NO TES AND ABSTRA CTS 5 9 1
pensation then is one of certain expectancies, not of any rights in the proper sense of the word. Claim for compensation for loss of expectancies may be economic or moral, social or individual. The economic grounds, security and stability of property, tell strongly for considerable compensation. But the economic is partly moral, having regard to the effect of the thing expected. Recent and multiplied decisions have made it clear that in the letter of the law the renewal of licenses as well as their granting is entirely discretionary, and hence expectancy from such source is technically unjustifiable. But confirmation being required for new grants and not for renewals has created a certain presumption in favor of ex- pectancy ; as has also the " conditional " licensing requiring certain structural conditions. The destruction of licensed business of retail involves the interests of certain shareholders in brewery or retail interests. The proper recognition of the claims of such semi-innocent parties is difficult, but seems to constitute a claim for compensation that has some force. F. J. WESTERN, " Compensation in Temperance Reform," in Economic Review, April 15, 1903.
T. J. R.
The Promotion of Industrial Efficiency (continued). The agencies for promoting the social and physical comfort of the workers, found in many of the German and in a few of the English and American works, are eminently satis- factory from one point of view, and undoubtedly tend to improve the health of the workers and their families, and to promote good relations between the heads of the firms and their employees. But these agencies do not promote the output of work to the extent that premium or bonus payments do. As the battle of in- dustrial competition will in the future be fought largely on the ground of rapid manufacture, it is probable that a modification of the bonus system, on the lines of the American premium system of payment will be adopted on the eastern side of the Atlantic. Such a system need not displace the agencies for promoting the social and physical education of the workers already established, but might be worked in conjunction with these. My belief that a modified form of the American premium system will displace other profit-sharing systems of payment is based on the fact that most men prefer a pound in the pocket to a post-dated check on a shaky bank, and would rather receive a premium of 50 per cent, on their income paid weekly than a bonus of 5 per cent, or less paid annually.
The chief causes producing failure in profit-sharing schemes in the United Kingdom have been the failure of business to earn profits, and dissatisfaction of the employees with their share of the profits when earned. The second cause has hindered progress more than the first. The difficulty might be overcome by making profit-sharing more attractive to the average employee. This could be effected by increasing the bonus fund to an amount equal to between 20 per cent, and 40 per cent, ot the annual wages, and in paying one-half or two-thirds of this weekly instead of annually. The amount of this weekly payment would be based on the efficiency of the employee's work, and would be calculated in engineering works by the Halsey system. The remaining one-half or one-third would be invested in the name of the individual worker in the company's ordinary shares, and would carry the usual rate of interest. When a worker left the employ of a firm, he would receive a cash payment equivalent to the market value of his shares, plus the accumulated interest. Would not this possible increase prove a very effective incentive to better work, and to greater devotion to the employer's interests? J. B. C. KERSHAW, in Engineering Magazine, July, 1903. A. B.
New York City Building Trades. The joint arbitration agreement between the Building Trades Employers' Association of New York city and the labor organizations in the same trades has been subscribed to by the twenty-seven associations of employers concerned and a majority of the unions in the building industry, and the first dispute under this agreement has been arbitrated in accord- ance with the provisions of the agreement. On account of the magnitude of the interests involved, and the importance of the joint agreement as one of the hopeful signs in the labor situation, this event is one of unusual significance.
