264 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



motive of exceeding streugtli, and it 

 may well figure in ell'orts made for 

 the extinction of llie aforementioned 

 traffic, but it can scarcely be suppos- 

 ed that it can be made to indanie the 

 minds of men who are invited to act 

 in an almost purely business matter. 

 Nor can the object be a .social one, for 

 such are well provided for iu a great 

 variety of organizations already per- 

 fected. That is all a matter of course, 

 for the very nature of the organiza- 

 tion proposed excludes every motive 

 but the financial one. The advan- 

 tage to be secured must be a financial 

 one, and it must be certain and sub- 

 stantial. It is not to be expected that 

 the rank and file of bee-keepers are 

 to be moved to action by any chimer- 

 ical or indefinite and hazy proposition. 

 Everyone will ask "what is there in it 

 for me," and "who is to pay it," and 

 "how responsible is he financially?" 

 And this further question, "are the 

 men who are to handle our product 

 men of ability and experience in the 

 sort of business it is proposed to have 

 them undertake?" And then the 

 troublesome query: "Are they honest 

 and will they remain so?" "Are they 

 to be under 'heavy' bonds?" No mat- 

 ter. Few bee-keepers will be found 

 who are courting expensive lawsuits 

 to enforce the penalty of defaulted 

 bonds. Do the fears suggested seem 

 fanciful? It is history that few great 

 enterprises managed by men of limit- 

 ed experience escape dire misfortune. 

 Then an organization so extensive 

 as the proposed "National" would, it 

 would appear, be fairly worthy to be 

 plied with the charges that are so 

 freely made against the so-called 

 trusts, viz., that they destroy health- 

 ful competition and make on their 

 products prices that are unnaturally 

 high. And the fine phrases used in 

 defense that it is only to "control" the 

 prices and not to make them "unduly 



high" would hardly prove an accept- 

 able answer. Besides, unlike the 

 trusts, the National could not offer, as 

 a reason for its existence, "greatly in- 

 creased economy of production." 



WHY I^OCAI,, OR COUNTY ASSOCIATION 

 WOUI.D NOT SUCCEED. 



To over come the inevitable reluct- 

 ance of bee-keepers to join blindly m 

 the organization of such an associa- 

 tion, it has been proposed In some 

 quarters to have agents appointed to 

 go about the country to organize lo- 

 cal, County and State, associations to 

 be subsidiary, sort of feeders, to the 

 National. In my opinion such a 

 course would be a dismal failure, or, 

 if not a failure, a ridiculous mistake. 

 Reasons for this opinion ai'e not hard 

 to find. Bee-keepers in this and most 

 other States are so in a small way- 

 farmers with a few bees— and are too 

 scattered to warrant even a hope that 

 either local oi-' County associations 

 could be made successful. Their so- 

 cial needs are already supplied in the 

 different farmers' organizations, and 

 the only inducement remaining, worth 

 mentioning, would be the hope of 

 financial profit; and this hope would 

 appear dim enough when they con- 

 sidered the cent or two increased price 

 per pound supposed to be re- 

 alized from allowing the Na- 

 tional to manipulate their meagre crop 

 of honey, less their share of the 

 agents' wages and expenses, and less 

 their own time, trouble and expense 

 attending the meetings. They would 

 undoubtedly want to know what such 

 local societies had to do, anyway, with 

 enabling the National to sell honey at 

 an increased profit. 



Those with a considerable number 

 of bees are wider apart still, and not 

 enthusiastically inclined to take long 

 journeys to attend bee-keepers' con- 

 ventions, as our efforts heretofore in 



