ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 185 



the National went this way and went that way, the State Associations 

 joined it and dropped it — now the new era is here — we will have to be 

 like the American fleet — we are going to solve this problem. 



Just like we did the Panama Canal. The French spent millions 

 of dollars — thousand of lives, and they could not do it. They claimed 

 they were smarter than the Americans — more persistent, hardier 

 laborers than Americans — and that the Americans could not dig that 

 canal. 



Americans went down there and said, "That is nothing to dig a 

 ditch across that hill." They accomplished it, finished it and it is 

 working to-day. 



With this spirit, we have covered America with a network of 

 railroads. America, only a little over a hundred years old, more than 

 all the governments of the world. We can accomplsh anything — 

 not because of our position, our wealth, our opportunities, but because 

 we are Americans. 



Speaking of the new era of bee-keeping — there are mountains 

 ahead of us, behind which the entrenched enemy is waiting for us 

 with machine guns and amunition; there are opinions that have to 

 be overcome — but when it comes right down to the true American 

 spirit, we disregard and discount all those mountains of differences, 

 all adverse public opinion, and all those dissatisfied men who are trying 

 to oppose us, and say, "I Will;" this must be the spirit of American 

 bee-keepers in the future; no matter Avhat opposition we may encounter, 

 we are going to go ahead with our research work, our State organiza- 

 tions, our county organizations, our marketing organizations, our 

 National Bee-Keeper's Organization, and so on. 



Another thing this war has brought is the spirit of democracy. 

 In the old era there was one man who directed the destination of the 

 nations, with crown on his head he walked along, and before him 

 were his most obedient servants. When the peace conference in Paris 

 in 1872 held its sessions to decide the future of the world, we found in 

 Paris only crowned heads; they decided what is to become of the 

 different countries; the people had no voice in the government; all 

 they had to do was to bow down and accept the decisions of the crowned 

 heads; now autocracy has been killed and buried. The smaller autocrats 

 and big have gone, and those few who are standing feel the ground is 

 very uncertain — and we see in Paris today another peace conference 

 at which there is not one single crowned head, but whore every one of 

 those men is a representative chosen by his own people. 



We are coming into a new era of absolute democracy — an era of 

 surrender, so called opposition has gone for good and forever; and well 

 for us that it is so, because the rule of the autocrats for the last 5,000 

 years has proved to the world what a failure it is; it has been a rule 

 of war, injustice, suffering, bloodshed. The new era of democracy is 

 here — What will this be among bee-keepers? I leave it to you to 

 judge and for you to decide what democracy in bee-keeping will mean. 

 What will it mean to the National Bee-Keepers Association? We have 

 been quarreling for years and years, and we have been asking — What 

 is the trouble with the National? Why does it not develop and have 



