result for the first year, however was so far from showing any very favorable improvement that we discontinued it."
30. The Malvern (Ark.) Lumber Company adopted a system of profit sharing in 1894. The net profits were to be divided between the stockholders, the management and the laborers, in the same proportion that the capital invested, the wages of management, and the wages of employés bore to each other. One half the dividends due the employés was to be paid in cash, the other half invested for their benefit. 95 per cent, of the labor employed is of the lowest unskilled labor, chiefly colored. A very large proportion could not read nor write and this ignorance prevented any general understanding of the plan. Added to this is the lack of permanency; for the industry is moved from place to place as the tributary timber land is cleared. One dividend was paid, and the proposition explained so thoroughly six months before, had to be discussed all over again. The men thought they were being discharged and paid off. These considerations led to the abandonment of the plan, though the firm expected no results until after the payment of at least one dividend. They attribute the failure to the character of the employés and the industry, not to any defect in the system.
31. Heywood & Company, shirt manufacturers, of Elizabeth, N. J., adopted the plan in 1895. The system proposed was to divide profits into four equal parts; one to be paid to capital, one to employer, one to labor, and the fourth set aside for depreciation in plant. This plan promised a bonus of from 5 to 10 per cent, on the wages of the hundred or more employés, chiefly women. Good results were secured for a few weeks; since then carelessness and inattention have returned and idleness and irregularity as of old. The plan was abandoned after a six-months' trial. A chief motive in the adoption of the plan was the improvement of the character of the employés.
32. The Wright and Potter Printing Company, of Boston, Mass., tried profit sharing for two years. A fixed percentage of profits was divided among all employés considered deserving by the superintendent. This included nearly all of their 150 employés. The results were not satisfactory and the plan was dropped. The firm now distributes a percentage to foremen and heads of departments.
33. The Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Michigan R. R. Company adopted, in 1887, one of the most significant systems yet made public. It is true that the plan has been abandoned without anything resulting
