Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-17
SHARING OF PROFITS.
The Manager of the Bourne Cotton
Mills Declares It's a Success.
BEST WAY TO AVOID STRIKES.
Owners Of other Mills Who Scoffed Are Now
Filled With Wonder.
IMPORTANT TO PITTSBURG JUST NOW

| 1
The cotton manufactures at Fall River,
Mass, are the largest in the world. OF
| these the Bourne mills are among the most
prosperous George P. Chace is its mana
ger and profit sharing is the basis of lis
prosperity. Manager Chace was asked to
write for THE DISPATCH an article on
profit sharing. He responded as follows:
Self interest is the first law of business
Neither creditors, competitors nor custom
ers have much respect for the man who does
not look out for number one.
The future may possibly have in store
| some modified realization of the dreams of
Plato or Moore or Bellamy, when gold will
be despised, "money" and property" be-
come obsolete and business transacted only
by the Government; when everybody will
be fed and clothed by the State somewhat
after the fashion that soldiers or convicts or
| paupers are now, and the wicked love of
wealth, the follies of fashion and
desire for position and indulgence
will be good, since there no longer will
be opportunity or necessity to be selfish and
bad Utopia is such toggy dreamland,
however, and so far off, that its pleasing
mirage may be pictured to suit ones fancy,
while the cold fact to-day remains at the
best but thinly disguised-that the real
basis of successful business is self
| interest.
Self interest may be wise and otherwise.
Selfshness is short-sighted folly which
defeats its own aim, but wise self interest
| looks beyond the present moments advan-
tage.
Simple Example Cited.
A stingy drayman who half starves his
horse and hopes by blows to force the stint
of work from his thin-ribbed beast may
think he is shrewd, whereas a few more
handfuls of grain a day would soon give
him sleek and spirited animal with will
ing strength for larger tasks Besides, the
energy wasted in beatings and curses could
be saved for better use, and valuable time
lost through frequent halts could be gained;
but, more than all, the truckman himself,
relieved of his irritation, would become a
kinder master and q worthier citizen,
taking pride in his glossy steed, now be-
come a noble, eager draught horse. A few
oats did it.
Is there not fit parallel in the treatment
of human beings? The employer who pays
starvation wages" and expects to get the
measure of work by sweating and grinding,
who is bothered by frequent shifts, poor
production and occasional strikes is as short
sighted as this poor teamster, and perhaps
more so, inasmuch as the capabilities and
sensibility of human beings are greater than
those of dumb creatures. 1t pays as mat
ter of business to trust human nature and
expect large returns for your confidence
good faith and fidelity are the rule, for
treachery and fraud are more conspicuous
only because they form the exception.
The Basis of Profit Sharing.
The passenger to Jericho who fell among
thieves will doubly repay his Samaritan
benefactor when he is restored to strength,
while the Levite and the priest who left
him to die lost chance for a good invest
ment, whether for this world or the next
The principle of profit sharing relies upon
the natural appreciation of good turn.
Starvation wages, viewed from the em-
ployer's standpoint, are any rate or system
of wages that hinders workman from do
ing the full measure of work or inj ures the
quality of it. sIhere seems to be no end to
the development of skill, and it is difficult
te estimate the difference in value between
an eager and reluctant workman, between
one vino works for your interest and one
who works against it, and whose chief en-
deayor is to do only Just enough to secure
his pay. Profit sharing proposes to supply
the impulse to advance the whole interest,
both of employer and employe. 1t would
seem to offer the safest practicable solution
of the labor problem short of socialism. 1t
keeps the affairs of business in the hands of
men who have brains and gumption, pre-
serves the incentive of self interest intact
and proffers to employees an appreciable
share, which may be increased as it is de-
served, in the results.
No Communism About 1t.
Profit sharing does not smack of COM
munism. Because the teamster was wise to
give his horse few more oats it does not
follow that he need be fool and turn the
animal loose to help himself at the grain
bin. Profit sharing should be managed
iudiciously. 1t is adapted to every form of
business and deserves a fair trial. In adopt
ing it the same care that is exercised in
purchasing government bond should be
used; no more is necessary. 1t is not a lot
terry, nor will it tnrn out bonanza. If the
cash return is equal to the amount dis
DuTScu IL Is uOt q idiluIC, uOt SOOu
will and cooperation worth the extra
trouble? On the average it will do better
than that.
Profit sharing pays. No sensible person
would hope to recommend it to business
men if it did not pay. Of course it pays. 1t
pays the employer, it certainly paws the
employe, it helps to pay the creditor, it pays
the community and it pays the customer.
1t gives the customer better quality. 1t is
an advantage to the community in develop
ing more thrifty citizeps and better reputa-
tion. A gentleman who travels considerably
assured the writer few days ago that
nothing had done so much to redeem the
reputation of a certain city, which one way
and another had acquired q hard name
throughout the country, as an experiment
in profit sharing. Profit sharing teaches
employees thrift. They learn that care. in-
terest, skill, attention mean profits, and be-
ginning to save and contrive for their enl-
ployer, they come to lay up for themselves.
When once a person begins to be fore
handed he is a ore desirable citizen. The
complaint that a workingman has no
chance is set aside in the principle of profit
sharing.
It Ends the Strike Forever.
Profit sharing is the lubricant that saves
friction. When workingman is given
fair chance and believes that his employer
means to allow him a fair show he is not
forever thinking about strikes; he is attend
ing to business. This sentiment is not all
OH one side. When al employer has taken
L Il