There was considerable talk about profit sharing dividend paid to the spinners at the Bourne Mill last month. Some spinners received as high as $21. The members thought it very nice to receive such a handsome addition to their wages. It spoke well for the mill and the good material used in it.[1]
C. G. Conn, manufacturer of band instruments at Elkhart, Ind., adopted a system of profit sharing in his establishment in 1891, and later in his printing office. After ascertaining the gross receipts for the year the proprietor deducts as his own share 28 per cent. This includes, (1) remuneration for services as entrepreneur, (2) interest on invested capital at 8 per cent., and (3) royalty on patents and use of proprietor's name. From the remaining 72 per cent., the running expenses of the year were next to be deducted. The surplus remaining was to be divided among employés as follows: In order to stimulate the five superintendents to careful oversight, twenty cents were to be given to each of them for every instrument manufactured and sold during the year. The remainder of the profits was to be divided in the ratio of ten, six and four among the employés who had been in continuous employment for at least one year, according to their membership in one of three classes; membership to be based on length and character of service. More than 80 per cent, of the two hundred and more employés now participate. While it is difficult to determine the ratio of bonus to wages in such a system, yet for the first two years it amounted to more than 12 per cent. The justification of the plan is stated by Mr. Conn as follows:
It is a reward that rightfully belongs to all faithful working people who give their best efforts to the interests of employers, and any business undertaking managed with skill and energy will pay larger profits controlled by some such plan as mine than it will under the ordinary wage system. Friendship pays in business as well as in social life; and if employers expect to obtain the best results from labor, they must cultivate more friendly relations with their employés, pay them better wages, and give them an opportunity to share such profits as good
- ↑ The Fall River Daily Globe, January 9, 1896.
