The _confrérie’s_ resources were usually derived from initiation fees, subscriptions and legacies from members, and a share of the fines collected in the gild. The organization also derived benefits from holding real estate. It could transact business and fall in debt. The _confrérie_ of the wool-weavers owing 600 pounds, put a tax of 12 _sous_ on every piece of cloth manufactured in Paris. A statute of the plasterers reads: “If he finds that the proportion is not good, the plasterer shall pay five _sous_ as a fine: to the Chappelle Bleive aforesaid, two _sous_, to the master who guards the gild, two _sous_, and to the one who has measured the plaster 12 _deniers_.” When a plasterer took an apprentice for less than six years, he paid 20 _sous_ to the Chapelle. Part of the funds acquired by the _confrérie_ were used for common expenses, and part for benevolent work. For every piece of cloth sold the wool-merchants were supposed to give a _denier_ to buy grain for the poor. The rich confraternity of the goldsmiths gave every Easter a dinner to the poor of the Hôtel Dieu, while the cooks set aside a third of their fines to maintain “les pouvres vieilles gens du mestier qui seront decheuz par fait de marchandise ou de vieillece.” In 1319 the vair-furriers formed an association[12] with an initiation fee of 10 _sous_ (8 fr. .40) and 6 _deniers_ for the secretary, and a weekly subscription of one _denier_, the funds of which were to aid members in case of sickness or infirmity at the rate of 3 _sous_ per week during illness, and 6 _sous_ in convalescence. The curriers mention the use of funds from “la boîte” to support the orphans of the gild or children of poverty-stricken masters. At the first appearance of the _confrérie_, the Church opposed it, suspecting in its secrecy, antagonism or some outcroppings of pagan ritualism.[13] Later, however, both Church and _confrérie_ profited by a close relationship. The monastery of St. Trond, in return for the right to fall heir to the properties of members of the shearmen and fuller’s _confrérie_ who died without wife or child, maintained a hospital for the care of its sick, and conducted funerals, while the sacristan and a priest arbitrated on the occasion of disputes within the gild. * * * * * Conclusion. The trade-gild régime was a defensive one against the confused powers of feudalism and the conflicting activities of competition. It protected the apprentice against his own folly and his master; it protected the artisan against diminution in the pay-rate, illegal dismissal, and the usurpation of other trades on his field. It guarded the master from insubordination, idleness, bad measure and adulteration, and by the limitation of the number of workmen assured the sale of his goods.