Page:Principles of Political Economy Vol 2.djvu/371

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probable future of the labouring classes.
351

that great legislative improvement has heen to render partnerships of this description possible, and we may now expect to see them carried into practice. Messrs. Briggs, of the Whitwood and Methley collieries, near Normanton in Yorkshire, have tuken the first step. They now work these mines by a company, two-thirds of the capital of which they themselves continue to hold, but undertake, in the allotment of the remaining third, to give the preference' to the "officials and operatives employed in the concern;" and, what is of still greater importance, whenever the

    semaine, et qui, pendant le travail, chantaient, fumaient, et quelquefois se disputaient. On avait maintes fois essayé sans succès du changer cet état de choses: il y parvint par la prohibition faite à tous ses ouvriers de's'enivrer les jours de travail, sous peine d'exclusion, et par la promesse de partager entre eux, à titre de gratification annuelle, 5 p. 100 de sea bénéfices nets, au pro rata des salaires, qui, du reste, sont fixés, aux prix courants. Depuis ce moment, la réforme a été complète: il se voit entouré d'une centaine d'ouvriers plains de zèle et de devouement. Leur bien-être's'est accru de tout ce qu'ils ne dépensent pas en boissons, et de ce qu'ils gagnent par leur exactitude au travail. La gratification que M. Gisquet leur accorde, leur a valu, en moyenne, chaque année, l'équivalent de leur salaire pendant six semaines.....
    "M. Beslay, ancien député de 1830 à 1839, et représentant du peuple à l'Assemblée Constituante, a fondé un atelier important de machines à vapeur à Paris, dans le Faubourg du Temple. Il eut l'idée d'associer dans ce dernier établissement ses ouvriers, dès le commencement de 1847. Je transcris ici cet acte d'association, que l'on peat regarder comme l'un des plus complets de tous ceux faits entre patrons et ouvriers."
    The practical sagacity of Chinese emigrants long ago suggested to them, according to the report of a recent visitor to Manilla, a similar constitution of the relation between an employer and labourers. "In these Chinese shops" (at Manilla) "the owner usually engages all the activity of his countrymen employed by him in them, by giving each of them a share in the profits of the concern, or in fact by making them all small partners in the business, of which he of course takes care to retain the lion's share, so that while doing good for him by managing it well, they are also benefiting themselves. To such an extent is this principle carried that it is usual to give even their coolies a share in the profits of the business in lieu of fixed wages, and the plan appears to suit their temper well; for although they are in general most complete eye-servants when working for a fixed wage, they are found to be most industrious and useful ones when interested even for the smallest share." McMicking's Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines during 1848, 1S49, and 1850, p. 24.