24 KANSAS UNlVKKsnv ylARIKRI.A'. 



have been up to date about seventy or eighty shares taken b}' the 

 employees, nearly all of which were purchased at prices varying 

 from $ioo to $128. The company has under consideration a plan 

 to go one step further and guarantee the employees who hold stock 

 against loss upon their investment. They find a good many diffi- 

 culties in the way of the practical working of such a guarantee, but 

 hope to make it a permanent part of their system. 



Another important feature of the Ivorydale system is the pension 

 fund inaugurated for the benefit of the employees. This fund is 

 created b}' setting aside the sum of $500 semi-annually, half of 

 which amount is taken from each profit sharing dividend and one- 

 half is paid b\' the Proctor & Gamble Company. The management 

 of the fund is in charge of a board of trustees composed of 

 employees and members of the company. A pension is granted to 

 any employee Vvho has been in the continuous employment of the 

 company for not less than seven years when partial or total 

 disabilit}' to work has been caused by accident, sickness or old age, 

 and it is the company's intention so far as possible to provide those 

 who are entitled to pensions with such work as they can readily 

 perform at such wages as the work is worth. The introduction of 

 the pension fund is of recent date, but on Januar\' i, 1895, there 

 was $2000 in the fiind with one pensioner upon the rolls. 



One other economic condition is found in the building and loan 

 associations which have enabled a few to build their own homes, 

 and this is encouraged by the compan\'. 



The attempt to improve the social life of the employees has met 

 with less success. Although library, reading room and card room 

 have been provided free, they have not met the success anticipated 

 when inaugurated. This is doubtless owing to the man\' mutual 

 aid clubs which furnish greater attractions than the reading room 

 and the library. In seeking enjoyment laborers have a tendency 

 to scatter into other groups rather than to associate among them- 

 selves in a single group; also the widely separated position of the 

 homes render compact grouping almost impossible, as about one- 

 half live near Ivorydale and the rest live in the city of Cincinnati. 



When an employee is injured or sick, the physician employed by 

 the company cares for him. The company also continues the 

 wages of the injured employee through the period of his disability, 

 and seeks to emphasize the fact that employer and employee are 

 associated for a common interest. Many methods are taken by 

 the managers to show their interest in the employees. Thus, on 

 Christmas day, 1893, three hundred turkeys were distributed among 

 the heads of families. And after each semi-annual pay-day in 



