crown %vo. 6s. 
 
 'A volume in which girls will delight, and beautifully illustrated." Pall Mall 
 Gazette, 
 
 Clark Russell. MASTER ROCKAFELLAR'S VOYAGE. By 
 W. CLARK RUSSELL, Author of The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc. 
 Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. Crown %vo. $s. 6d. 
 
 'Mr. Clark Russell's story of "Master Rockafellar's Voyage "will be among the 
 favourites of the Christmas books. There is a rattle and " go " all through it, and 
 its illustrations are charming in themselves, and very much above the average in 
 the way in which they are produced. Guardian. 
 
 Author of ' Mdle. Mori.' THE SECRET OF MADAME DE 
 Monluc. By the Author of 'The Atelier du Lys,' 'Mdle. Mori,' 
 Crown 8vo. $s. 6d. 
 ' An exquisite literary cameo.' World. 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 13 
 
 Manville Fenn. SYD BELTON : Or, The Boy who would not 
 go to Sea. By G. MANVILLE FENN, Author of ' In the King's 
 Name,' etc. Illustrated by GORDON BROWNE. Crown Svo. 35. 6d. 
 1 Who among the young story-reading public will not rejoice at the sight of the old 
 combination, so often proved admirable a story by Manville Fenn, illustrated 
 by Gordon Browne ! The story, too, is one of the good old sort, full of life and 
 vigour, breeziness and fun. Journal of Education. 
 
 Parr. DUMPS. By Mrs. PARR, Author of ' Adam and Eve,' 
 ' Dorothy Fox,' etc. Illustrated by W. PARKINSON. Crown Svo. 
 3*. (>d. 
 
 1 One of the prettiest stories which even this clever writer has given the world for a 
 long time.' World. 
 
 Meade. A GIRL OF THE PEOPLE. By L. T. MEADE, 
 Author of * Scamp and I, 'etc. Illustrated by R. BARNES. Crown 
 Svo. $s. 6ct. 
 'An excellent story. Vivid portraiture of character, and broad and wholesome 
 
 lessons about life.' Spectator. 
 'One of Mrs. Meade's most fascinating books.' Daily News. 
 
 Meade. HEPSY GIPSY. By L. T. MEADE. Illustrated by 
 EVERARD HOPKINS. Crown fy t 2s. 6d. 
 
 ' Mrs. Meade has not often done better work than this." Spectator. 
 
 Meade. THE HONOURABLE MISS : A Tale of a Country 
 Town. By L. T. MEADE, Author of ' Scamp and I,' ' A Girl of the 
 People,' etc. With Illustrations by EVERARD HOPKINS. Crown 
 Svo, 3^. 6d. 
 
 Adams. MY LAND OF BEULAH. By MRS. LEITH ADAMS. 
 With a Frontispiece by GORDON BROWNE. Crown Svo, 3*. 6d. 
 
 English Leaders of Religion 
 
 Edited by A. M. M. STEDM AN, M. A. With Portrait, crown Svo, 25. 6d. 
 
 A series of short biographies, free from party bias, of the . ., 
 
 most prominent leaders of religious life and thought in this r\ lf~\ 
 and the last century. ^1 *J 
 
 The following are already arranged 
 
 CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R. H. HUTTON. [Ready. 
 
 ' Few who read this book will fail to be struck by the wonderful -insight it displays 
 into the nature of the Cardinal's genius and the spirit of his life.' WILFRID 
 WARD, in the Tablet. 
 
 ' Full of knowledge, excellent in method, and intelligent in criticism. We regard it 
 as wholly admirable.' Academy. 
 
14 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 JOHN WESLEY. By J. H. OVERTON, M.A. [Ready. 
 
 1 It is well done : the story is clearly told, proportion is duly observed, and there is 
 no lack either of discrimination or of sympathy.' Manchester Guardian. 
 
 BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G. W. DANIEL, M.A. [Ready. 
 CHARLES SIMEON. By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. [Ready. 
 
 JOHN KEBLE. By W. LOCK, M.A. [Nov. 
 
 F. D. MAURICE. By COLONEL F. MAURICE, R.E. 
 THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. 
 CARDINAL MANNING. By A. W. HUTTON, M.A. [Ready. 
 Other volumes will be announced in due course. 
 
 University Extension Series 
 
 A series of books on historical, literary, and scientific subjects, suitable 
 for extension students and home reading circles. Each volume will be 
 complete in itself, and the subjects will be treated by competent writers 
 in a broad and philosophic spirit. 
 
 Edited byj. E. SYMES, M.A., 
 Principal of University College, Nottingham. 
 
 Crown Sv0. 2s. 6d. 
 The following volumes are ready : 
 THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE 
 B. GIBBINS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden 
 Prizeman. Second Edition. With Maps and Plans. [Ready. 
 
 1 A compact and clear story of our industrial development. A study of this concise 
 but luminous book cannot fail to give the reader a clear insight into the principal 
 phenomena of our industrial history. The editor and publishers are to be congra- 
 tulated on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant 
 interest for the succeeding volumes of the series." University Extension Journal. 
 
 A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By 
 L. L. PRICE, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. 
 
 PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 
 Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. 
 
 VICTORIAN POETS. By A. SHARP. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. SYMES, M.A. 
 
 2/6 
 
MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 15 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY. By F. S. GRANGER, M.A., Lecturer in Philo- 
 sophy at University College, Nottingham. 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE : Lower Forms. By 
 G. MASSEE, Kew Gardens. With Illustrations. 
 
 AIR AND WATER. Professor V. B. LEWES, M.A. Illustrated. 
 
 THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C. W. 
 KIMMINS, M.A. Camb. Illustrated. 
 
 THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. SELLS, M.A. 
 
 Illustrated. 
 ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. 
 
 ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVEN- 
 TEENTH CENTURY. By W. A. S. HEWINS, B.A. 
 
 The following volumes are in preparation : 
 NAPOLEON. By E. L. S. HORSBURGH, M.A. Camb., U. E. 
 
 Lecturer in History. 
 ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY. By T. J. LAWRENCE, 
 
 M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Downing College, Cambridge, U. E. 
 
 Lecturer in History. 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY. By J. SOLOMON, 
 M.A. Oxon., late Lecturer in Philosophy at University College, 
 Nottingham. 
 
 THE EARTH : An Introduction to Physiography. By E. W. 
 SMALL, M.A. 
 
 Social Questions of To-day 
 
 Edited by H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. 
 
 Crown 8v0 t 2s. 6d. O \r~\ 
 
 A series of volumes upon those topics of social, economic, I ^"^ 
 
 and industrial interest that are at the present moment fore- 
 most in the public mind. Each volume of the series will be written 
 by an author who is an acknowledged authority upon the subject 
 with which he deals. 
 
 The following' Volumes of the Series are ready : 
 
 TRADE UNIONISM NEW AND OLD. By G. HOWELL, 
 M.P., Author of ' The Conflicts of Capital and Labour. 
 
1 6 MESSRS. METHUEN'S LIST 
 
 THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. 
 HOLYOAKE, Author of ' The History of Co-operation.' 
 
 MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. FROME WILKINSON, M.A., 
 Author of c The Friendly Society Movement.' 
 
 PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 
 Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C. F. BASTABLE, 
 M. A., Professor of Economics at Trinity College, Dublin. 
 
 THE ALIEN INVASION. By W. H. WILKINS, B.A., Secretary 
 to the Society for Preventing the Immigration of Destitute Aliens. 
 
 THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. ANDERSON GRAHAM. 
 LAND NATIONALIZATION. By HAROLD Cox, B.A. 
 
 A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. GIBBINS 
 (Editor), and R. A. HADFIELD, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield. 
 
 The following Volumes are in preparation : 
 
 ENGLISH SOCIALISM OF TO-DAY. By HUBERT BLAND 
 one of the Authors of ' Fabian Essays. ' 
 
 POVERTY AND PAUPERISM. By Rev. L. R. PHELPS, M.A., 
 Fellow o r Oriel College, Oxford. 
 
 ENGLISH LAND AND ENGLISH MEN. By Rev. C. W. 
 STUBBS, M.A., Author of ' The Labourers and the Land.' 
 
 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM IN ENGLAND. By Rev. J 
 CARTER, M.A., of Pusey House, Oxford. 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE. By J. R. DIGGLE, 
 
 M.A., Chairman of the London School Board. 
 
 WOMEN'S WORK. By LADY DILKE, Miss BEILLEY, and 
 Miss ABRAHAM. 
 
 RAILWAY PROBLEMS PRESENT AND FUTURE. By 
 R. W. BARNETT, M.A., Editor of the 'Railway Times.' 
 
 grimed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, 
 at the Edinburgh University Press. 
 
19303 
 
 I QMS