3 
For one reason or another a large number of failures seem 
to have occurred in the various attempts which have been made 
to give the workers a direct share of profits. In more than half 
the cases of abandoned schemes the cause of abandonment seems, 
however, to be traceable not to any inherent fault in the scheme as 
such, but to the falling off of business and to the fact that there were 
no profits to share. This form of weakness is less likely to affect 
undertakings which are more or less of the nature of monopolies. 
Gas companies account for 33 out of the 133 profit-sharing 
schemes now known to be in existence; but it would probably be 
unsafe to deduce from their experience any general principles 
applicable to commercial undertakings of an ordinary character. 
Doubtless the success or failure of profit-sharing depends 
largely on the type of scheme introduced, on its applicability to 
the particular business of the employer, and on the spirit in 
which it is worked by the two parties to the agreement. To what 
extent it may be possible for profit-sharing and co-partnership 
arrangements to become general throughout British industry, and 
what influence the adoption of such systems would be likely to 
exert in promoting' industrial peace, are questions which are of 
very great moment, but which it would certainly be improper to 
attempt to answer in a Report like the present, intended, not to 
formulate opinions, but only to supply the facts and materials upon 
which a judgment may be formed. 
A section of the Report deals briefly with Profit-sharing and 
Labour Co-partnership in co-operative societies. This section 
presents some special features arising out of the fact that here 
there is no separate employing class, and the capital is provided 
by the members of these workmen’s societies. In the retail dis 
tributive societies, or “ co-operative stores,” 195, or about one in 
seven of the whole “Store” group, have profit-sharing schemes 
for the workers employed. The number of profit-sharing workers 
in these societies was upwards of 17,000 in the year 1910; and 
the bonus divided amounted to about 4£ per cent, on the wages 
of the workers participating. In addition, one of the co-opera 
tive wholesale societies, and three of the consumers’ productive 
societies, had profit-sharing schemes, with about 7,600 and 1,300 
participating workers, respectively, in the year 1910. 
Another group of co-operative societies are the Productive 
Associations of Workers, that is to say, societies formed and 
managed primarily in the interests of the workers employed, and 
not of the consumers. In view of this feature of their constitu 
tion, it is not surprising to find that 40 of them, or nearly half 
of the total number, allotted a share in their profits to their 
workers in 1910, either as bonus on wages or as contributions to 
provident funds, or both. Moreover, a large proportion (36^ per 
cent, in 19.10) of the committee-men who manage such societies 
are themselves workers. 
In conclusion, I desire, to point out that, although an endeavour 
has been made to make the particulars contained in this Report 
with regard to Profit-sharing and Co-partnership in private 
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