AN INDUSTRIAL SCHEME.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1889, 20 April 1892, Page 6

AN INDUSTRIAL SCHEME.

At a recent meeting of the Ruskin Society of London, Mr George Thomson, of Woodhouse Mills, Huddersfield, read a paper on 'Industrial Partnership and Its Ruskinism.' He said that for many years he had been engaged in one of our most important home industries — the production of woollen cloth. This had become so complicated and degraded by the contest for cheapness and profit that it was impossible for anyone to give more than a passing thought outside the production of things that would not only sell, but yield a profit. There were two false principles at work. The first was that business was becoming so terribly difficult to do without losing self-respect that we must make all the profit we could. The second was a principle for which the people themselves were sadly to blame, because they said we must buy as cheaply aa possible, the result of which was the various forms of adulteration and the grinding down of the wages of labor. For the last four or five years he had been engaged in the work of applying the principles of profit-sharing in the particular industry in which he was engaged. There were three true principles on which to work. The first was the principal of 'fraternity, by which the selfish interest of the individual was subordinated to the common good. The second and third principles were those of the making of honest goods and the equitable division of profits. In their own case the works were managed by a committee elected by the shareholders or members, many of those being workers in the mills. The work of the Committee gave the members a more intelligent interest in business than that of mere wage - paid servants. Instead of being a collection of warring elements, with no interest in each other's lives, labor was dominated by the one great idea of brotherhood. The application of the second principle of only producing honest goods had been carried out in its strict entirety. With reference to the application of the third principle, that of the equitable division of the fruits of labor, there was a dividend upon the capital of 5 per cent., and no participation in the profits. This was a first charge upon the profits of the concern. They devoted not less than 10 per cent, to a reserve fund until that fund should amount to 10 per cent, of the capital. Five-ninths of the remainder were distributed, according to their wages, among the persons who had been employed in the works not less than six months. The remaining four-ninths were applied as was thought most advantageous to the business. They had had to meet with very bitter opposition in establishing the system, especially as they had associated themselves with the Co-operative Union. The lost ground was, however, being slowly but surely regained. They had not yet got into that position when they could give very much attention to the formation of a benevolent scheme, but at present, if any of their people were ill, they received a certain portion of their wages, though no particular period was fixed.