Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 2.djvu/71



PROFIT-SHARING AT IVORYDALE $?

sense, with his employer. On the whole it is beyond question that in this instance at least, profit-sharing has benefited the laborers both economically and morally.

The success of a single example in profit-sharing does not prove, of course, that it should be adopted everywhere. Although Marshall and other economists have expressed the conviction that profit-sharing tends to elevate the relation of employer and employe", and have given it a substantial basis in economic theory, general experience has not been such that one may confidently assert that it is destined to play a large part in future production. It may be said, however, that the experiment we have just described supports all the main arguments which advocates of profit-sharing have advanced in its favor. We have seen that under the plan production has been increased, the quality of the product improved, care and economy promoted, and industrial peace established. In so far as a conclusion can be drawn from this experiment alone, therefore, it would appear to be that of M. Chaix, the father of profit-sharing: "Certainly participation is no universal panacea, nor the last word of social well-being, but I do not hesitate to affirm that it constitutes an incontestible advance upon the existing system of the organization of labor."

I. W. HOWERTH. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.