THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



JOl 



find at least eig-ht of the sixteen belong 

 under that classification with several 

 others doubtful. Such classification 

 you should be familiar with. To talk 

 about these men dominating the society 

 being "folly," the members of or a 

 large body of them at least, do not 

 think it fully, evidence of which you 

 have in the rapid falling off of member- 

 ship. You also have evidence of it in 

 the matter which passes between offi- 

 cers, which rarely comes to the ears of 

 the other members. For obvious 

 reasons it would be better to save the 

 old society than start a new one, but 

 if the old is to be saved, radical 

 changes will iiave to be made, both in 

 the personnel of the officials and in the 

 constitution. From all over the land 

 comes evidence of the feeling that the 

 meeting of the National at San Antonio 

 next month will mark the beginning of 

 its end or of its rejuvenation. If the 

 former, another body will promptly 

 take its place, if the latter you will see 

 it quickl}'^ regain its old members and 

 grow as it never grew before. Let us 

 hope it will be the latter. 



Providence, R. I., Oct. 3, 1906. 



[I have been an officer of the Asso- 

 ciation for a dozen years or more, I 

 have attended nearly all of the conven- 

 tions, I have been about all over the 

 country, I have received letters from 

 hundreds of its members, yet, never, in 

 all this time, have I ever heard a 

 whisper that there was any feeling of 

 distrust of some of the officials, or re- 

 sentment against the way they con- 

 ducted its affairs. I was aware that 

 there was a whole lot of kicking be- 

 cause of the uniformly high price of 

 bee supplies, but I never heard any 

 complaint that the manufacturers and 

 dealers were using their connection 

 with the National to further their 

 private interests. 



There has never been any attempt to 

 change the character of the National. 

 The members have never tried to elect 



a man and faile'^. All such talk is the 

 merest balderdash. 



Two or three years ago, when +he 

 officiary of the National was more 

 largely dealers than it is nov, some of 

 the New York members were working 

 night and day to increase its member- 

 ship, n.)w, when most of these dealers 

 are out of office, these same members 

 find that these dealers do not "conduct 

 their commercial affairs" to the liking 

 these members — when, presto, they 

 jump on the back of the National ! 

 Blame the National for the acts of 

 dealers now out of office ! Could any- 

 thing be more unreasonable ? 



A labor agitator can stir up a body 

 of satisfied, contented workmen, and 

 induce them to do foolish acts that 

 they would otherwise never have 

 thought of doing; so a few bee-keepers 

 in New York can stir up and mislead 

 a lot of bee-keepers who would other- 

 wise remain loyal. 



The co-operation of the New York 

 bee-keepers in buying supplies w is 

 praiseworthy, and as I have stated in 

 previous number, I should have been 

 glad to have heralded the movement 

 had it not been coupled with asenselciss 

 attack upon the National. As it was, 

 it seemed to me an act of charity to 

 drop a mantle of silence over the whole 

 business. It was because of this 

 silence on the part of the press that 

 Bro. Miller says that bee-keepers are 

 "sore." Now, I'll tell you exactly 

 what I think : When those two or three 

 New York men had stirred up this mat- 

 ter, I imagine they felt as a pigmy might 

 feel when he had attacked a giant. 

 They expected that the apicultural 

 press would stand aghast. Not a word 

 was said, and, naturally, they felt 

 "sore " If any of my readers felt sore 

 because of my silence, I wish they 

 would let me know — remember, too, 

 that I am not thin-skinned. 



Then, because of this silence, the 

 journals are accused of keeping still 

 because they were in cahoots with the 



