Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20
SHARING OF PROFITS
Will Be Possible Only When the Mil
lennium Comes, According to-
THE VIEWS OF SENATOR FARWELL
It hight Uo for the Manufacturers but Not
for the Merchants.
1T MEANS SOCIALISM
rwnrrrEN FOR TIE p1srArcH.t

rwRITTIN FOR THE DIsPATcH.i
The division Of labor as means to the
best results in almost every kind Of busi-
ness has been SO successfully applied that
no large enterprise of any kind can succeed
without it. What else can be done to in
crease the efficiency of labor and capital?
Natural adaptation to some special work,
and continued application in that special
work, make experts, and experts make
success-other things being equal-and cap
ital and labor are equally interested in
success, as without q fair compensation for
both long continued prosperity is not pos
sible.
In this country fortunes have been made
50 rapidly in many lines Of business that
competition has sprung up as the Legitimate
counterpart Of large gains, until capital,
which began with large profits, while pay
ing large remuneration to labor, was obliged
to reduce wages to make even fair interest
on capital invested, and now dissatisfied
capitalist has to meet dissatisfied labor and
solve the problem Of fair compensation to
each. Both as citizen and as merchant
Of nearly 80 years experience I have had
occasion to give good deal Of attention to
the labor problem, and among other things
have studied the proft-sharing principle as
applied to my line of business
Practicable In the Iron Business.
Let me begin by saying, in broad sense,
labor does share in the profits of business
more largely in America than in any other
country in its relative receipts from the re-
suits Of labor and capital combined-in wages
now paid. The question is, can an addi-
tional motive be added by capital to
wages, which shall inure to the benefit of
both, in the form of share in the profits
over and above wage receipts? If so. both
must aecede to it by the ultimate law Of
human nature in business, namely, self
interest.
In some manufacturing concerns, notably
iron mills, where physical more than brain
force produces results, I should say that this
added motive would serve both capital and
labor in comparatively larger outputs and
greater harmony, and is therefore practi-
cable. In business establishments for the
sale of manufactured goods the same motive
could only operate on a small number of
employees, whose intellectual force and prac-
tical experience, combined with strict in
tegrity, make them competent to manage
departments. Capital may well share profits
with such men for the use of their expert
ence and intellectual force, but to extend
this motive beyond that line, SO as to make
it effective in better service from all en-
ployes, would not, In, my opinion, be
workable proposition.
Why 1t VIII Not Work Elsewhere.
To do it the capitalist would be obliged
to lower the fixed wages somewhat, and
then give a percentage of profits which both
capital and labor would consider more than
a compensation for the reduction In wages,
with the understanding that a sharer in
profits of labor will accelerate labor to in
crease his share in profits
In the case Of large percentage of labor
this might be true, but with q larger per-
centage the large dollar for immediate use
is more attractive that the hopeful profits
added to smaller wages, and they would
therefore reject the proposition.
It is quite fashionable now for large con-
Germs to incorporate and give all employees
of good standing and experience the optiod
to take shares in them, and this is undoubt-
edly the true plan for both in proft-sharing;
for while the labor capital is small at first
it is an index Of business habits and char
acter, and insures successful results 1t
gives an edge to both physical labor and in
LcllcCtudl tOll, u0WSfcF buldll, ~ VIGIL as y
wage interest in the business in hand, and
real merit never fails to increase its cash
investment with an aggressive application of
labor dynamica
It Means Socialism Eventually.
But carried to its legitimate conclusions
proft-sharing universally applied in indus
trial and mercantile pursuits means a COM
munity of interests and resolves itself into
socialism pure and simple. The history of
the world reveals the fact that barbarism
prevails when such system Is maintained,
and that civilization and refinement follow
individual, independent action in the accu-
mutation of wealth.
This being so, the mental and moral con-
stitution of the race must be radically
changed before the principle of proft-shar-
ing can be practically utilized to better the
conditions Of society. The millennium must
come, not in theory, but in practical power,
as fact, in which every man can divide
brain, muscle and means with every other
man and be proud of the privilege Of doing
it, and then the King Of Righteousness
Himself can again give Himself to the race
for its complete redemption from the
power of human selfshness.
JOHN V. FARwELL.