Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-08-26

A society is now forming in England, to in
troduce the participation" system of manu-
featuring, in which a share of the net profits
of an undertaking is allotted to the workmen
in addition to their wages paid at the full
market rate. 1t is said that not less than one
hundred firms on continental Europe are now
worked on this plan, with good results. The
industries represented by these firms include
agriculture, railways, banks, insurance offices,
iron, smelling type-founding, cotton-spin-
ming, and the manufacture of tools, paper,
chemicals, lucifer matches, furniture and
many other branches of trade.
There are various systems on which the
distributions are made. The simplest is that
which distributes the share in ready money
at the close of each years account, without
imposing any conditions upon the disposition
which is made of the money. The most i'm
portant of the group of firms acting on this
plan is the pianoforte- making establishment
of NJ. Bord, in Paris. The system was in
troduced after a strike, which occurred in
1865, and on the following basis After de-
duction from the net profits of interest at 10
per cent. on the capital embarked in the
business, the remainder is divided into two
parts, one proportional to the amount of in
terest drawn on capital by NJ. Bord, and the
other to the whole sum paid during the year
in wages to the workmen. The former part
goes to NJ. Bord, and the other is divided
among those workmen who can show six
months continuous presence in the house up
to the day of distribution. NJ. Bord has
about 400 workmen, and the total sum paid
to them out of the profits since the plan was
introduced is $195, 600, or from 10 to u per
cent upon their wages. There could be no
better remedy against unreasonable agita-
tons and strikes, or that perpetual friction
between employer and employed which in
their effects are scarcely less injurious and
wasteful than open strife. We are quite pre-
pared to believe what the advocates of this
system claim for it. that it furnishes to the
workman a supplementary income under cir
cumstances which directly encourage, or
even by gentle compulsion actually enforce,
saving; and, by associating him in a very
real sense with his employer, it arouses as
pirations from which great moral improve
ment may be confidently anticipated. The
employer, besides sharing in whatever sur
plus profits are realized and the more efficient
labor which participation calls forth, obtains
the boon of industrial stability and the sup
port of q united corporate feeling elsewhere
unknown. Independently of these advan-
tages to the two parties directly concerned,
the customer of participating house finds in
Nits very organization guarantee for en-
HANGED excellence of workmanship and ra-
pidity of execution.
The superiority of this system to the Or
binary forms of co0peration-which in this
country have usually proved failures-is
very evident, and the success which has at
tended it in the various parts of Europe
where it has been tried is one of the most
hopeful indications of the times.
A plan quite different from this is that
which was introduced thirty years ago into
one of the most important insurance compa-
MES of Paris, the Compagnie d'Assurances
Generates. Five per cent on the yearly prof
its realized by the col. pany is allotted to its
staff, numbering about $50 employees of all
grades. No part of the share thus allotted is
hahACu ONoA III ulNlutuub, Dub tdcD
successive payment is capitalized, and ac-
cumulates at per cent compound interest
until the beneficiary has completed twenty.
| five years of work in the house, or has reached
the age of 60. At the end of that time he
may either invest the value of his account in
the purchase of life annuity in the office
or he may put it into French government oil
| railway gannritiaa To N ohnnpae Lao
course, he can draw only the annual divi
dends, the company retaining the stock Ger
tifoates, subject to such disposition as he
may make of them by will Under this plan
considerable sums accumulate in compare
lively short space of time, one bookkeepel
having S24O0 to his credit after fourteen
years of work, a sub-cashier $4,000 aftel
twenty-five years, and superior official SI3,
900 after a similar period.
A third plan, and the one followed by mos
of the participating establishments, combine
the two systems already described The,
distribute part of the workpeople's share o
the profits in cash, and invest the remainde
for purposes of saving. Thus in the firm o
Billen & Isaac. makers of music-boxes, afte
the deduction of interest on capital, aud pay
ments to the reserve and maintenance funds
the net profits are divided into two parts
one-half going to the shareholders and ad
ministration, and the other half constituting
the share Of the workmen, distributed in pro
portion to their wages. OF this share one
half is paid in cash, and the other half is in
vested in the gradual purchase for the bene
fciaries of $50 shares in the company, whic
carry with them votes at its general meetings
The proportion of each workmans share t
his annual wages, from 1871 to 1880, range
from fraction of one per cent. to 2st pc
cent according to the fluctuations of business
The particular plan adopted is, however
of less importance than the introduction G
this principle of prOht-shRring.