1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



459 



cestors. What does possess people to shut 

 thftir eyes and ears to sense and reason ? 



Well, friends, there seems to be a better day 

 dawning. On every hand we see trnih rising 

 up our of the dust and ashes, and asserting it- 

 self. It is not only in our great cities that the 

 confiding people have refused to be humbugged 

 any longer by sneaks and traitors, but a gener- 

 al movement seems to be inaugurated to look 

 into things and after people. Just now I find 

 something in the Praclicdl Fan/icr. right in 

 line. Hereitis: g^«*w ^^31 ^ »« :Zj ■ ■ 



^mmmmmts^ 



Enos Harnden. seed-buyer for the Department of 

 Agriculture, will soon make a report rejiarding- sales 

 of seeds by members of Congress. It will involve 

 well-known men in a mess of petty crookedness. 

 He has discovered that tlie seeds annually g'iven 

 members for free distrilnition among- their constit- 

 uents have been sold by many members. Harnden 

 even bought some himself. For $7.5 he boug-ht of a 

 member 14,9.50 packages of veg-etable seeds 1-365 

 packag-es of flower seeds, und 82 packages of field 

 seeds. These seeds actually cost the government 

 $328. so that tlie member displayed a remarkable 

 ignorance of tlieir value. Mr. Harnden, wbile he 

 was In the detective business for the Department, 

 refused to buy more than 100.000 packages of .seeds 

 which had been pakl for by the government, and 

 g-iven to members free, and were offered by them 

 for sale. It is quite viossible that, when this report 

 is presented, it will nut a stop to the free seed busi- 

 ness altog-ether. The thing was started to enable 

 farmers to secure new varieties of vegetnliles and 

 grains, and thus enrich the aerricultnral products of 

 the country. Last year lltiO.OOO was appropriated 

 for the purchase of these seeds to be given to mem- 

 bers of Congress, in quotas of 15.000 packages each, 

 and in turn to he distributed by them among their 

 constituents. But the custom has been so abused 

 that it will probably be stopped altogether. No good 

 has ever come of it that any one has seen.— C/u'cagro 

 Tiinoi-Herald, April 23. 



It seems to me the thing to do is to come right 

 out in print with the names of these members 

 of Congress. If our American people, in their 

 blind zfal for party, have put men into office 

 who vi'ill steal packages of flower and vegetable 

 seeds given them to distribute among the rural 

 people, let them bp shown up. Let them ex- 

 plain, of course, if there is any thing to explain. 

 But has not this thing been going on about long 

 enough ? It kept coming to my mind, however, 

 that our good friend Harnden might also have 

 been swindled when he paid §75 for over 1(3.000 

 packages of government seed, even if the gov- 

 ernment did actually pay $228 for them. 



We are greatlv pleased to find in the Rurai 

 New-Yorker of May 4 an editorial which backs 

 up with their characteristic energv all I have 

 said about Electropoise. It is refreshing in- 

 deed to see a journal of such age, standing, and 

 influence, lend a helping hand. 



Now please bear with me. friends, while I 

 make just one more application. The propri- 

 etors of Electropoise and Oxydonor are still 

 running things with a high hand, with the aid 

 of ministers of the gospel and our religious 

 periodicals. They do not want truth. They 

 have laid their plans on the assumption that 

 investigation will not be made. It brings viv- 

 idly to mind a part of a verse in the 28ih chap- 

 ter of Isaiah. " We have made lies our refuge, 

 and under falsehood have we hid ourselves." 

 They have humbugged a certain class of minis- 

 ters and a few so-called professors, and they 

 are becoming boastful, even while they laugh 

 in their sleeves at the success of their treach- 

 ery. Publishers of our religious newspapers do 

 not want the truth, bpcause the truth would 

 stop their money-getting. This is hard and 

 severe, friends, I know; but it is a terrible 

 thing to be permitted to go on. One of our 

 prominent religious newspapers — one that es- 

 pecially exhorts to holiness and sanctificdtion, 

 wrote me that it was not their business to in- 



quire into the scientific claims of Electropoise. 

 They do not want to inquire. The truth would 

 cost them money. I asked permission to pub- 

 lish the letter they wrote to me defending their 

 course. Permission has not yet been granted. 

 They dare not grant it. They are obliged to 

 shut their eyes to the scientific part of it, or 

 else they could not consistently keep accepting 

 the advertisement. Let the truth come out, 

 just as it did under friend Detwiler's keen 

 scrutiny at that spiritual seance. Let the 

 truth come out, and be held np to the light of 

 day as it is being brought out in the govern- 

 ment seed business. Let the truth and the full 

 facts in the case be held up to the public gaze 

 as Parkhurst has been holding it up. And now 

 let the truth come out and be held up with 

 Electropoise and Oxydonor in the same way. 

 If I am mistaken, and they have some truth 

 somewhere on their side, it will do them good 

 and not harm. " Ye shall know the truth, and 

 the truth shall make you free." 



LATEST FROM ELECTROPOISE. 



It seems these people exhibit a tendency to 

 abandon their fraudulent science, and cornea 

 little nearer telling the truth. We judge so 

 from the following, which we take from one of 

 their advertisements in the Christian H erald 

 of May 8. CZ2 r 



u'lt puis tne body Into such a condition as to be 

 able to absorb oxygen more freelj' through the 

 lungs and also through the pores as well. It is 

 thermal electricity. These are our theories about 

 it."i: CZ3 



1^1 would call attention to the closing— ''These 

 are our theories." This would seem to indi- 

 cate that th^y do not exactly know why it 

 cures folks. If a chemist or electrician should 

 prove to them that there is no electricity about 

 it whatever, I suppose they would be obliged to 

 say they did not know what it was that per- 

 formed the cures. I should like to ask them a 

 few more questions. For instance: If you do 

 not know what it is, why have you any reason 

 to think it has anything to do with oxygen ? 

 Secondly, what reason have you for putting 

 sulphur and plumbago into that little metal 

 case? What good does it do? To be honest, 

 they* would have to say again, "We don't 

 know." Third, why do you demand S25.00 for 

 what costs you but little more than 25 cents? 

 I do not think they will say they " don't know " 

 this time, for they do know only too well. And 

 now I submit the facts in the case to the people 

 who claim to be cured. Do you believe that 

 putting sulphur and plumbago into that little 

 metal case, and dropping the case into a bowl 

 of water, cured your ailments when even the 

 men who make it must admit they have no 

 reason for so doing? We once heard of a color- 

 ed doctor who gave a patient, in case of an ac- 

 cident, some lead shot and some rosin. When 

 the regular physican came, and demanded of 

 the darkey why he had adminstered such a 

 dose as that, the explanation was that he was 

 pretty sure something "was broke inside." 

 The lead was to solder up the break, and the 

 rosin was to make the solder stick. Now, this 

 poor unlettered friend had some reason and 

 sense to back his proceedings. Can the Elec- 

 tropoise people give as much of a reason ? 

 And yet they talk about the human body being 

 " polarized." " taking oxygen from the air." etc. 

 There are some testimonials that it seems do 

 not get into print in the Electropoise advertise- 

 ments. Here is one of them : 



Mr. Root:—1 have had the pleasure of receiving 

 and reading a copy (April) of Gleanings. It is in 

 regard to your article, " Our Religious Literature 



