Show 4 l I II I A CO OPERATIVE EXPERIMENT i i An experiment in cooperationis reported i re-ported from Westerly Rhode Island I 1 and while the extent of the success or I the attempt is not fully known enough I is given to show that the plan is a good J 1 one and if adopted generally by employers i a em-ployers and employees would result in much pleasanter rfiutions between capital cap-ital and labor The proprietors of a quarry at Westerly agreed with their f I inch that at the end of the year the 1 net income should divided into i three i I equal parts one to go to labor one 9 to capital and the third to a 4 j mutual benefit or reserve f nd Tint i was a proviso that the owners clerk I overseer or subcontractor should share i I l in tho dividends The share of the 4 workingmen was to be divided among t 1 them in the ra io of their wages and the i I accounts were to be passed upon by persons acceptable to both parties Thre i1 was a further agreement t at ii case Of I I I any increase being made in the rate of r i i I wages a corresponding decrease would rL be made in the abDr dividends The j i I object of the arrJngement was to do away t with strikes whiuh are sometimes so i P disastrous to employers as they always I g fl 1 are to the strikers The owners of the a t qliarry < < expected to bid on some large contracts for furnishing stone and they i wanted to be sure that in the midst of such contracts the rate of j filling wags I i J 1a v I would nokberaised How the arrangement arrange-ment has worked is told by one of the proprietors We hav tibafl no trouble with strikesj no trouble with contracts We do notgBJooMir men w hgthetthey belong to a unioaTJr not wo are more Interested in bather tile are eapalUc5rhen iiud tnoroughly Jindersand u3wDTkJiiWhen the profit shliringwas 1 first proposed tHe men or at leant some of them did not take kindly to the plan But they took hold of it well after the start and what is more they liked it aud did their best to am it through We hope to make a dividend but the accounts for the year are not yet made out and the result determined and so I cant g1e you any figures aboutthe profits be divided among the employes oft of-t e companr Our plan is an experiment and I dont believe anything like it bus be3n t tried inf tHIb uffyntry I carilt sayhowi it VoMQ apply to other industries There are some of course to which it wUuld not be applicable fronj the nature of tilings but there are others for which it would furnish a solution for many difficulties aud perplexities per-plexities arising from the relations of capital and labor It will be interesting to learn the exact result of the years experimental l opf ration ra-tion but whether or not there will be anything to divide among the men the arrangement nasbeen agood one for all j concerned i There have O been no Strike no quarrels I betwfen employer > > Jt JSL > audempiyeesiio attempt on the part of capital to grind labor and no effort by the workingmen to get the proprietors into and them tors a corner squeeze 1 All have worked for mutual benefit I and everybody has seemingly understood under-stood that by doing the best he could for all he was helping himself most When capital and labor come to understand each other Lelter and when they become more familiar with their relations to each otber they will look to cooperation for relief from the annoyances an-noyances andVquarrclSnt whichthey are now subject I I t 4 a > o |