Profit-Sharing. 



quence of a strike, on the following basis : After deduction from the 

 net profits of interest at ten per cent on M. Bord r s capital embarked 

 in the business, the remainder is divided into two parts, one propor- 

 tional to the amount of interests on capital drawn by M. Bord ; the 

 other, to the whole sum paid during the year in wages to the men. 

 The former of these two parts goes to M. Bord ; the latter is divided 

 among all his employees who can show six months' continuous presence 

 in the house up to the day of the annual distribution. The share 

 obtained by each workman is proportional to the sum he has earned 

 in wages, paid at the full market rate during the year in which the 

 division of profits is made. The number of M. Bord's employees is a 

 little over four hundred, and the sums he has paid in labor 

 dividends average about fourteen per cent on the men's earnings 

 in wages. In another instance profit-sharing was introduced 

 (nearly forty years ago) under the auspices of M. Alfred De Courcy, 

 into one of the most important insurance companies of Paris, 

 the Compagnie des Assurances Generals. Five per cent on the 

 yearly profits realized by the company is allotted to its staff, 

 which numbers about two hundred and fifty employees of all grades, 

 whose fixed salaries are at least equal to those paid in non-participating 

 insurance offices in Paris. Xo part of this share in profits is handed 

 over in annual dividends. Each successive payment is capitalized and 

 it accumulates at four per cent compound interest until the beneficiary 

 has completed twenty-five years of work in the house, or sixty-five 

 years of age. At the expiration of this period he is at liberty either 

 to sink the value of his account in the purchase of a life annuity in 

 the office, or to invest it in French government or railway securities. 

 Should he decide on the investment as against the life insurance, he 

 is allowed to draw only the annual dividends arising from it, as the 

 company retains the stock certificates, and not till after his death will 

 it abandon its hold on the principal in favor of such persons as he 

 may designate by will to receive it. Leclaire, a house-painter, tried 

 the system among his employees. He finally had his establishment in- 

 corporated as a co-operative house, and as such it still exists. Each 

 of the two heads of the firm receives $1,200 in compensation for his 

 work as manager. The capital is allowed an interest of five per cent. 

 Then one-fourth of the profits goes to the two managers, one-fourth 

 to a mutual benefit society and insurance fund and one-half to the 

 laborers, who receive shares proportionate to their wages. The system 

 is not only a financial success, but the painters of the establishment 

 are among the best and most thrifty workmen in Paris. It is said 



