Morning journal and courier., 1881-05-14

Saturday Morning, May IA, 1881.
THE GUIsE FAMILIsTERE.


 are interested in social questions is again called to the famous Familistere at Guise, France, by the report of Miss Augusta Bris- tol, who was sent by the Women's Social Science Society of New York to visit and ex- anime the institution. The Familistere is striking example of successful cooperation It was founded twenty years ago, and it now embraces not less than l, 100 workmen, who are employed in the foundries and who dwell with their wives and children in the buildings of the association.
 The specific object of the association is to carry on the industrial operations of the iron works belonging to the founder, M. Godin. But it also cares for all the physical and in- tellectual wants of the associates, whose lodging, food, education and recreation are all provided upon cooperative principles. Any person who has worked in the service of the association for year may become Par ticipant in the profits and if he has labored three years he may be admitted as Socie- tary, in which case he must reside in the Familistere, or common dwelling house. Those Societaries who have dwelt at least five years upon the premises, and who by allow ing their profits to accumulate, have acquired stock to the amount of $100, rise to the po- sition of Associates. From the profits eer- tain deductions are made under the head of social charges. For example, sums equiva- lent to ten per cent. of the value of the work ing stock and five per cent. of the value of the real estate are placed to the credit of a sinking fund, applicable to improvements and repairs. Appropriations are also made for the expenses of education and to the in surance funds, which guarantee the workmt n against loss by accident death. Interest is next paid in specie to the holders of stock. After these deductions, the net profit is di- vided as follows: Twenty-Five per cent. to the reserve fund, in which capital and labor are equally interested, twelve per cent. to the Superintendent, nine per cent. to the other members of the Executive Council collective ly, and two per cent. to the Council of Su- pervision. The last named Council and the Superintendent, together with part of the Executive Board, are elected by the associ- ates in convention. Lastly, fifty per cent of the net profits is divided between capital and labor, the part of labor being represented by the sum total of wages and salaries paid out during the year, and the part of capital by the interest on the stock it holds In dis tributing the amount assigned to labor it should be added that the Associate is reck- oned as earning twice, the Societary one and half times, and the Participant the exact sum of his respective wages or salary In other words the workman who has dwelt five years in the Familistere gets twice as large share of the net profits as the work man who has been employed but single year, besides the interest on the stock he may have acquired by his economies.
 The common dwelling house consists of three huge brick structures joined together at an angle and each enclosing an interior court, covered with glass roof and paved with asphalt. The floors are tiled and no wood is used in any of the walls, even the in- terior partitions being so constructed as to prevent the spread of flames All the rooms are well lighted, there being more than thousand windows in the edifce. The apart ments vary in their dimensions so that a workman is able to hire such comport with his means or wages. In each of the three structures there are reading room, and billiard room. The courts and entrances to all the stairways and suites of apartments are lighted at night by the association and every hour watchman makes his round from garret to cellar, while a company of forty fremen are prepared to seize the pumps at the first signal.
 The association has stores where every thing necessary for ordinary maintenance ho ic a nursery, to which forty infants are brought by their mothers every day about 10 in the morning, and from which they are returned to the family apartments at from to 6 in the afternoon. The nursery is supplied with all the toys and appliances suitable to the period of infancy. In the same building is department for sixty children from two to four years of age. There is also theatre, which serves 8 place of daily reunion for the people, and where every evening a con- cert is given by the forty musicians of the institution. Here, also, the inhabitants cele- brate the festival of labor and the festival of the children, the former taking place in May and the latter in September. The school rooms, situated in the wings of the theatre, and in which two hundred children from four to fourteen years of age are taught, are well lighted, ventilated and furnished with all the conveniences adapted to each grade of instruction. Within the grounds there are restaurant and cafe, and on the north of the main building, but separated from it by a river, are the bath and wash houses of the association.
 It is not to be supposed that this great in- stitution is carried on without any friction. Doubtless there is considerable. But the fact that it has lasted and grown for twenty years and is to-day prosperous seems to dem- onstrate that cooperation can be success fully carried out, even in this present evil world.