March 11, 1887.1 



SCIEJSrCJE. 



225 



reason it cannot become a universal economic sys- 

 tem. The same human nature that interferes with 

 so many other beneficent schemes, interferes with 

 this. "Co-operative concerns fail because of a 

 failure to co-operate," is the universal verdict. 



It is but fair to point out that the data gathered 

 from the latter part of the period of which Mr. 

 Bemis writes, are more favorable to co-operation. 

 Increased experience may have something to do 

 with this. From the tables compiled by the author, 

 it appears that productive co-operation in twenty 

 companies in New England shows a business of 

 $1,000,000 a year ; co-operative stores have a trade 

 of over $1,750,000 ; co-operative creameries do a 

 business probably of $1,000,000 ; and about $3,250,- 

 000 are invested in co-operative banks. So that, 

 apart from co-operative insurance companies, the 

 annual business of the co-operative companies of 

 New England amounts to about seven millions of 

 dollars. In Massachusetts the conditions seein to 

 be specially favorable to co-operative companies^ 

 as the state has a general law" for their incorpora- 

 tion. The capital stock of such a company is lim- 

 ited to $100,000, and must be more than $1,000. 

 No one person can hold more than $1,000 worth of 

 stock, or have more than one vote. It is further 

 provided that there shall be an annual distribu- 

 tion of profits among the workmen, purchasers, 

 and stockholders ; but ten per Cent of the net 

 profits must fii'st be set aside for a contingent or 

 sinking fund, until a sum equal to thirty per cent 

 of the capital stock shall have been accumulated. 

 The word ' co-operative ' must form part of the 

 corporate name, and shares to an amount not ex- 

 ceeding twenty dollars are exempt from attach- 

 ment and execution. The credit of the company 

 and security of the stockholders are further in- 

 creased by a full report made annually to the 

 secretary of state. The last section of the mono- 

 graph is devoted to profit-sharing, and brings for- 

 ward some interesting instances in which it has 

 been put in operation. The best known, perhaps, 

 is that of the Peace Dale manufacturing com- 

 pany, vsrhere profit-sharing w^as begun eight 

 years ago. An average dividend of four per cent 

 on the wages was paid to the workmen for four 

 years, but since 1883 no dividend has been de- 

 clared. From none of the cases of profit-sharing 

 adduced by Mr. Bemis can we deduct any argu- 

 ments which meet the objections of Mr. Aldrich, 

 on which we commented last week. 



THE EXPLORATION OF THE WELLE. 



SCHWEINFURTH has recently sent a letter to the 

 editor of Le mouvement geographiqiie, from which 

 we take the following abstract : The Welle-Makua 

 has been crossed by Junker at six different points. 

 At Ali Kobo, in the country of the Basange, his 

 farthest point west, the river attains such dimen- 

 sions that he could not estimate its size, particu- 

 larly as it is blocked up by islands, which are not 

 only densely populated and highly cultivated, but 

 afford ample room for herds of elephants which 

 abound there. Junker could not stay here longer 

 than four days. Only a comparatively short dis- 

 tance from the Kongo, he was compelled to re- 

 turn, as Lupton Bey, the governor of the Egyp- 

 tian province Bahr-el-Gazal, sent him word of the 

 rapid spreading of the mahdi's power. Eight 

 days' journey beyond the extreme point reached 

 by Junker, the Mbomo empties itself into the 

 Welle. The Mbomo runs east and west, and has 

 many tributaries, which come from the water- 

 shed between the Kongo, the Shari, and the Nile. 

 In February, 1883, Junker reached Abi Kobo. 

 Junker's ' Nepoko ' is probably the upper course 

 of the Biverre. He heard another river men- 

 tioned, the Nava, which, however, he did not see. 

 Schweinfurth is of the opinion that it may be the 

 upper course of the Biverre, while the Nepoko 

 may be that of the Mburu. The quantity of wa- 

 ter in the latter is, however, so small that its 

 source must be looked for farther west. 



Wauters's hypothesis of the identity of the Welle 

 and Obangi becomes very probable by Junker's 

 new discoveries, as will be seen by the accom- 

 panying sketch - map. Wauters supposes that 

 Grenfell, who explored the latter river, passed by 

 the mouth of the Welle without seeing it. The 

 remarkable form of the right bank of the Obangi, 

 the appearance of the first hills at the place of the 

 supposed confluence, the dotted lines by which 

 Grenfell indicates the left bank at this point, and 

 the suddenly increasing shallowness of the river, 

 all support Wauters's hypothesis. This new in- 

 formation is of great importance for the progress 

 of Stanley's expedition for the relief of Emin 

 Pasha. He may either ascend the Obangi and 

 Welle, the Biverre-Nepoko, or start from Stanley 

 Falls. It is doubtful whether there are any rap- 

 ids in the Welle that might obstruct his passage. 

 As Grenfell passed the rapids of the Obangi in 

 latitude 4'^ 30' north without any difiiculty, and 

 those of the Kongo at Rubungu do not prevent 

 the passage of steamers, it is possible that no seri- 

 ous difficulties of navigation exist. 



We may be allowed to call to mind at this place 

 the sources of our former knowledge of this dis- 

 trict. After Schweinfurth's discovery of the 



