Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-11-09
THE GODIN FACTORY.
METHODS OF THE COOPERATIVE
ESTABLISHMENT At LlEGE.

METHODS OF THE COOPERATIVE
ESTABLISHMENT At LlEeE.
A Peculiar Scheme OF Industrial Distribu.
tion-Division Between Capital, Labor,
Talent and .'Nature,-How the stoch
Changes Hands-Results.
As with his social palace, SO in his scheme
of industrial distribution, NJ. Godins ideas
were colored by Fourierist recollections.
Before 1880 M. Godin had merely set apart q
certain sum-eS,000 or e1O,OO0-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 a complicated system of arrange.
ments for realizing effectively Fourier's prin.
ciple of a just divisiono Of the produce Of in.
dustry, the 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 a particular kind Of
labor, ami because nature, which Fourier
wholly ignored, was, in Godin's opinion, a.
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
out to all sorts Of productive societies, and
partly by means Of 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 i'll the meantime, so long as the laws Of
private inheritance and private property in
land remained unmodified, 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 M. Godin's an
nual division is IS 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 per cent on his wages, that in
1883 the fund amounted to 100000 francs,
and in the three years 1t had existed at that
time more than 90, 600 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 M. Godin
during his lifetime) got and gets 12 per cent
of the profits, in addition to his salary Of
$1,000 francs. In 1883 this 10 per cent
amounted to more than four times his salary.
Half the profits going thus in equal shares to
nature and intelligence, the other half re-
naming to be divided between the factors,
capital and labor. Capital had already re-
ccived 8 per cent. interest, and labor had Of
course already received its weekly wages, all
before there was any calculation of profit at
all, and M. Godin concluded that the proper
principle now was to give capital share Of
the remaining half Of the profits in proper
tion to the amount Of interest it received,
and labor in proportion to the wages it had
received. In 1883 the total amount Of interest
paid was 2SO, 600 francs on q, ,600, 900 francs Of
capital, and the total wages paid was / 1888 900
francs, SO that of this remaining half Of the
profits some nine-tenths go to the deal of
labor.
NJ. Godins scheme, however, by no means
ployes in the final result owner Of the
capital of the business, and with this view be
decided that the laborer's share of the profits
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 100000 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.
NJ. 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
fete 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 in
September.
The director, who at the head of the whole
place, is an autocrat in all business affairs.
He is elected-that is, since 1SSO-but he Is
elected for life, and his management is un-
controlled. He choses the foremen and makes
the bargains Next below him stand the
group 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
not less than 500 francs of capital in the
business. Their privileges are large, like
their requirements. They elect themselves
by co-optation, share In the profits on twice
their wages, can only be expelled from the
association by a vote Of two-thirds of their
own peers (the other associes). have the first
right to work when work is short and retire
on a pension Of two-thirds of their wages or
salaries. After them come ninety-hve So
cietaires, chosen by the manager and admin
istrative council, sharing the profits on one
and one-haf times their wages, and gettinga
pension on one-third Of them; 573 partici-
pants, similarly chosen, and sharing on their
simple wages only; 25s aunliaires, who as
yet get no share in the profits, except through
their interest in the insurance fund, and $50
increases, who are allowed to retain stock
they have inherited, though they have no
further interest in the concern. III
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