Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1883-11-22
EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYED.
ProHt-Sharing Experiments
AbrOad-LabOr Must be Ed
ucated and Given q Pres
ent Interest in its
DrnffS

Do Lewis's Monthly.
A little time ago 1 visited the
large publishing house OF Cassell,
Peter & Galpin, London. Nearly
a thousand men were busy at the
presses or preparing wOod-cuts,
giving to the people the great need
of the age, cheap, good literature,
All worked with enthusiasm. What
was the secret of it. Was it be-
cause they received fair wagess
Not that alone. Was it because
they were treated with the cours
tesy due from one man to anoth-
er, be he hod~carrier or millions
aire? Not that only. They were
sharers in the profits of the firm.
Every book printed was their
book. Every hour wasted was
their loss, Of the capital, $780,
600 is held by about 800 employees
who have been able to buy stock.
Two hundred and seventy>two
others, each by the payment OF
twenty-five cents weekly, in three
years and a half become partners.
Those unable to save even this
are helped to partnership after five
years by the Provident Society,"
established for old or disabled en-
ployes.
Notwithstanding of employers
with the employed, is gaining
ground abroad. Professor Sedley
Taylor, late Fellow of Trinity Col>
lege, Cambridge, who has written
much and ably on this subject,
has given a detailed account OF
the more than 100 firms already
using this method in Europe.
The Paris and Orleans Railway
Co., with 1913 employees, has
practiced profit-sharlng for forty
years. The entire sun allotted
the men, over and above market
wages, during this time, has been
S11,O0O,OOO. Formerly a bonus
was paid in cash. Now it is COM
pulsorily invested for a retiring
life -pension, when the employe is
fifty years old.
Messrs. Chalk & Co., publishers,
give 15 per cent. of the net profits
to their workmen. The amount
distributed in ten years has been
S125,OOO. One-third is given in
money, one-third to their Provi-
dent Society, and the remaining
third is received after twenty
years of labor. A single incident
will show the interest, after profit
sharing was introduced. Two
workmen, setting type, had each
ii lamp. They at once moved
their cases..together and blew out
the light 20 save expense for the
firm of which they were now a
part.
The proprietor has also organ
lied a school for his apprentices,
where history, bookkeeping. draw
ing, chemistry, ETC., are taught.
The pupils are promised two
cents for each attendance, and at
the end of the month receive this
for spending-money.
The Company of General insur-
ance has for thirty years divided
five per cent. of its profits among
it's employees, in proportion to their
several salaries. This is accumu-
lated at four per cent. compound
interest, until the workmen have
been twenty-five years in their
employ. The sum thus assigned
has been nearly 81. O00,0 900.
| was interested in the im>
mense Bon Marche; 1 saw the
rooms where the 1890 clerks take
their meals, and where many of
them sleep. Madame B~oucicants
husband and son having died, she
is tho responsible head. OF the
S4,000,000 capital, she holds 49,
100000. while her employees hold
S5OO,OdO. After five years of la
Dor In her house, all share in her
profits. This is put at four per
cent, compound interest, till the
men have worked twenty years
and the women fifteen. The labor~
share, since the adoption of this
system, seven years ago, has
reached nearly $4,000
In 1873, a company was formed
in Paris to study proft>sharing
and report it's progress. The an"
nual bulletin Can be obtained from
our National Bureau of Educa>
ton.
The Maison L~eclaire, with its
thousand workmen, is well known.
The founder, tie o of a poor
shoemaker, coming penniless at
TO Paris, was appren>
ticed to q hard master, and de>
in after years to aid
those who worked for him. Dur
the first fifteen years of his
business, they subscribed months
ly to a Mutual Aid Society. This
fund was then taken into the
partnership. The profits are Civ
en- latter taking off five per cent.
interest on capitaD, One-fourth to
the two managing partners, one~
fourth to the Aid Society, and
one-half in money to the workmen.
The day before his death in 1872,
Leclaire wrote his partner:
"Until sound learning shall have
replaced ignorance among the
masses, until the disinherited shall
have strength to raise themselves
to us, we must hold out a hand to
fbom Otharwisa tho raoted an