y of ways a bonus or a premium may be paid for quality, or
for economy in the use of materials (as to a fireman for using less
coal), or for various other results. Every business has its peculiar
conditions, which make certain results especially desirable, and
certain methods of reward practicable. In some industries, for
example, the various plans of piece work and of premium payment are
applied to groups of workers (as in collective piece work), the total
payment being then divided among the members of the group in some
agreed proportion.

Sec. 9. #Aim of profit-sharing.# Profit-sharing is rewarding the laborer
with a share of the profits in addition to his usual contract wages.
Payments by the piece and premiums for output are solely dependent on
the efforts of the particular workman (or collective group), but
in the plan of profit-sharing a premium is given in addition to the
regular wage if, at the end of the year, the business as a whole has
yielded a profit above a certain amount. Profit-sharing is not merely
a gift; it is done usually in accordance with a definite promise in
advance. The employer adopting the plan does not intend to lose by it.
His purpose is to stimulate the industry of the workers, thus reducing
waste and cost of labor and supervision, and thereby increasing
profits. He offers to divide with the workman the additional profits
which are expected to result from their efforts. There is, in every
factory, greater or less waste of materials, destruction of tools, and
loss of time, that no rules or penalties can prevent. If the worker
can be made to take a strong enough personal interest he will use care
when the eye of the foreman is not upon him. The product also can
be slightly increased in many ways by the workman's exertions or
suggestions. In some cases the quality of the work cannot be insured
by the closest inspection as well as it can be by a small degree
of personal interest. Either responsibility for the fault cannot
be fixed, or the defect is one not measurable by any easily applied
standard. Strikes may be averted, good feeling promoted, and
contentment furthered if the interest of the worker can be made to
approach, and in large measure to become in harmony with, that of the
employer. The economic result of the plan, if it can be made to work,
should be to reduce the costs of these establishments below what
they are. The crucial question is whether profit-sharing alone in any
particul