The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-12


 if the concern is a partnership with, say, four or five members. the partners themselves are drawing out each year what, in a way. might be called sala- ries, viz, approximately the amount of money necessary to meet their gen eral living expenses, leaving their sur plus profits in the business. Any part nerShip or any prOtit-sharing plan that divided up the profits and withdrew them in cash at the end of every year could not last very long.
 Why Some Profit-Sharing Plans Fall
 Many profit-shari plans have divld- cd profits with employees on a cash basis and turned the money over to the employees every so often, usually once a year. The result has been that If man earning S1 900 a year received S2OO at the end of the year from proflt-sharing plan, he promptly lifted his living expenses from a S1,OOO basis to S1.2OO basis. and began to look upon his income as 1900 rather than S1,OOO, and the extra S2OO did little to increase his activity and efficiency, or to promote his intellectual efforts Tn the business concerned.
 Then if period came when busi- ness was dull or poor and he did not get the extra S2OO, he found fault with the owners of the business and became grouchy and inclined to lose Interest in his work.
 Little real substantial benefit comes from a profit-sharing plan where the profits are paid out in cash. except perhaps where a man uses the money toward buying home.
 Full Publicity Needed About the Busi-
 ness.
 In establishing prOfit-sharlng it Is of the utmost importance that the entire organization, the wage and sal ary earners, know in advance exactly what they are expected to accomplish. mean by this that, on entering a new year, they should know exactly what the preceding years accomplishments have been. The annual statement of the concern should be full and explicit, SO that every man engaged in the enter prise will know what business was done in the preceding year and on what basis profits were and are to be dis tributed
 Some Objections to the Plan Answered.
 Many people have said to me: "Oh, but 1t takes a long while for a man who Is only saving a small sum each year to acquire much of a financial in terest in the concern by which he Is employed" have always found that such criticism comes from someone who has not given sufficent thought to the subject, for a small interest means as much to the man having a com r,e .Tr T- terest does to the man of large affairs. Let us summarize some of the ad- vantages of this method of profit shar- ing:
 First-It is real, it Is genuine. The organization as a whole, and each in- dividual in 1t. has a definite goal for the years work. They know at the beginning of year how much money must be earned to cover what we will and fixed charges; they know that they are being pair salaries to earn those fixed charges: they know that they share in all the profits over and above those fixed charges, and they know the basis on which they share, and that the amount of such profits largely depends on the individual and collective effort of each individual in the organization. This In itself is of great practical value to the business from a doIlar-and-cent standpoint.
 Second-Having reached the goal set, the money over and above the sal aries they are paid-in other words, their prof1ts-are invested in the bust ness in which they are engaged and on which their whole time and thought and energy should be centered. Profit sharing on the basis I favor Is sometimes objected to by men or concerns who do not wish to let even their own employees know how little or how much money they are making each year. If they are not making enough money and the business Is run ming on a close margin each year, then by all means they should set their situation before their men, adopt such a profit-sharing plan as have outlined, and get the genuine CO., operation of every man towards in- creasing the profits and putting the business in a prosperous condition
 The man who is running on small margin and making little profit may object to making his business affairs public property, on the ground that he would be putting weapon in the hands of his competitors. Such mans best protection against his competitors is a loyal, closely knit organization of the highest efficiency, and this important advantage he can only secure through q bona f1de profit-sharing plan As for the man who is making so much money that he is afraid to let even his own employees know how much he is making, to that man I say that he is man who, more than any other, is responsible for the serious differ ences today existing between capital and labor, for with the growing intel ligence of the masses, how can he ex- pect such a situation to continue?
 As for the man who is making large profits but who objects to profit sharing on the ground that he wants to put those profits away against the day when business may be poor, to such man, I say that he had better use