Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-22
ABOUT PROFIT SHARING.
SOME INSTANCES OF ITS OPERA
TON IN EUROPE.

The system Il Fifty Years Old-How II
Worked with Leclaire, the French House
Painter-The Unsuccessful Side. rs Shown
In the Whitwood Couieries.
The system Of dividing q proportion OF
profits among wage earners is no new thing.
1t is now nearly Fifty years since Edme Jean
Leclairs, French house painter in large
and prosperous way of business, who had
risen from the humblest beginnings, deter
mined to secure the honestco-operaton Of his
employees by giving up to them portion OF
the income which they helped him TO gain
In the face of the greatest miStrust and OPP
position, Leclaire stood by his inteution; and
at the end of 1912, the first year of his exper-
iment. distributed among his men s475, or
an average of over SO apiece. This very
practical proof of the genuineness of Le-
claire's intentions Immediately disarmed the
suspicious of his workmen, who needed no
further inducement to make the most Of the
opportunity offered by their masters clear
headed generosity. Once fairly started, the
plan prospered exceedingly, To the advantage
of both giver and receiver; and its success
has never been in doubt from the day OF its
Inauguration to the present. OF the advan-
tage gained by Leclaires men, it is enough
TO state that ia the forty years from 1872 TO
1882 sum of eIS3, o45 was paid TO them In
addition TO wages on the usual scale.
Not all the share of profits allotted TO the
workmeu was paid over in cash. Aodihca-
tons demanded by circumstances were made
when necessary in the original scheme; but
the mode of distribution finally assumed the
following shape: One-fourth of the profits
earned went to the managing directors, who
were also salaried and received interest at
per cent on their capital invested in the bust
ness; one-haf went to the workmea as q cash
bonus, and the Remaining quarter went TO
mutual aid society equivalnt to a proyident
fund. This society thus spiendidiy subsi-
died very soon developed into an institution
which of itself must have offered strong
temptation TO workn2en TO take service with
the Maison Leclaire. To every member of
the age of so, and who has worked twenty
years for the firm, it gives pension OF e4S,
and insures the lives Of all for $40
The method of dividing the share of profits
allotted to workmen between a cash payment
at the end of each year and . subscription to
a provident fund, is that adopted by most of
the houses which practice profit sharing
Some there are, however, which pay over the
whole amount In cash, as, for instance, NJ.
Bord, the pianoforte maker. NJ. Bord intro
xuced the system into his business on account
of strike In 1865, and has since then paid
over q considerable portion of bis profits to
all worklnen who have been in his employ for
six successive months. In 1882 thesum given
away was e5, 20o, being 20 per cent. OF the
whole amount paid In wages during the year.
AT the other extreme stands the system
employed by the Conlpagnie d'Assurances
Generates, under which per cent on the net
profits of the business Is set aside for the ben
eft of the employees and allowed to accunu-
late at interest tiu after twenty-five years
service, when the amount Is invested for the
benefit of the owner, who is allowed to take
the interest, but not to touch the capital No
actual money bonus is paid at all. Yet an
other manner Of profit sharing is that prec-
ticed by some limited liability companies in
which certain number of shares are set
aside for workmen and offered to them on
specially favorable terms In enc shape or
another participation of profits has found
good deal Of favor on the Continent, where
many firms have adopted it, with generally
very beneficial results 60 all parties concerned
One strikingly successful instance was
the death of Mime. Boucicaut, of the Bon
Marche, Paris, whose clerks and shopmen
hold three-fifths Of the very large capital
represented In the business Another is that
of the Maison Chalk, which runs the book
stalls at French railway stations, and pro-
duces those amazingly complicated time
tables.
In England profit sharing has never
~ = -. ca
time to time, various firms In different parts
of the country have made the experiment
and most Of them have found it pay 10 go on
with. But at the present time the whole
number of them does not amount to more
than two dozen. Among them may be men
toned Mesrs CasseH & Co., whose workInen
enjoy the benefits Of a provfdent fund estab-
lished out of the firms pro6ts. and Messrz.
Burroughs, Welcome & Co., the chemists,
whose 200 woriKmen are paid cash bonus.
Messrs. Thomas BushHl & Sons, printers and
manufacturing stationers, of Coventry, who
recently started q profit sharing System diff
fering in some slight respects from that Of
any other house, were awarded silver
medal for their rules in the socinl economy
system of the Paris exhibition Their first
years trial has been very successful, a bonus
of six weeks wages having been allotted TO
their woriksfen IL addition TO a sum placed
TO reserve.
The other side Of the shield is seen In the
notorious example Of the wildwood collier
les. The case Is an interesting ore at the
present moment as the i,umediate cause Of
the final abandonment Of participation was
the Intervention between the company and
its men Of the Niners Union In lsC4, On
the reconstruction Of the coUpsny, IL was
provided that ooe-hnh of any excess profits,
after the payment of 10 per cent dividend,
should be distributed among ali the men en-
ployed by the company h InorDrtioG 20 their
respective earnings Fur some years the
system worked admirably In fsz2cause the
boom" in the coal trade, and IN consider
alton Of rapidly rising prices The men asked
and were granted an advance en- their |
wages amounting to nearly 30 psr cent,
while at the same time it was arranged /.
tina: dividend II IS per cent. should BE paid 1
before the profit sharing skoald como tssso /
operation. Even these altered conditions 1
were highly sattzfactory 20 the rnensin June,
1874, ga 25s was distributed among thsszn as /
against q, go in the previosss year in the /
latter hak Of 1874 prices defined, and gen
eral REDUCTION of wasx In the TRACE became 4
necessary. The coapanys men jotned In /
the general strike we3cn e7surd and on the 4
protesting aexzzss any fwtker /
81 the bonus 10 was ds<coutso0sd
The ASnezs unson looked uDfzvoraLiy On /
the industrial partnership In forcs at tss 1
W hf1sood cellscrIesI The Eaen were Taught !
70 think that tee money tntributed 70 them
s,d If re war .ksrsr and J