1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



599 



Referring to Mr. Newman's able article, and 

 his reference to the constitution which he drew 

 up, as I have said before, the instrument seem- 

 ed to be at the time an admirable one. and was, 

 as I understand, modeled after a simHar con- 

 stitution that has been and is a magnificent 

 success in England; but owing to the geo- 

 graphical distances, and other things peculiar 

 to bee-keeping in this country, the experience 

 of several years unquestionably proves, as Mr. 

 Hutchinson intimates, that the constitution 

 was inoperative in many of its features. For 

 instance, it provided for affiliation by the pay- 

 ment of 85.00 on the part of any society desiring 

 to come into filial connection with the larger 

 organization; and in return the latter was to 

 grant the services of a judge, and distribute 

 medals, besides several other minor benefits. 

 But after some of the local associations had 

 paid over the money for several years, and re- 

 ceived no practical benefits, they " kicked." as 

 they had a right to do. An effort was then 

 made, which finally resulted in the securing of 

 medals at a cost of about a hundred dollars to 

 the North American — money that it could ill 

 afford from the treasury.* But the " medal " 

 business soon played out. Well, there were 

 several other provisos in the constitution that 

 were equally inoperative; in fact, it was prac- 

 tically impossible to carry them into effect as 

 they were arranged by the framer, without 

 more funds than it was possible to get from 

 membership fees. Serious criticisms were of- 

 fered, and Gleanings, among other journals, 

 advocated striking out these features in order 

 that the constitution might be consistent with 

 itself, 171 not offering ivhat it could not furnish. 



It does not seem to me that the Union was 

 ever " married " to the North American; and 

 if it was. the ties of wedlock were so loose they 

 did not hold. The truth of the matter, it seems 

 to me, lies right here: Bee-keepers can not 

 really afford two such organizations. Let the 

 Union swallow up the North American, if need 

 be; but let us boil them down into one; then 

 let us have smaller initiation fees, conduct the 

 one more economically, and run the member- 

 iship up into tho. several hundreds. 



If I am not very much out of the way, the 

 increased membership of the Union very re- 

 cently was due to the fact that bee-keepers 

 thought, after the constitution was changed 

 to take cognizance of adulteration and other 

 matters, the Union would do something with 

 this great problem of adulteration, and hence 

 the new members. I do not quite agree that all 

 the funds of the Union were raised for defense. 

 The recent addition to membership brought 

 with it an addition to the funds, and this was 

 not so much for defense as for other matters. 



* I was one of the executive board at the time, and 

 tliought the medals should be secured. I came in 

 for my share of tbe blame: but, I believed the con- 

 stitution should be made consistent.— Ed. 



If we expect large membership, and a power 

 for good, so that, as Bro. York says, we may 

 appeal to legislatures that will /leor, it is my 

 humble opinion that the Union should branch 

 out in its line of work. The field of protection 

 against unjust legislation is too narroi^. The 

 Union ought to take hold and Investigate every 

 case of alleged adulteration. It has seemed 

 disinclined to take any such action. Again, 

 it should, I think, keep a careful watch of the 

 markets and of commission men. It should 

 also have a watch-dog eye on swindlers who do 

 occasionally creep into our ranks, and have in 

 the past succeeded in carrying off hard-earned 

 dollars from bee-keepers. I am not referring 

 to adulterators, hut to unscrupulous queen- 

 breeders and supply-dealers— more especially 

 the former, who have taken in large orders and 

 then pocketed the money. 



Last, but by no means least, it should and 

 could fill the mission of the North American, 

 in getting together the leading bee-keepers of 

 the land for face-to-face and hand-to-hand con- 

 ferences. It should grapple the great questions, 

 and then with a large membership and a finan- 

 cial backing, be in a position to act and do 

 something. The North American is not and 

 has not been what it should be. The Union has 

 had a brilliant past in the line of protection 

 against unjust legislation. The need of such 

 work is largely gone by, but there are newer 

 and larger fields for action, and why not com- 

 bine our two forces into one powerful one? 

 Gleanings' is for amalgamation, and, with the 

 Review, it doesn't care whether the N. A. B. K. 

 A. swallows the Union, or whether the swal- 

 lowing is the other way. Let's combine our 

 forces. 



It has been whispered to me that some editor 

 was after the General Managership of the 

 Union, or such organization as might perhaps 

 be perfected in the future by amalgamation or 

 otherwise. So far as Gleanings is concerned, 

 neither of its editors would accept the office 

 under any consideration. I have already heard 

 from the editors of three or four other leading 

 bee-papers, and find that their position is ours 

 exactly. 



Since writing the foregoing, the following 

 just at hand is in line with what I have writ- 

 ten: 



Although letter-writing- is rather out of my line, 

 I can hardly forbear saying- a very few words on the 

 proposed union of the North American and Nation- 

 al Bee-keepers' Union. I sincerely liope the mem- 

 bers of botli associations will do all in their power 

 to have them united, and put the dues down to 26 

 cts. a year, if possible. We ouglit to have in the 

 National a membership of more thousands than we 

 have hiuidreds t(i-day; and in order to get a respec1>- 

 able numbei- on the roll, every one of the present 

 members must do all in his power to induce others 

 to join. Why not have the various associations all 

 over the country discu.es the matter of .ioiiiing the 

 National at their coming conventions? A good deal 

 will depend on the support the Ijee-journals give the 

 scheme. I want to sec the National Union second 

 to none in the United States. Wm. Russell. 



Minnehaha Falls, Minn., July 23. 



