bicycle balls, or children, for instance, should have proper
encouragement either in the shape of personal attention from those over
them or an actual reward in sight as often as once an hour.

This is one of the principal reasons why cooperation or "profit-sharing"
either through selling stock to the employees or through dividends on
wages received at the end of the year, etc., have been at the best only
mildly effective in stimulating men to work hard. The nice time which
they are sure to have to-day if they take things easily and go slowly
proves more attractive than steady hard work with a possible reward to
be shared with others six months later. A second reason for the
inefficiency of profit-sharing schemes had been that no form of
cooperation has yet been devised in which each individual is allowed
free scope for his personal ambition. Personal ambition always has been
and will remain a more powerful incentive to exertion than a desire for
the general welfare. The few misplaced drones, who do the loafing and
share equally in the profits, with the rest, under cooperation are sure
to drag the better men down toward their level.

Other and formidable difficulties in the path of cooperative schemes
are, the equitable division of the profits, and the fact that, while
workmen are always ready to share the profits, they are neither able nor
willing to share the losses. Further than this, in many cases, it is
neither right nor just that they should share either the profits or the
losses, since these may be due in great part to causes entirely beyond
their influence or control, and to which they do not contribute.

To come back to the girls inspecting bicycle balls, however, the final
outcome of all the changes was that thirty-five girls did the work
formerly done by one hundred and twenty. And that the accuracy of the