The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-12
Profit Sharing
 OR The Workers S Fair Share By GEORGE w. PERKINS.
By GEORGE w. PERKINS.


 the Workers Fair Share" George w. Perkins said, in part:
 "Thc Workers Fair Share" has been real problem ever since the world began. Ii has changed greatly as civ ilization has progressed, and has crowded harder and harder for solu- tiOn as intelligence and education have spread and broadened.
 The workers fair share was an un- solved problem when the expression that designated the relationship be- tween the man of capital and the man of labor was "Owner and slave" It still existed when the expression of relationship became master and man." II still exists in these days, when the expression of relationship is lem pIoycr and employee" These very changes in the expressions used to desiC Cnate the relationship between capital and labor show that steady progress has been made toward sOlv- i-lg the problem of the workers fair share.
 I take 1t that everyone believes that we cannot go back to the old cOndi- lions; that we must move forward to an even better relationship than that expressed by the term employer and employee" You ask: ''What is this newer relationship 10 be and what term will express itg' answer that I be- IIeve 1t must be partners" If I am right, then the next question is how can this relationship be worked out so as to bring the best results to all concerned?
 Twenty-Five years ago I became con vinced that only through profit sharing that was real, honest and open could we hope to find anything like satis- factory and permanent method of ar irving at the workers fair share
 Profit Sharing Not Philanthropy.
 do not look upon profit sharing as philanthropy or a form of benevO- lence. I do not put it in the same class with gifts at Christmas-time or bonuses at the end of the year. do not ap- prove or believe in any plan that even savors of giving a man something for nothing
 The profit sharing I believe in is the kind that is real; the kind that pro- notes thorough and efficient cO-opera- ton between employer and employee; ; the kind that makes partners of employees the sort of profit sharing that Is practiced between partners in a business Anything short of this is bound to result in failure and will widen rather tAan narrow the breach between employer and employee
 Close observation coupled with con- siderable experience, has convinced me that practically all the many fail ures in profit sharing, both in this country and in Europe, have occurred because at bottom the plans were not honestly devised nor equitabIy worked out
 In the past the man who was not ed- ucated or trained to think independ- ently struck because he wanted S2 a day if he was only getting S1.75, and for quite a period labor differences were settled on this basis. I believe that we are rapidly passing out of that period, for our laboriBg people are so well educated and so able to think in- dependently that, In many cases, they are no longer striking for definite in- crease in wages, but for what they re- gard as a fairer proportion of the profits of the business in which they are engaged
 If am right about this, then we are rapidly leaving behind the period when labor disputes could be settled by a mere increase in wages and are enter ing the period when profit sharing in some form must be practiced-
 Outline of a Correct Proft-Sharine Plan.
 A good many years of actual expert ence have made me very optimistic re- garding prOfit-sharing plans worked out along the following lines: First-Every business has, first of all. to earn operating expenses, de preciation and fair returns on honest capitalization.
 Second-I believe that every busi- ness should consider that the compen- satiOn paid employees is for the pur- pose of earning a sum of money suffi- cient to pay the aforementioned items
 Third-I believe that any profits over and above such sum should, on some percentage basis, be divided be- tween the capital used in the business and the employees engaged in the busi- ness.
 Fourth believe that in neither case should these profits be immedi- ately withdrawn from the business that they should be left fin the business ! for a reasonable length of time to pro- tect and increase its financial strength and safety; that in the case of capital its share of these profits should be 1 carried to surplus; that in the case ! of employees their share of these prof | it's should be distributed to them in some form of security representing an interest in the business, and that each , employee should be required to hold such security for a reasonable length { of time, say three to five years i Fifth-I believe that the employees share of these profits should be allotted to them nearly as possible on the basis of the compensation they re- ceive. Up to. date this has proved to | be the best method.
 | Resuits Attained by Proper Plan. | Now, let us see what such a plan means: In the first place, it means | that under such an arrangement eacn 1 employee becomes a working partner | in the business. He is on the same