September 9, 1887.] 



SCIENCE 



123 



the difficulty that the advantages shared by the new members are 

 the result of sacrifices on the part of the old, for which the latter 

 are not indemnified. It consequently results that the associations 

 refuse to admit new members, and in good times employ regular 

 workmen hired for wages and liable to dismissal, and thus in the 

 moment of success such associations lose the essential characteris- 

 tics of co-operative societies. 



To meet these difficulties Schulze recommends : — 



1. The admission not only of members of the trade, but, as sleep- 

 ing partners, of persons who, without taking any share in the 

 industry of the association, are yet willing to venture a deposit of 

 capital ; and of workmen who enter the association at once, but, as 

 they cannot be employed at once, remain for the time being as 

 wage-laborers under other employers. 



2. The participation of new members in the profits only after a 

 certain lapse of time. 



3. The application of borrowed capital, and not of the society's 

 shares, to the acquirement of such real property as is required ; 

 such borrowed capital not being reclaimable before a certain date, 

 but receiving interest. 



4. Withdrawal from the association to be subject to as long 

 notice as possible. 



As to division of the profits, most German associations agree 

 with Schulze, that, after the reserve fund has been duly considered, 

 five per cent interest should be added to each business share ; that 

 then half the surplus should go to swell the shares as super-divi- 

 dends, the other half being divided as bonus among all the work- 

 men and officials according to the amount of salary they have re- 

 ceived during the year. 



It is very difficult to obtain accurate information respecting co- 

 operative undertakings for productive purposes, as, from reasons 

 of trade, such associations are very reticent with regard to their 

 working. 



In the report of the German Co-operative Union for 1884, 145 

 productive associations are mentioned under the following divis- 

 ions : — 



21 Cabinet and instrument makers' associations. 

 17 Spinners and weavers' " 



13 Millers and bakers' " 



II Booksellers and printers' ** 



10 Tailors' 

 7 Butchers and slaughterers" " 



6 Cigar-manufacturers* " 

 6 Carpenters, builders, and stonecutters' " 



5 Metal-workers' " 



5 Spirit and brandy distillers' " 



5 Shoemakers' ** 



5 Clockmakers' *' 



24 Miscellaneous " 



The same report gives statistics of 10 associations which made a 

 net profit of 5.5 per cent, allowing of a dividend of 13.6 per cent, as 

 against 16.0 per cent in 1883, and 13.5 per cent in 1882. Whether 

 this dividend is paid to the members in money down or not does not 

 appear. Of the working capital of these societies, 36.4 per cent was 

 their own. 



Herr Borchet is the only authority who believes that the work- 

 men's participation in the profits has prevented strikes. 



The most conspicuous examples of co-operation in production 

 are the Berlin Brass- Work Company, the Windhoff Foundry at 

 Lingen, JNIoUer's engine-works at Kupferhammer, Keilpflug's cigar- 

 factory in Berlin, and the cotton-mills at Hasel. 



Of all co-operative enterprises in Germany, the people's banks 

 are the most developed and the most successful, and they appear to 

 have in a great degree overcome the indebtedness and misery which 

 were so often the lot of the working-classes a quarter of a century 

 ago, in consequence of the usurious interest that they were com- 

 pelled to pay, especially in agricultural districts, on even the smallest 

 loan. 



The main principles on which these banks are founded are again 

 those of Schulze-Delitzsch. They are : — 



1. The loan-seekers are themselves the directors of the institution 

 established for the satisfaction of their needs, and share the risk and 

 the profit. 



2. The transactions of the association are based throughout on 

 business principles : the fund of the association pays to the credit- 



ors, and the loan-takers pay to the fund of the association bank, 

 interest and commission, according to the rates in the money- 

 market. The managers, especially those who have charge of the 

 funds, receive remuneration according to their services. 



3. By full payment once for all, or by small continuous contribu- 

 tions on the part of the members, shares in the capital of the asso- 

 ciation are formed, according to the amount of which the profit is 

 divided, and placed to their credit till the full normal sum is reached, 

 by which means an ever-growing capital of its own is acquired for 

 the business of the association. 



4. By the entrance fees of members and by reservation of shares, 

 a common reserve fund is accumulated. 



5. Sums further necessary for the complete carrying-on of the 

 business are borrowed on the common credit and security of all the 

 members. 



6. The number of members is unlimited. Entrance is open to all 

 who satisfy the requirements of the statutes, and it is free to any 

 one to cease to be a member after giving due notice. 



Not only artisans and manufacturers, but also others, especially 

 agriculturists, merchants, and dependent workmen, avail them- 

 selves of these banks, and they have maintained and strengthened 

 themselves in the confidence of the public through all crises. 



The Giro-Union (' Circulation Union ') of German associations 

 deserves special notice. An account is opened at the Associations' 

 Bank in Berlin in favor of each people's bank belonging to the 

 Union. Each bank keeps a deposit of at least 300 marks there, 

 which can be increased by deposits in specie, by bills on Berlin or 

 any Prussian bank, or places where there are other loan associa- 

 tions, or by the transferrence of the deposit of a third party from 

 his account to their own : it can, on the other hand, dispose of its 

 deposit by transferrence to another account, kept by the bank, or 

 by checks, bills payable at sight, or ordered consignment in specie. 

 Though Schulze regarded this institution as extremely important, 

 only a minority of the people's banks belonging to the general union 

 belong to it also. 



The number of people's banks belonging to the general union 

 was 1,961 on Jan. i, 1885. 



Co-operative societies for educational purposes would appear not 

 to exist in Germany, where educational facilities in eveiy branch of 

 learning are already amply provided for, and within the reach of 

 the poor ; but co-operative associations of various kinds often pro- 

 vide educational, social, and recreative facilities for their members. 



Societies for building dwellings for the poorer classes have met 

 with but little success in Germany. They appear to have succeeded 

 best in Alsace; and one at Flensburg, in Jutland, founded in 1878, 

 possesses, according to the report of 1884-85, 19 houses, with a 

 value of 100,000 marks, and 800 members, one of whom has the 

 sum of 87,000 marks to his credit in the society's books. 



The formerly wide-spread system by which pasture-land, forest, 

 fisheries, etc., were held in common, has almost entirely ceased to 

 exist in Germany, in consequence of recent legislation. On the 

 other hand, a movement has taken place, chiefly under the same 

 auspices as the co-operative movement on the Schulze-Delitzsch 

 principle, by which combination now plays a very important part in 

 German agriculture. 



Dairy co-operative associations have been started in all direc- 

 tions. There are further associations for the purchase and use of 

 agricultural machines, the members paying a certain sum for the 

 use of the common property, and associations for cattle-breeding, 

 sheep-farming, hops, vegetable, and vine-insurance, and kindred 

 objects. 



THE STONE AGES IN TUNIS. 



An interesting report on the relics of prehistoric man in the re- 

 gency of Tunis appeared in the May number of the well-known 

 scientific periodical, the Matcriatix pour l' Histoire Primitive et 

 NatureUe de V Homme. The author, Dr. R. Collignon, deputed by 

 the Anthropological Society of Paris for this purpose, spent three 

 years in traversing the country in every direction, and in making the 

 obser\'ations and collections which are described in this report. 

 Only the principal results can here be noticed ; but these, it will be 

 seen, are of great scientific value. 



The most important observations were made in the district about 



