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144 METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM.
of minimum profit that may seem fitting to the circumstances
of the trade. That rate will ultimately be chosen in each trade
which yields current interest in addition to compen&ion for
risk, trouble, and all other unfavourable circumstances which
are not allowed for in the depreciation fund, the bad debt
fund, or the salarieR of the working partners. The working
classes perfectly acquiesce in the great differences of wages
existing between different trades, and it is not to be supposed
that any difficulty would be encountered in choosing for each
trade that rato of profit which experience shows to be proper.
Tho sharing o€ the excess of profit with the men will certainly
prevent tho masters from receiving in highly prosperous years
so much as they otherwise might have done, but this will be
compensated by tho less chance of loss in other sear?, and by
the fact that any deficiency below the minimum profit is to be
made good out of the proceeds of subsequent years before any
excess is to be distributed. The zeal of the employ& to gain
a dividend will thus insure the masters receiving their fair
and necessary profits in addition to any excess which fortune
or good management may bring. To sum up briefly the effect
of the principle upon profits, I may say that I believe when
the partnership principle is fully tested in various suitable
trades, the effects will be as follows :
(I.) To diminish the risk of the business as arising from
trade disputes and other circumstances in the control of the
men.
(2.) To render the profits more steady from year to year.
(3.) To increase the average profit in some degree.
(4.) To increase the earnings of the men in a similar
degree.
XI.
But there is an incidental advantage which would ffow from
such a scheme of which we cannot overestimate the value.
As the Messrs. Briggs say, when their dividends were distributed,
numbers of men left the pay oEce #'richer men than
they bad ever been before. Many had a five-pound note in
their possession for the first time, and some few had two."