Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-02-25
THE SHIPS.
Ton deep bark goes Where traffic flows, From lands of sun to lands of snows; This happier one, Its course is run, From lands of snow to lands of sun.
A SOCIAL PALACE.
PARIS FAMOUS ''FAMILlSTEREn
 FOUNDED BY M. GODIN.


 FOUNDED BY M. GODlN. A Cooperative Factory with Hundreds
 of Families Living Under Single
 Roof-Easy Hours of Labor-Aged and
 Crippled Insured.
 From his boyhood M Godin had been student and follower of the social ideas of Fourier and Pere Enfantin. Now, having reached position of power and independ- ence, he determined to put those theories into practice. His plan was to make one great family of all his work people, with common mutual interests in the general well fare. He accordingly erected large build ing, to which additions have since from time to time been made, until it now has front age of nearly 600 feet. This he divided into suites of rooms for his workmen and their families. He called it the "Palais Social" But it is more commonly known as the ''Familistere" At first the workmen did not like the idea They thought it would diminish their independence to live in such an institution. But M. Golden soon per suaded them that the system would make them really more independent, beside ena- bling them to live far more cheaply and there fore save far more money.
 In addition to the main building various wings and additional buildings have been erected, until now more than 400 families are lodged in the 'Palais Social" Were these in ordinary city tenements they would solidly occupy street more than mile long. The buildings are all of brick, and are practically fireproof. and constructed with every possible device for the comfort and sanitation of the occupants The buildings are four stories high, and each story has a clear height of ten feet. There is an abundant supply of water in every room. There is also large courtyard attached to each building, paved with cement and roofed with glass, serving as | a playground for the children in bad weather. The doors of the buildings are never fastened, and there are no watchmen nor special rules, so that all the occupants are as free to come and go and do as they please, as though each family lived in cottage of its own. Each family may rent as many rooms as it pleases, | and it's apartments are entirely separate from those of it's neighbors, excepting, of course, that they open upon general public hall way. Indeed the system is very much like that of of one of the huge apartment houses which have become so common ill American cities The cost of the buildings has been | about $2O0 for each inmate, and the rent charged averages about $1 per month for | each room. I may add that M. Godin him self had always occupied a set of rooms in the "Palais Social" differing from those of his workman ill no respect save the furniture, etc., he put into them.
 l Connected with the establishment there are also free schools, which are of higher grade l than the public schools of France, free libra | ries and reading rooms; well equipped the | ctre, the prices of admission to which range | from five cents to forty cents; gardens and parks cooperative stores, at which every thing can be purchased at the lowest possible | prices and then pay an annual dividend of profit to the purchasers; cafe, a nursery, and numerous minor institutions. There are also two fiourishing choral societies whose oc- | casional musical festivities are events of real artistic interest. The nursery is the most valuable of all these adjuncts to the "Palais Social" It is a large, cheery building in | charge of corps of nurses, where mothers may leave their children for the day while they are at work. For there is much em- ploy1nent for the women, in the stores, the laundry and the stocking factory. There are cradles for the very young babies, and play room and kindergarten for the older. Even here M. Godin's inventive play came into skill ill devising new kinds of cradles, etc., for the babies, by which the comfort and welfare of the little ones is insured, while the labors of the nurses in attendance are re- duced to the minimum.
 Such is the place where the people live. Near by is their workshop. The manufacto- ries cover nearly four acres of ground, and, as much of the building is several stories high, there must be ill all at least fifteen acres of floor room. There are five miles of tramway connecting the various portions of the works, and fully 1 200 are constantly em- ployed The bulk of the business done is the manufacture of stoves, ranges, furnaces, grates and their settings, coal scuttles, and other domestic utensils of cast iron. It is said the finest casting in the world is done there. Perhaps so. l have never seen any finer. The magnitude of the business may be reckoned from the fact that there are usually on hand, in stock, from 30, 900 to 40, 900 stoves and cook ranges ready for ship ment.
 M Godin believes in easy hours of labor. According to his theory, man ought not to work more than three or four hours at a stretch. So he had them all go to work at 6 in the morning and keep at it till 9. Then there was an hours intermission for rest and recuperatlon. From 10 to 1 80 they worked again, and then rested for an hour and half Another stretch from 8 to 6:3O finished the days work In all, therefore, ten hours work was done. But by being broken up into three sections it fatigued the men less | than eight hours continued toll would have done. You will understand how low wages are in France when I say that the average pay of these workmen has not been much above S5 a week each, and yet they are better paid than the hands in most other French factories. However, their wages do not represent all their income. From the outset M. Godip established the principle of giving each workman a share in the profits of capital proportionate to his share in the work of producing those profits. The capital of the establishment is S900, ,00O. The annual dividend of profit to the work men averages about per cent. on this, or S72,OOO. This pays about s1OO year each to the workmen who live in the Palais Social, for of the 1,2O0 hands employed some 800 are mere outsiders, who live in the village of Guise and come to the shops merely for their wages, like workmen in any ordinary fac tory.
 For the aged and crippled there are vari ous pension and insurance funds. There is Q pharmacy fund, by which the sick can pro cure needed medicines without cost. There is no hospital connected with the establish ment, however M. Godin held that it was best for the sick to be attended to in their own homes. Neither is there any chapel on