Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-10-04
TIE G0DIN FtGTORY.
METHODS or TfE COOPERATIVE
ESTABLISHMENT AT LIEGE.

tion-Division Between Capital. Labor,
Ta,eut and ssNature',-How the Stock
Changes Hand-Resu1ts.
As with bis social palace, 20 In his scheme
Of industrial distribution, Il Godn's ideas
were colored by Fourierist reooIlections.
Before 1850 n. Godin had merely set apart a
certain SUMS, 0oo or e1O,C oa-ou. Of the
profits Of the year to be distributed among
!. his men Is bonus; but In 1850 he converted
the business into conmandite company, and
introduced complicated system Of arrange
ments for realizing effectively Fouriers prtn-
ciple Of q Just division Of the produce OF IN
dnsry, tbs division between capital, labor
and talent, according to the Importance OF
their several contributions It Is true he
thought this principle theoretically defective,
because talent was only particular kind OF
labor, AMI because nature, which Fourier
wholly ignored, was, in Godinis opinion, as
important contributor to production as any
OF the other three. Natures share in the d.
vision ought, he thought, to be appropriated
by the state. partly by means Of the nation
alization OF land for the purpose Of letting it
out to al sorts Of productive societies, and
partly by means Of a heavy graduated sue
cession duty; and the funds thus obtained
ought to be employed IN establishing sys-
TEN of universal insurance against sickness,
accidents, age and vicissitudes generally.
But in the meantime, SO long as the laws OF
private Inheritance and private property in
land remained unmodided, and the state
showed no disposition to serve herself heir to
natures share, individual producers must
each set aside that share for themselves, and
consequently the first part in u. Godin's an
nual division is IS per cent Of the whole Ne.
profits TO reserve fund for purposes Of per-
sonal insurance. In passing I may say that
besides this every workman ts obliged to pay
to that fund 2 per cent. on his wages, that IN
1888 the fund amounted TO 500, eco francs,
and in the three years 1t had existed at that
tine more than 90, 900 francs had been paid
out Of it for sick relief and pensions on q
comfortable scale.
Next to natures deal comes the deal Of
talent or intelligence, and that also Is fixed
at 25 per cent. The director alone N Godin
during his ifstime) got and gets 12 per cent
Of the profits, in addition TO his salary of
1900 francs. In 1888 this 1o per cent.
amounted to more than four times his salary.
Half the profits going thus II equal shares to
nature and intelligence, the ether half re-
naming 60 be divided between the factors,
capital and labor. Capital had already re-
ceived 5 per cent. interest, and labor had Of
course already received its weekly wages, all
before there was any calculation Of profit at
all, and II. Godin concluded that the proper
principle now was TO give capital share Of
the remaining half Of the profits in proper
ton TO the amount Of interest il received,
and labor in proportion to the wages it had
received In 1853 the total amount of interest
paid was 23o, 600 francs on 4,6O0, 600 francs Of
capital, and the total wages paid was !, SIS, eco
francs, so that Of this remaining half OF the
profits some uine-tenths go to the deal Of
labor.
NJ. Godin's scheme, however, by no means
ends here; his object was to make the en-
ployes in the final result owner Of the
capital Of the business, and with this view he
decided that the laborer's share Of the profits
should not be paid Immediately into their
hands, to be used at their discretion, but
should be applied to buy for them shares in
the business. In this way the business IS
gradually falling into the hands of the labor
ers engaged in it. In 1888 they already pos
sessed stock amounting to nearly two millions
of francs, and though the capital has been
raised to 6,GO0. 0C0 francs, it will only take
few more years for It to be acquired entirely
by the employees. The interest on the shares
they possess they receive Ike their wages, to
spend as they Will
N Godin states, in his book On govern
ment, that the average amount Of indirect
taxation on articles OF consumption paid per
head in the familistere Of Guise is seventy
five francs, and turning TO books Of statistics
We find that the average for France generally
is only thirty francs. Tie people of the
famlllstere live, therefore, two and half
times better than the rest of the French
Their working day is ten hours, and they
have besides common holidays, two special
fese days OF their own every year-the Feast
OF Labor on the first Sunday in May and the
Feast Of Infancy on the first Sunday il
September.
The director, who at the head Of the whole
place, is an aurocrat in all business affairs.
He Is elected-that is, since 1SS0-but lie Is
elected for life, and his management is W.
controlled. He chooses the foremen and makes
the bargains. Next below him stand the
group TINT elect him, the associes, numbering
ii 1888, who must have worked at
least five years IN the foundry, be men Of
good education and stainless HE and possess
not less than 500 francs Of capital in the
business. Their privileges are large, Ike
their requirements They elect themselves
by co-optation, share In the profits on twice
their wages, can only be expelled from the
association by vote Of two-thirds Of their
own peers (she other associes,, have the first
right TO work when work Is short and retire
on a pension of two-skuds Of their WAGES or
salaries After them come ninety-fve So
cIetaires, chosen by the manager and admin
issrative council, sharing the profits On che
and one-haH times their wages, end getting
pension or oae-third OF them; $50 partict- !
pants, similarly chosen, and sharing on their
simple wages only; 25S au1iliaiFes, who a.
JET get no STARE in the profits, except through !
their interest n tia insurance fund. and 2S6 /
inEeresses, who are allowed TO retain stock
they have inherited, though they have no
further interest in the concern
The stock, which IS only being gradually |
taken up year By year, must, when j. is all /
aiken up, be again parted with IN tie sane /
way, the first shareholders being then obliged /
% sell out their shares to the new corners. i
During the interval the shares nay aDpar- /
.ntiy be held By widows or ether persons uoe
4 aceis "a employment, bur at the end Of the |
,erm they must always return 10 tie posses
don OF actual hborsrs, and so the way IS
noothed sor the retirement CT the older gen
ration and the accession OF tbs yoUnsar.-
rood Words
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