34 



Profit-Sharing. 



York city some years ago, was hardly a co-operative concern — even 

 of the distributive kind. 



The latest experiment in profit-sharing on an extensive scale is one 

 that was announced in January last by Alfred Dolge, the largest 

 maker of felt shoes in the United States. His factory is at Dolgeville, 

 N. Y. The proposition may be briefly stated in thi3 way: 



" In order that the employees may receive a share of the net earnings 

 of the business, over and above their wages, the house of Alfred Dolge 

 has, after several years' experimenting with a pension and life insur- 

 ance plan, formulated rules and regulations for the just distribution 

 of such net earnings among its employees, to take effect on January 1, 

 1890. There shall be three classes for this distribution: First, pen- 

 sion; second, life insurance; third, endowment. The share of the 

 net earnings that is to be set aside every year shall be calculated upon 

 the positive results of the records of the actual work done by the 

 employees. Against this distribution account the amounts paid for life 

 insurance under the provisions of the insurance law and the amount 

 necessary to maintain the pension fund are to be considered fixed 

 charges. The substance of the law is as follows: First, Pension: 

 Every employee over twenty-one years of age and not over fifty is, after 

 a continuous service of ten years, entitled to a pension, in case of 

 partial or total inability to work, at the rate of fifty per cent of his 

 wages, after ten years' service; sixty per cent, after thirteen years' ser- 

 vice; seventy per cent, after sixteen years; eighty per cent, after 

 nineteen years; ninety per cent, after twenty-two years, and one 

 hundred per cent, after twenty-five years. In case of accident while 

 on duty, or of sickness contracted through the performance of duty, 

 each employee shall be entitled to fifty per cent of his wages at any 

 time previous to the completion of ten years' service. The pension 

 is in no case to exceed $1,000 a year. Second, Insurance: 

 Every employee, having been in the employ of the firm at least five 

 years continuously, after twenty-one years of age, is entitled to a life 

 insurance policy of $1,000; on completing the tenth year of continu- 

 ous service, to a second policy of $1,000; and after the completion of 

 the fifteenth year of continuous service, to a third policy of $1,000. 

 Third, Endowment: Every employee over twenty-one years of age in 

 the employ of the house for five consecutive years, shall be entitled to 

 an endowment account upon which he will be credited each year, ac- 

 cording as the manufacturing record shows that he has earned more 

 than has been paid him in the form of wages. If, through gross care- 

 lessness, any employee has caused the house a loss, such loss will be 



