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used to receiving his wages weekly, and arranges his standard of living accordingly, and it would be unreasonable to expect him to accept less than a fair wagerate, in the hope that at the end of the year he might receive a part of the profits. The share of the profits, when they exist, should be in addition to the normal wages, and should be looked on by the employees as a bonus which may or may not be repeated in future years.

Profit-sharing schemes such as these are suitable for large or small businesses, and even for those in which the current profits are only sufficient to provide a small margin above the minimum dividend on capital. When the workers realise that any increase in the profits will add to their income, the stimulus for greater efficiency will be provided, and the capitalists and the workers both benefit by any improvements.

It is impossible to foresee all the changes and developments that may occur, and it is desirable that there should be a clause in the scheme by which it can be terminated or modified if the proprietors—whether an individual or the shareholders-should wish to do so. The scheme might be ended by giving six or twelve months' notice to the employees, but the notice should not terminate in the current financial year, as they might consider that the profit-sharing had been altered or abandoned because the profits were likely to be good and the workers would receive a large share.

Another method of sharing profits, which has been adopted by some companies, is to capitalise the employees' share of the profits and to issue some special form of share certificate, with restricted rights of sale or transfer, and future dividends on these shares are paid to the employees. There are two drawbacks to this method. A worker may think, with some justification, that the shareholders receive their profits in cash, and that he should be treated in the same way, as he might prefer to use his share for educating his children, buying furniture, or for some other purpose. It is also possible that the company may not always require additional share capital, and the compulsory increase to dividendearning stock would be undesirable.

If an opportunity be given to the employees to purchase shares on favourable terms when additional

capital is needed, these difficulties are overcome, and the following scheme has been in existence for twenty-five years, and has led to very satisfactory results. This method is only suitable for a company in which the ordinary shares normally stand at a premium, and the dividends do not fluctuate violently. A special class of employees' ordinary shares should be created, which can be offered for subscription only to the employees at par. If the shares stand at a good premium, the employees will realise that a very favourable offer has been made to them, and those who have saved money, or are willing to do so, will be glad to purchase some shares. The employees' shares could carry the same rights for dividends and voting as the ordinary shares, but as they are issued below their market value, there should be a restricted right of sale. When a holder of employees' shares wishes to sell he may do so, and when he leaves the employment of the company he must sell, by notifying the directors, who will find another employee willing to purchase them at par-the price the holder paid for them. If the dividends have decreased, the directors may not be able to find an employee willing to purchase the shares at par, and the holder will then be allowed to sell them to any one at any price. The purchaser, and every subsequent holder, must always offer the shares, when he wishes to sell, to the directors, and if they can find an employee willing to buy them at par, the holder must sell them, and the employees' shares thus return to the workers, the persons for whom the shares were originally created. It is necessary to restrict the right of sale in this way, as an employee might be tempted to sell the shares he bought at par, at a premium, to some one not connected with the business, and the object of the employees' shares would be frustrated. The restrictions on the right of transfer can be endorsed on the certificate, and thus prevent any misconception.

Working men and women do not understand the usual methods of buying shares and dealing with stockbrokers, but they are accustomed to regular weekly deductions from their wages. The shares when originally issued could be purchased for cash, or subscribed for by weekly deductions from the wages, of threepence or sixpence per share. Employees paying cash would have

their shares allotted at once, but those paying by instalments would only receive their allotment, and begin to receive dividends, when the payments were completed. As a set-off against the interest on the accumulating instalments, it could be arranged that should a subscriber die before his instalments are completed, the company would make a gift to his heirs of the uncompleted balance of his payments, and the shares would be issued to his heir, if an employee, or sold for his heir's benefit, if he were not employed by the company. Experience has proved that this financial risk is very small, and the offer is an added inducement to the employees to subscribe.

The amount of new capital that is issued by a scheme of this kind is under the control of the directors, and they can allocate the shares to any employees they select. It is probable that no large amount would be taken up at one time, but when the scheme is established, and the employees have been receiving dividends, they would be anxious to take up more shares. It is unlikely that all the employees would be willing or able to purchase shares, as their wages and home responsibilities would vary. Some men spend all they receive, while others-aided by a good housewife-can and do save money. The possession of an imposing share certificate, and the right to attend the annual meetings of the company, add to the employee's position and sense of responsibility. An employees' share scheme of this kind encourages the invaluable qualities of thrift and selfreliance, assists a worker to make provision for the future, and brings to him a sum of ready money if he should lose his job, and at a time when he is most in need of it.

It is not suggested that these are the only methods by which the workers may be permitted to share in the profits they have helped to create. In any business some variations or modifications may be desirable, but the schemes explained have been successfully carried on for a number of years, and time has proved that they meet the exigencies of the commercial life of to-day.

The most important thing in founding any schemes such as have been suggested, is the spirit and the ideals ✓ which actuate the employers. If they be actuated by

the generous ideal to find some reasonable method of sharing their prosperity with their employees, to give to them some income over and above their standard wages when the profits will permit them to do so, they will find their reward. The employees will appreciate the offer made to them, and will value their position with the firm still more. When they find that their income depends partly upon the success of the business, they will naturally strive to increase its efficiency, to prevent loss and waste of all kinds, and to reduce the costs of production.

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Profit-sharing is not a pace for all the difficulties and problems that face modern industry. It is, however, a means of bridging in some degree the gap that so often separates capital and labour, employer and employee. It can introduce co-operation where antagonism may exist-co-operation to attain greater efficiency, and give better service to the customer and the community who require the goods produced or the services that may be rendered. The world is crying out for lower costs, which can be attained by higher efficiency. Therefore, when profit-sharing is successfully established, the three parties interested in all industries, the employer, the employee, and the consumer, will each benefit in various ways.

W. HOWARD HAZELL.

Art. 4.-CLASSICAL GHOSTS.

1. Lectures on Classical Subjects. By W. R. Hardie. Macmillan, 1903.

2. Pausanias's Description of Greece.

Translated with

a Commentary by Sir J. G. Frazer, LL.D. Macmillan, 1898. 3. The Letters of Pliny. With an English translation by William Melmoth, revised by W. M. L. Hutchinson. Loeb Classical Library. Heinemann, 1915.

4. Darembourg et Saglio. Dictionnaire des Antiquités grecques et romaines. Tom. II, Art. 'Divination.' Paris: Hachette, 1892.

It is odd to reflect that at the present day, after so many centuries of advance in scientific thought, it is still a question upon which there is no agreement amongst educated people-not even amongst people of the highest level of scientific knowledge-whether the stories which continually circulate, now as of old, about appearances of the dead, are mere fiction and hallucination, or have behind them real phenomena in which some kind of consciousness in an invisible plane of being manifests itself to the living. It may be of interest to survey what is told us about ghosts in the remains of the ancient Greek and Latin literature. Some of these stories belong professedly to the sphere of poetical mythology--the ghosts in Homer and in the Attic tragedians. But even such stories will conform to the general ideas, held at the time, about appearances of the dead-for instance, the idea, which we also find in modern ghost stories, that the dead man looks just like what he looked like in life. Although one might suppose that in another sphere of being, earthly clothes are of no use to him, the ghost appears dressed just as he was dressed on earth. Homer especially notes that the ghost of Patroclus was 'just like himself, the same stature and the same beautiful eyes, the same voice, and dressed in the same sort of clothes' ('Iliad,' XXIII, 66, 67).

In historical times there are a considerable number of stories of the spirits of dead men-heroes as they were commonly called-acting in the world for help or for harm. But where they simply bring prosperity or bad