The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

THE SOCIAL ECONOMY OF CREUSOT, ï Workmen’s Savings.—Messrs. Schneider and Co. have always received in trust tlie savings of their workmen, on which is paid a varying rate of interest. Thus on the first £40 invested, 5 per cent, interest is paid ; on the second £40, the rate is reduced to 4 per cent. ; and for further sums the interest is 3 per cent. The diagram Fig. 11, shows the increase of économies effected by the workmen from 1837 to 1895, and gives also the number of depositors, and the amount of deposits. Workmen’s Dwellings.—Messrs. Schneider and Co. for many years have encouraged their workmen to become proprietors of their own houses; and they have making use for this purpose of their own savings that had been deposited with the company. No restrictions are imposed as to the style and arrangement of the houses, so that a special inducement is offered to the workmen to construct dwellings adapted to their own individual tastes. The general types, however, which prevail are those of houses suitable for families, containing from two to five rooms, and standing detached in the midst of some garden o-round. Some such dwellings are illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14, and give a good idea of the general type ; although as a matter of faet these particular houses exist at Montchanin and Decize, some of the out- aided this object by selling them, at reduced prices, ground suitable for building, and also by making money advances. Even in those cases where the entire capital is lent for the purchase of the ground, as well as for building, the workman becomes at once proprietor of the house, instead of being only a tenant, with the remote and doubtful prospect of gradually becoming the owner of a dwelling built by the employer, as in most other industrial centres. Diagram, Fig. 12, shows the development and the import- ance of the advances made to their employés by Messrs. Schneider and Co. on account of land and buildings, and also the monthly repayments made by the workmen on this account. In many cases workmen and employés have constructed their own dwellings without borrowing capital, lying works of Messrs. Schneider and Co., to be referred to later. There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule. For example, Messrs. Schneider and Co. have, from time to time, erected dwellings which are let to workman tenants ; there are 1,334 of these buildings, most of them having a garden ground of from 800 to 1,000 square yards, a poultry yard, pig-styes, &c. The type universally adopteel for these houses is semi-detached with a walled garden. Such dwellings are naturally in much request, and are let as a special privilège to the higher dass of workmen, depending upon the length and importance of their service, the size of their families, and so forth. The rent chargée! for these houses varies from Is. to 7s. per