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02%' INDUSTRIAL PA RTNERSHIP.5. = 39
be obliged at intervals to reveal tho state of their basinms ;
any temporary embarrassment would thus become knomu, nud
their credit would be gone. But no such revelation is at all
necessary. The only fact which need be publiehod whether
the profits exceed the fired minimum. It would bo absurd to
suppose that any inference as to the credit and solvency of tho
firm could be drawn from such a fact. As regards dl tho
particular transactions, debts, contracts, and other afFairs of (I ,
firm, exact,ly the same secrecy can be maintained ae at present.
It is clearly to be understood, too, that the sharing of profits
does not entail the right to control, in any degree, the affairs
of the firm, or io demand an investigation of their accounts.
The employits of an industrial partnership will partially resemble
the immense number of persons who now hold small
shares of insufficient value to give them any appreciable voice
in the management of the compsnics, or to make it worth
their while to spend time, trouble, or money in the matter.
No small part of the capital of the country is thus owned by
purely passive recipients of tho profits procured for tlletn by
larger capitalists, or directors and managers of companies
intrusted with the money. Workmen sharing profits will be
in the same position, except that in their own work or in
keeping an eye upon the work of others, they will possesa,
every hour and every minute, the means of contributing
something to the profits they share.
Ix.
When we come to think about the matter, it is plain that
industrial partnerships are founded upon the surest principle
of human nature-self-interest. There can, I think, be but
four motives which can operate upon a workman.
(1.) Fear of dismissal.
(2.) Hope of getting higher wages or a better employment.
(3,) Goodwill to his employer, and desire to fulfil his
bargain honestly.
(4.) Direct self-interest in the work.