Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-12-07
THE GODIN FACTORY.
METHODS OF TIE COOPERATIVE
ESTABLISHMENT AT LlEGE.

A Peculiar Scheme of Industrial Distribu-
tion-Division Between Capital, Labor,
Talent and "Nature''-How the Stock
Changes Hands-Results.
AS with his social palace, so in his scheme |
of industrial distribution, NJ Godin's ideas
were colored by Fourierist recollections.
Before 1880 NJ. Godin had merely set apart |
certain SUMS, 900 or e10,0O0-out OF the |
profits of the year to be distributed among |
his men as bonus; but in 1880 he converted |
the business into a commandite company, and |
introduced complicated system of arrange
ments for realizing effectively Fouriers prin-
ciple of just division of the produce of in
dustry, the division between capital. labor
and talent, according to the Importance OF
their several contributions 1t 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 Godins opinion, as
important contributor to production as any
Of the other three Natures share in the di-
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
0tlU W I'LL SUITS VI HoNASNiN', sbANe
partly by means of a heavy graduated sue
eession 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 unmodifed, 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 NJ Godin's an
nuai division is 25 per cent of the whole net
profits to reserve fund for purposes of per-
sonal insurance In passing | may say that
besides this every workman is obliged to pay
to that fund 2 per cent. on his wages, that in
1883 the fund amounted to 100000 francs,
and in the three years it had existed at that
time more than 90, 900 francs had been paid
out of it for sick relief and pensions on
comfortable scale.
| Next to natures deal comes the deal of
talent or intelligence, and that also is fixed
at rs per cent. The director alone on. Godin
during his lifetime) got and gets y per cent.
of the profits, in addition to his salary OF
5000 francs. In 1888 this 10 per cent.
amounted to more than four times his salary.
Half the profits going THIS in equal shares to
nature and intelligence, the other half re-
manning to 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 NJ. 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 it received,
I1l11, 70 fna had
received. In 1888 the total amount of interest
paid was 230, 900 francs on 4, 100000 francs of
capital, and the total wages paid was ], SSS, 900
francs, SO that of this remaining half of the
profits some nine-tenths go to the deal of
labor
! N. 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
rails, / to 6,O00 900 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 like their wages, to
spend as they will.
M. 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. The people of the
familistere 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
Ifete 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 i'll
September.
The director, who at the head of the whole
place, is an autocrat in all business affairs.
He is elected-that is, since 18S0-but he is
elected for life, and his management is un-
controlled. He chooses the foremen and makes
The bargains. Next below him stand the
Igroup that elect him, the associes, numbering
sixty-eight in 1888, who must have worked at
least five years in the foundry, be men of
good education and stainless life and possess
mot less than 800 francs of capital i'll the
lDuS1li-So. 1uelI are
their requirements. They elect themselves
iby 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 the other associes, have the first
right to work when work is short and retire
ion @ pension of two-thirds Of their wa es OF
salaries. After them come ninety-fve So
cietaires, chosen by the manager and admin
iistrative council, sharing the profits on one
and one-half times their wages, and gettinga
pension on one-third of them; 573 partici-
pants. similarly chosen, and sharing on their
simple wages only; 25S auxiliaires, who as
Iyet get no share in the profits, except through
their interest in the insurance fund and 266
Iinreresses, 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 it is all
taken up, be again parted with in the same
way, the first shareholders being then obliged
to sell out their shares to the new corners.
During the interval the shares may appar-
emily be held by widows or other persons not
in active employment, but at the end of the
term they must always return to the posses
sion of actual laborers, and so the way is
ismoothed for the retirement of the older gen
Grafton and the accession Of the younger
Good Words.
ST. Pau1s Indian Scare.