30 



Profit-Sharing. 



in any way concerned in the capture. But the form of profit-sharing, 

 whereby the worker has somewhat to do with the capital, is of more 

 recent years. Perhaps the oldest example of productive co-operation 

 is the Somerset Co-operative Foundry Company of 1867, which has 

 been fairly successful. The origin of all our co-operative concerns 

 shows that they arise from a strike, when men are left to shift for 

 themselves. There are many boot and shoe co-operative companies 

 that have met with great success. Co-operative creameries arose 

 because farmers were swindled by middlemen; and in self-defense 

 they pooled their dairy products and turned out butter and cheese. 

 They serve a useful purpose and they must prosper, because they 

 have that special advantage which a limited production gives. 



When profit-sharing and wages are considered together, the matter 

 is more complex. The Lynn Knight of Labor Co-operative Boot and 

 Shoe Company, now (1S90) not quite four years old, marks the newer 

 movement. In 1837 it had a capital of 89,000. It sells its goods in 

 part to the Knights of Labor, but as it makes excellent goods, its 

 wares are in fair demand. Profits are divided in this way: ten per cent 

 goes to the sinking fund; five per cent interest is paid on the capital 

 stock; ten per cent of the remainder goes to the Knights of Labor 

 Association for a co-operative fund to be used in assisting co-operative 

 enterprises; thirty-five per cent goes to capital, and thirty-five per cent 

 to labor, in proportion to wages. The Cushman Shoe Factory at 

 Auburn, Me., has just distributed four per cent upon wages earned. 

 The business was larger by $150,000 under the profit-sharing system 

 than before. This was the result of the interest taken by the men in 

 their work, as is best described in the words of the report of their 

 committee: "How much could you contribute to the profits of the 

 business? You had provided for the firm, now what was to be done 

 to insure you a good profit? Every cent's worth of waste lessened 

 your profit. Every cent saved increased it. Every mite of poor work 

 returned (and there has been a good deal the past year) has been the 

 diminishing of your dividend. The dividend might have been one 

 per cent more if we had all realized just how much rested with us. 

 We have seen time and again ten cents wasted by one person in a day. 

 ' Oh, that is nothing/ you say. Well, if every one of the seven or 

 eight hundred waste that amount in a day, is that any thing? Of 

 course this does not happen. But you can all see how a mite from all 

 would count up big at the end of a year." 



The second largest granite quarry in the United States, the West- 

 erly, of Ehode Island, has made a profitable arrangement of 



