CAPITAL AND LABOUR.

Press, Volume XIII, Issue 1717, 25 August 1868, Page 3

CAPITAL AND LABOUR.

(From the "Times.") The story of a treaty between capital and labour is admirably told in the Sixth Heporb of the Traded Union Commission,.which has jlist appeared. Messrs Briggs and-Co. had been for some time the proprietors of large collieries iv the "West Yorkshire district, when they found themselves compelled in 1865 to place their establishments on a completely different footing Strikes, quarrels, complaints, and " playdays " had become so common that the" business "was unmanageable. Hardly a fortnight passed without its day or two of stoppage, and the miners —it is Mr Briggs himself who tells the story—" seemed utterly regardless as to what loss they inflicted upon their employers and fellcw-work-men. At this conjuncture then, and under the pressure of these difficulties, the firm adopted the resolution of admitting their workpeople to a participation in the profit® of the concern. The old partnership was dissolved, and in its, place was constituted a new Company, j under the Limited Liability Act. The capital was divided into 9000 shares of £10 each, of which number the old proprietors retained in their own hands 6000, or two-thirds of the wole, and the rest were offered to the workmen and the public. But this was not the whole of the scheme. It was announced that after the computation of profits at the end of the year a distribution would be make on the following terms : —lO per cent., covering all charges, was allotted to capital, and if any excess of profits then remained, it was divided into two equal parts, one part to go in further remuneration of capital, and the other to be distributed, in the shape of a bonus proportioned to earnings, among all persons —miners, agents, or servants —employed in the collieries. It will be observed that according to this system the old proprietc.o. A3 holders of a majority of the shares, would still possess the control of the business, but the workpeople, on the other hand, would have the privilege of taking shares if they pleased, and would enjoy the prospect of a bonus whether they took shares or not. Nothing could be more remarkable than the results of this experiment as related before the Commission; by the masters first, and by the men themselves afterwards. The scheme, although it was distrusted at first, and although com-

paratively few chares have been taken by the colliers, "Was entirely 'successful. There haa been no striko at the works ~ from that time to this. A far bettor feeling has been established between _ masters and men, and the men themselves have become moro orderly, prudent, and frugal. The Trade T Unions have no longer any hold upon t j, them, and Mr Briggs expressed his c< belief that it would be impracticable be to re-open any of the old disputes. Finauciallv, too, the experiment has l '° succeeded. Before the change the f ei old firm rarely obtained a profit of 1.0 p r per eeut on their capital; indeed iv Ci some years they had only o. Since tho introduction of the new system o not only has the 10 per cent, been uniformly fortheoaung, bub a Riibstatial surplus has remained for division as above described. Every workman, therefore, has obtained not only the average wages of the district, Bi but a percentage upon those wages in the form of a bonus, besides the privilege of becoming a shareholder, and getting a handsome protit upon his share. We are told, indeed, that these shares are now at; 25 per cent, premium, though still the number held by working colliers is small, tho latest revision of the register showing only 2G4< shares in the hands of the workmen. All this time, however, the Fl original owners have been far more like masters than ever. Mr Briggs stated that they had " very much more control" over the men than formerly, D< and that whereas while they were nominally sole proprietors they had very little authority, they had now absolute mastery over the property, Tl and were " infinitely more proprietors than before." If we examine the nature of the y<\ scheme, we shall find much to remark. It is not in reality an example of the co-operative system, nor would it by - 0 any means satisfy the advocates of pure Socialism. The plan consisted, not in the indiscriminate extension of Tl ownership to the mass of men, bat in the elevation of a select few of them to that dignity. A. certain number were brought, as the political phrase goes, " within the pale of the Consti- T( tution," while those still outside received a gratuity in consideration of Sc good behaviour. Mr Briggs had rea- in coned from the fact that in coal-mining Ij, 1 some 85 per cent, of the whole ex- 0 ' pendituro came within the control of ya the workpeople. The wages of manual Gu labour amount to 70 per cent., and 15 "W per cent, is represented by the cost of stores and materials. If, therefore, the labourers couldbe induced to waste o f no work, and to economize as far as he possible the consumption of stores, tll four-fifths at least of the expenses of n mining might be favourably affected, S( and the result be found in the profits f L of the year. That is precisely what w has happened. The men only " cooperate" with their masters in the . g sense of working cheerfully and fairly to] towards the same end. They _ could w only become partners to a limited n< extent, however much tney might desire to do so, and they have but very, partially availed ..themselves of this _ privilege. At the same time there are shareholders among them, and these shareholders could verify the accounts _. f the concern if they thought proper. J As a'matter of fiic^, , we' are ; tdia-that n no proposal of this sort has ever been tl made, nor any question asked about ° the books or the balance-sheet, although the actual profits, even during this f c period of prosperity, have been far E below the amount which the men had always imagined. • One or two other facts deserve 0 notice, but will hardly appear surpris- j ing. It needs the intervention of the controlling proprietors to prevent the workmen from, being hard upon each . other. The shareholding miners grudge the non-shareholders their bonus. As soon as ever a man buys a share he " takes the side of the capitalists and becomes a capitalist in his notions," showing in fact, considerably less regard for labour than the capitalist on a larger scale. It is clear, however, that the great majority of the men do something for their bonus-— that ia, they abstain from throwing away as they used to do the profits of the concern by careless working and indifference, and if any miner still sins in this respect he is : marked by the rest. As to the Union, they abominate the whole experiment, though their opposition is ascribed ■ not ; so much to any jealousy on the part of the Unionists themselves, as to the anger of the paid delegates who find their occupation gone. One of those itinerant orators actually spoke of the scene of unity, profit, and prosperity at Messrs Briggs , collieries as " a black pall overhanging the district." It will naturally be askediwith some interest how far so successful an experiment can be applied in other directions, or to what extent it may be assumed to.. establish, the advantage of the Co-operative principle ? On the former point it is reasonably represented that the saving here effected cannot be anticipated in cases where no similar margin for saving exists. Mr Briggs,knew very well that in the work of coal-mining the miners bad the power of securing hf careful, or destroying by carelees work, the profits of the year's enterprise, and he devised the bonus system as an inducement to keep them straight. But in many trades and industries there is ho such margin at the workman's command, and consequently no such profit to be realised by individual care. Aβ to the Co-operative system pure and simple —that is to say, a pure republic of workpeople representing capital, labor, and power altogether—both masters and men combine in assuring 113 that it would never answer in coal mining. )1 Mr Briggß thinks the men may be gra3, dually " educated up to it," but the c education has yet to come, while the y witnesses from the working class live :t upon the prospect with equal misgiv?3 ing. In point of fact there is no " Coc- operation" in the scheme before us, cxi- cept the co-operation of willing and 2. unsuspicious workmen with straightie forward and liberal masters ; but the practical success has been so clear that 3- the principle deserves recognition wheri- ever it can be applied.