10 
II.—PROFIT SHARING AND CO-PARTNERSHIP IN 
PRIVATE FIRMS AND COMPANIES. 
A.—GENERAL SUMMARY. 
In tlie following pages the attempt lias been made to present, 
in as concise a manner as possible, the results of the inquiries 
which have been made by the Board of Trade continuously since 
the publication of the Report on Profit-sharing of 1894 and of 
the special investigation which lias been carried out for the pur 
poses of this Report. This investigation has had the result of 
bringing to the knowledge of the Labour Department a large 
number of cases, both of past and present Profit-sharing, not 
included in the statistics previously published. Thus in the 
Fifteenth Abstract of Labour Statistics of the United Kingdom 
[Cd. 6228 of 1912] the total number of schemes started since 1829. 
when the first experiment in Profit-sharing known to have been 
made in the United Kingdom was initiated on Lord Walls- 
eourt’s farm, is given as 232, of which 76 were in operation at 
June 30, 1911, according to the information then available. In 
the present Report, however, 299 schemes are mentioned as 
having been brought into operation between .1829 and the middle 
of 1912. After deducting three schemes for which no recent 
particulars could be obtained, and .163 schemes which have 
ceased to be in operation, the number of firms known to have 
profit-sharing schemes in operation at the present time is 133. 
The increase in the number of cases as to which it has been 
possible to furnish information constitutes a noteworthy advance, 
which has only been made possible by the general readiness shown 
by employers to send answers, often inevitably of a character 
involving a great deal of trouble, to the questions addressed to 
them by the Department. 
It will be seen from tire particulars stated (see p. 15 and 
Appendix A, pp. 95-101) that the 133 firms by whom the profit- 
sharing system is being applied employ between them over 106,000 
persons, and are engaged in a wide range of business undertakings 
of varying magnitude in all parts of the Kingdom. The 
ample details which the courtesy of these employers has 
made it possible to furnish both as to the nature of the systems 
adopted in different cases and as to the results obtained 
by their operation, constitute a body of evidence with regard 
to the character of the different profit-sharing schemes now in 
force, and to the effects which these schemes are found to produce, 
which is of great value. The facts set forth prove that the 
adoption, in one or another of its numerous forms, of the profit- 
sharing system, is capable of affording to employees no incon 
siderable advantages. These advantages include the opportunity 
of receiving an addition—under favourable circumstances a not 
inconsiderable addition—to their normal remuneration, the pro 
vision of special facilities for thrift, and in many cases a certain