566 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



the secret I found that it was something 

 known to jewelers for years, and was what is 

 familiarly known as the "■ cyanuret " pro- 

 cess. My indignation arose at once. I told 

 him before the witnesses that he was a 

 swindler, a liar, and a thief. May be I was 

 not Christianlike, but I did not profess to 

 be a Christian at that time. lie told me 

 quietly to be careful what I said, and was 

 so gentlemanly about it that I began to fear 

 I had made a mistake. Finally ] said, '' My 

 friend, when you came here telling me you 

 put that silver on the iron rod by that pro- 

 cess, I think you told me a deliberate false- 

 hood ; but to settle the matter 1 will give 

 you $100 if you will coat the other end of 

 the rod in a like manner, by the same pro- 

 cess, and you may have 2-1: hours instead of 

 15 miniUes to do it in." 



He very smilingly told me it would afford 

 him the greatest pleasure to show me my 

 mistake and to accept my apology, and bow- 

 ed himself out with such composure that I 

 was in great trouble for fear he should suc- 

 ceed. He said he would go to the hotel and 

 get his apparatus. I watched nervously for 

 his return. In about half an hour a neigh- 

 boring jeweler came to the back door with 

 $25.00 in his hand, saying he had got it all 

 ready to hand to an agent for a silver-plat- 

 ing process, said agent representing that I 

 had just paid him 150.00 for a shop-right for 

 the same thing. My neighbor said that he 

 had almost handed the money to the agent, 

 for the man seemed so honest and straight- 

 forward ; but to be perfectly sure, he told 

 him he wanted to go out the back door for a 

 few minutes. I was in a fighting mood by 

 this time, and together we started for my 

 neighbor's shop. The man stood in the 

 door ; but when he saw us both coming at a 

 rapid rate, he put off at such a lively speed 

 that we gave up the pursuit. Now, for 

 more than thirty years I have had similar 

 experiences. Siime of our readers know 

 that I have paid out money again and again 

 to see if there were any honest men selling 

 secrets. Many of you remember our friend 

 H. H. Flick w'ho had a recipe for artificial 

 honey. I paid him S2.00 for it, and then 

 found it was the same thing that has for 

 years been printed in Dr. Chase's recipe- 

 book. I have talked the matter over with 

 Prof. Cook, with the presidents of our hor- 

 ticultural societies, and with those who 

 have charge of our experiment stations ; and 

 their universal verdict is, that no good thing 

 has ever come through such a channel. 

 The man who will take SI. 00 for something 

 that does not cost him as many cents is off 

 from the track, and out of line with the rest 

 of humanity who are seeking to do good 

 and to enlighten their fellow-men by every 

 honorable means in their power. Many of 

 you have perhaps seen the result of such 

 work. If one man can sell something for 

 $4.00 that costs him only 4 cts., so can oth- 

 ers do likewise, and a panic is created at 

 once. Every little while we get a circular 

 offering counterfeit money for sale. Now, 

 although I do not expect to purchase coun- 

 terfeit monev, I read these circulars through 

 very carefully. They start out something 

 like this: "I suppose you know that it is 



universally conceded now that no man can 

 acquire a competence by regular day's work. 

 It is too slow, and our moneyed men get 

 their money in some other way. You have 

 as good a right to get yours by a shorter cut 

 as the rest of them. The goods we sell you 

 are absolutely safe. In fact, they are so 

 like the genuine that nobody can tell the 

 difference. We furnish them for 4 cts., 

 and you get a dollar." Now, whether it be 

 patent-rights, selling secrets, or any other 

 inducement that persuades you that honest, 

 hard work, is too slow and laborious, the ef- 

 fect is mischievous. It is encouraging that 

 spirit that fills our penitentiaries. And 

 where one man is privileged to make money 

 in this way, it is hard work to persuade peo- 

 ple that they have not " as good a right," 

 as the counterfeit-money circulars put it. 



Imitators of Dr. Hall are already sending 

 out their circulars. The effect on almost, 

 any community is like that of starting a 

 whole apiary of bees to robbing daring a 

 dry time. Most of you have seen traveling 

 men who sell dollar bills for 10 or 25 cts. 

 apiece. The idea is so exciting that the 

 gambling spirit is stirred up at once. 

 Church-members, and even deacons, are 

 oftentimes first to get crazy. Almost every 

 community can furnish some instances of 

 such occurrences. 



Now, then, suppose we have made a dis- 

 covery, or have revived something that has 

 been dropped, that is of great value to hu- 

 manity, and saves life. How shall we com- 

 municate it to our fellow-men? Why, by 

 books and journals, as a matter of course ; 

 and these books and journals should be sold 

 at a fair and moderate price. Our industrial 

 publications are constantly giving informa- 

 tion, to the fullest possible details, in al- 

 most every line of work ; and good- si zed 

 books are now published on almost every 

 subject imaginable. As soon as the need of 

 such a book is felt, somebody is found ready 

 to bring it forth. liiding on the cars a 

 few days ago I glanced over my neighbor's 

 shoulder, who sat near me, and I found he 

 was reading a very prettily bound and il- 

 lustrated book on lighting buildings by 

 electric lights. The matter interested me 

 because a lot of new words had just been 

 coined, of which I should never have known 

 the meaning had it not been for overhearing 

 the talk of the men who recently put up 

 electric lights in our own building. Now, 

 rest assured, dear friends, that just as soon 

 as anything comes up that is really valuable, 

 a good, fair-sized book, at a fair customary 

 price, will soon appear, making it known to 

 community at large. Before the book comes 

 out, as a general thing the fullest particu- 

 lars will be given through the proper period- 

 icals. As an illustration, I will mention the 

 silo business. Why didn't somebody charge 

 $4.00 for this? and would they have done 

 more good by communicating something of 

 so much value, by charging so much for it 

 that whoever purchased would be sure not 

 to let it drop because it had taken hard- 

 earned dollars? If the good friends who 

 criticise so severely will just suspend judg- 

 ment a little while, they will, I am sure, 

 in a little time have abundant reason to con- 



