208 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



both communistic and anarchistic, that 

 is to say, each produces according" to 

 her abilit}', and receives according to 

 her needs; but, on the other hand, 

 there is evidentlj^ no direction as to the 

 work each shall do. As Dr. Watts put 

 it 



"Each seems to know both whereto go 

 And what it has to do." 



Each worker seemingl_v works with 

 tremendous energy, not for the good of 

 self, but for the good of all; that is, she 

 is actively moral; yet each would ap- 

 pear to select, by some unknown in- 

 stinct, the one work that ought to be 

 done by her. Since all are equal pro- 

 ducers of the food supply, all are en- 

 titled equally to a share and get it, 

 thus there can be no theft in a bee hive. 

 I might in turn take up the other vir- 

 tues and consider them in detail, but 

 the result, I think, will always be the 

 same, and demonstrate that in a bee 

 hive there is no immoralitj', but a 

 great amount of active morality. In 

 this respect their social organism is 

 infinitely superior to that of human 

 beings. 



Man's ethics calls for the support of 

 the crowd, or community, of which he 

 is a member, as against all others. 

 While we demand the punishment of 

 all violators of law, we would at the 

 same time, condemn the members of a 

 family who did not stand by one of 

 their number who had perpetrated 

 even an atrocious crime. This is a 

 relic of primitive ethics. On a larger 

 scale we demand that a citizen of any 

 country shall fight for his own nation 

 no matter the cause. "My country, 

 right or wrong." All nations hold 

 their territory only so long as they can 

 resist the invader; and thus powerful 

 nations expand into empires at the ex- 

 pense of other fellow creatures. I re- 

 gret to say that the morality of bees 

 stops short at their own door, and, like 

 men, they never hesitate to rob the 

 members of another community of their 

 all. 



From bees to bee-keepers is but a 

 step, and I would like, with all gen- 

 tleness to say a word about them. I 

 notice in the bee journals a great many 

 of the contributors are men of a de- 

 cidedly religious bent of mind, who 

 seldom miss an opportunity of inculcat- 

 ing their beliefs, on the side. One 

 such bee-keeper informed me that he 

 considered the cause of this attitude 

 was due to the fact that their occupa- 

 tion forced upon them the opinion that 

 here was an effect which must have 

 been caused by a great cause or 

 creator. The real reason is different. 

 All students of sociology know that 

 each form of society evolves a special 

 form of religion suited to the needs of 

 that particular time. The methods by 

 which men produce and exchange the 

 necessities of life determine the struct- 

 ure of society, its laws, its morals, its 

 religion, and even its public opinion. 

 All the great religions in existence in 

 the world today took their origin in 

 the pastoral period of humanity, when 

 men herded sheep and cattle. There 

 were other religions that preceded 

 them which have now vanished into 

 oblivion. Bee-keeping is one of man's 

 earliest occupations. Canann was said 

 to be a land flowing with milk and 

 honey. Agriculture had not yet de- 

 veloped, therefore, there was no other 

 product but milk and honey, with an 

 occasional mutton chop or beef steak. 

 Bee-keeping then is an industry of the 

 pastoral period, and bee-keepers neces- 

 sarily fall into the mental attitude of 

 sheep herders and cattle grazers. The 

 religion of a pastoral period will 

 therefore most naturally appeal to 

 them. 



As an owner of a colony of bees I am 

 a capitalist. I provide the workers 

 with the factory and the necessary 

 tools of their trade. For my reward 

 on my investment and management of 

 the concern, I take all the workers 

 produce, leaving only what is essential 

 for the workers to live on and perpetu- 



