1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



^25 



the Italian girls raised in this State are as fine 

 looking as one would wish to see." The idea 

 of linking Italian girls with Italian queens 

 shows that something is radically wrong with 

 the eyes and inclinations of my sedate and old- 

 time traveling companion. 



ARE WE ALL CRIPPLES. INVALIDS, AND CON- 

 STITUTIONALLY WEAK? 



Yes, Somnambulist, I heard and noted the 

 philippic given out by E. T. Abbott, in A. B. 

 Journal, but I had not time just then to attend 

 to him, being away up at Newhall taking care 

 of my fame. Friend Abbott says: 



Honey-producers, falling- in with the ereneriil drift 

 of things In these times, seem to liave the idea th it 

 there is only one road to success, and that is by 

 havine- the government or some ct)mbuiation of 

 men do for them what they confess, by tlieir theo- 

 ries, they are not able to do for themselves^-namely, 

 make life a success; in their chosen calling. 



The man who enjoys the privilege of these God- 

 given blessings (health and being let alone) should 

 be able to at least hold his own and keep his head 

 above water. If he is not. it will only be an appli- 

 cation of the doctrine of the survival of the fittest 

 to let him go under. Crutches and government 

 help should be reserved for invalids, cripples, and 

 the constitutionally weak. 



I never expected such an article as this from 

 E. T. Abbott. Being a man of letters, I did not 

 look for any thing so wicked— no, no! — so friv- 

 olous; no, thafs not the word either — so child- 

 ish as this. Yes, friend Abbott, we have 

 "fallen in with the general drift of things," 

 and we do have the idea that " there is but one 

 road to success." So far you are right, and have 

 described the situation exactly. But when you 

 say that we believe that road to success is to 

 "get the government or some combination of 

 men to do for us what we confess we can not 

 do for ourselves." you are all wrong. Did any 

 one ever ask the government to raise the price 

 of honey, or to furnish supplies at wholesale 

 prices? I trow not. But this is ju^t what's 

 the matter with us. Middlemen pile on the 

 profits on the supplies until the expenses come 

 to almost half the honey. There was some 

 talk of getting the government to import Apis 

 dorsnta. Were the advocates of this measure 

 " constitutionally weak, invalids, or cripples ? " 

 What writer has asked "some combination "^f 

 men to do for us what we confess we can not do 

 for ourselves"? Not one — not even a single 

 cripple! This is a misleading statement. We 

 do not confess any such thing, and never did 

 confess it. either by th« ory or action. On the 

 contrary, we claim that we are able to right 

 our own wrongs by combination and union 

 among ourselves. We do not ask "some com- 

 bination of men " to help us, and never did. It 



is a rather bold insinuation— in fact, almost 

 amounting to an assertion— that all who favor 

 combination and union for self-defense and 

 protection are either invalids, cripples, or con- 

 stitutionally weak. What has built our great 

 canals, and locked and dammed our rivers? 

 Combinations among the cripples that didn't 

 want to be let alone. What has dug and drilled 

 and blasted out hundreds of miles of tunnels in 

 search of the precious metals, until the Sierra 

 Nevada and the Rocky Mountains have be- 

 come catacombs as famous as those of Egypt or 

 the Via Appia f The combination of the crip- 

 ples who didn't " want to be let alone." What 

 has built our telegraphs, telephones, and our 

 thousands upon thousands of miles of railroads? 

 Combination of the cripples who didn't want to 

 be let alone. What has built and endowed our 

 great institutions of learning that are the pride 

 and the crowning glory of America? It was 

 the combination, union, and organization of 

 the "cripples, invalids, and constitutionally 

 weak," who had no ambition " to be let alone." 

 What is this great government of the United 

 States, " of the people, for the people, and by 

 the people." but a combination — a union and 

 organization of millions of men for self-protec- 

 tion? Are we all "Invalids, cripples, or con- 

 stitutionally weak? " I pause for a reply. 



HON. .T. M. HAMBA.UGH. 



I have had the pleasure of making the ac- 

 quaintance of the Hon. J. M. Hambaugh. I 

 visited him and his interesting and excellent 

 family, and they have enjoyed the hospitality 

 of my mountain home. We had a long and 

 interesting talk on bees, of course. Mr. Ham- 

 baugh was rather astonished when I lold him 

 we had but one flow of honey here, but that 

 that continued from the beginning of the early 

 spring until it finally closed up. as a general 

 thing, in July. An eastern man has a good 

 deal to learn when he comes out here to keep 

 bees. You see, we knoiv something. The first 

 thing, however, that he learns— and the knowl- 

 edge is quickly acquired — is the vast difference 

 between the head and the tail of the bee. Any 

 one can find that out in ten minutes, and not 

 half try, and without a single bale of undevel- 

 oped intellect at that. 



Mr. Hambaugh has been a member of the 

 Illinois Legislature, and probably left the State 

 for fear of committing a second offense. That's 

 the way you see all the good people come to 

 California. Friend Hambaugh is good because 

 he wants to reform. I am not one of those who 

 believe a man should be snubbed just because 

 he has been a member of the legislature. Give 

 him a chance to recover from the shock and 

 retrieve his reputation. You wouldn't like it 

 if you had just got out and nobody would speak 

 to you. But I'll bet that Hambaugh was a 

 wide awake and a jolly prisoner while he was 

 in, anyhow. 



