148 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



been very forcibly brought home to my 

 observation — lack of attendance in the 

 association meetings in particular. 



Now we will have to realize one 

 thing. Conditions are changing — they 

 are changing from the older conditions 

 to the newer; the older bee-keepers 

 and their policies and practices and 

 ideals are dropping out of sight with 

 the disappearance of the older bee- 

 keepers, which is occurring now very 

 rapidly, I am sorry to say. 



The younger bee-keepers, who are 

 to be responsible for the policies in the 

 years to come, are mostly untried, and 

 the old ideals do not appeal to them. 

 I will tell you why: In the first place 

 the older beekeeper can make a liv- 

 ing They use bee-keeping as a side 

 line to some extent; and the income 

 was sufficient at that time from the 

 bees to keep them comfortably and 

 they did not require so much money 

 to keep the famil3'. 



At the present time the income re- 

 quired is larger, and it seems to me it 

 is lack of constructive work that will 

 appeal to these younger bee-keepers — 

 I believe, if some constructive lines of 

 w^ork are taken up, it would appeal to 

 these younger bee-keepers. 



I have analyzed the matter pretty 

 thoroughly; I have thousands of let- 

 ters from bee-keepers all over the 

 United States. 



I think it is the change in the con- 

 ditions that is making the attendance 

 slim and the lack of constructive poli- 

 cies that is keeping the younger peo- 

 ple from taking active part; 1 think 

 that is the solution. 



Mr. Damon — One reason for the lack 

 of interest in the Association is be- 

 cause we meet only once a year. 



I am a member of a new Association 

 — the Fox River Bee -Keepers' Associa- 

 tion; we have fifty people in the vicin- 

 ity of Aurora who are keeping bees.- 

 Well, we have gotten a little dose of 

 American foul brood, and, by the way, 

 that is one of the things that brought 

 us together — to fight it. 



Another thing, we formed this with 

 the idea of meeting once in two weeks 

 or once a month, to keep up interest. I 

 think, in the different small places 

 around where a half dozen get together 

 and form a social association of this 

 sort, that it will keep up interest in 

 the larger organizations. 



I think it rests more with the indi- 

 vidual. People say, "There is an offi- 



cial appointed to take care of that 

 work" — where, if the individual would 

 do more of this work and help them, 

 I think it would help a good deal. 



Mr. Baxter — I can't let the remarks' 

 of brother Williams go unchallenged. 

 I have been attending these meetings 

 for thirty- five years — I met here thirty- 

 five years ago with the Northwestern 

 in the fall of 1883, and the interest in 

 that day was far greater than it was 

 today, and a great many more mem- 

 bers were here. 



Those were the days of Heddin and 

 Miller and a host of others. 



Mr. Baldridge, I met him the first 

 time then. 



Those were live days. We made prog- 

 ress, too. I believe in progression; but 

 I believe the methods of today are not 

 much ahead of those days. 



I made^'alCi much money thirty-five 

 years ago, wei- ^colony, as I do today, 

 and I have made some pretty good 

 crops, I tell you. 



Take the National: The National 

 was a National in those days. 



Under the management of Thomas 

 G. Newman and our President, we had 

 a different National than we have to- 

 day. 



If you want to build up your so- 

 cieties j'ou want somebody at the head 

 c^f t-iiem that will work, because it is 

 lots of work — 



Not only must those at the head 

 work, but each and every member must 

 work. We must try to spread the mem- 

 bership as much as possible. 



In- addition to having your annual 

 winter meeting, it is necessary, I be- 

 lieve, to have summer meetings, to 

 arou§e enthusiasm and show the mem- 

 tmrs what can be done. 



Many of these bee-keepers, although 

 they c^.re bee-keepers, they don't know 

 the possibilities of their vocation. I 

 believe that is the only true way of 

 getting at it. 



Mr. Williams — I believe Mr. Baxter 

 misunderstood me. I did not want to 

 cast any reflections. We know the 

 meetings of twenty or thirty years ago 

 were better. The old bee-keepers were 

 full of enthusiasm and had big meet- 

 ings, and they deserve the credit. They 

 were progressive, but, as I say, and it 

 if! a fact, not a theory, that the older 

 bee-keepers are missing; a great many 

 of them are not with us; and we miss 

 them. We have not anybody to take 

 their place, yet. Those who are with 



