laborers is on the basis of the wages received, that is to say, the
higher the regular wage received by a workman, the larger will be his
share of the profits set aside for distribution. Generally, too, only
workmen who are steadily employed are allowed to share in the
distribution of profits.

111. LIMITS OF PROFIT SHARING.--Profit sharing was once considered a
remedy for many of our industrial troubles, but it is now generally
conceded that the plan is decidedly limited in scope. Profit sharing
increases the income of the workmen involved, but for this very reason
it is often bitterly opposed by the trade unions. The unions fear, of
course, that the plan will make the workmen interested chiefly in the
employees of their particular establishment, rather than in the
workmen in the trade as a whole. The trade unions also maintain that
profit sharing is often administered in a patronizing manner, which is
offensive to the self-respect of the workmen.

To a large extent, the spread of profit sharing depends upon the
development of altruism among employers. But unfortunately altruistic
employers are rare, and the majority of entrepreneurs will not adopt
the profit-sharing plan unless it promises to result in some distinct
advantage to themselves. This attitude explains, in part, the failure
of many profit-sharing experiments. Employers have sometimes tried out
profit sharing in the hope that it would prevent strikes and other
labor troubles. In some cases this expectation has been realized; in
many other cases serious labor troubles have continued. This
continuance of labor troubles has rendered profit sharing less
attractive to certain types of employers.

In certain cases employers have experimented with profit sharing in