902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. lo. 



Not by mig-ht ni)r by powei', but by my Spirit, saith 

 the Lord of liosts.— Zech. 6: 4. 



Dear friends, this is my closing talli for the 

 year 1890. The question has been on my mind 

 for some days, •' What shall be the last thought 

 of the year? What subject is of most moment 

 and most importance just now, to the readers of 

 G1.KANINGS?" A very kind letter from a friend 

 who furnishes me some valuable facts in regard 

 to artesian wells, furnishes me my subject in 

 these closing remarks. It is as follows: 



Friend Boot:— I was surprised at your reasons for 

 giving money to a railroad company. Wliat does tlie 

 Scripture mean when it says, " He that giveth to 

 the rich shall surely come to want "V If the railroads 

 of this country aie not rich, tlien I don't know as 

 much as I tliougiit T did. One can walk cheapei' than 

 to ride on a railroad. To make a long' story short, 

 hey are robbers. I liave often wondered wiiat kind 

 of people the Nazarene was speaking: to wlien lie 

 said, "My Father's liouse shall be called a house of 

 prayer; but you liave niade it a den of tliieves." I 

 trouble you with this, because you are one of a few 

 that desire to do wliat you can. We here in South 

 Dakota can see that capital and lal)or will clash un- 

 less the difficulty is settled by ballots. There is a 

 party here, six months old, called Independents, wlio 

 will always be "independents," in my opinion. 



De Smet, S. D., Nov. 18. S.,L. K. 



Had the above come from only otie corres- 

 pondent, I should not have thought much about 

 it; but I see the same spirit in other letters, and 

 here, too, among my 'iichilthnrs in Jledina. 1 

 find it in the papers that aie scatt(M'ed so fi'eely 

 throughout our land. Perhaps the railroads 

 are not very often so strongly condemned as in 

 the above, but yet there is more or less of that 

 sort of feeling prevailing. Our friend is evi- 

 dently looking toward legislation and the bal- 

 lot to right his wrongs. Well, there may be 

 something for American people to do in that 

 line; but it is so much out of my department 

 that I will not even try to touch tipon it to-day. 

 The great thought that comes to me. and lies 

 heavily upon my heart, is, that Satan is con- 

 stantly entrapping us by persuading us that 

 our neighbors are af? evil: and especially has 

 this thought got into the heart of the laboring 

 elasscH toward those who wield the capital of 

 our land. Dear friends. I am sure that capital 

 and labor should go hand in hand, just as a 

 husband and wife should go hand in hand. I 

 am sure that God has intended that capital and 

 labor should be wedded together. Their rela- 

 tions should be kind and loving ones. Each 

 should seek to assist and aid the other— or, as is 

 said in one text, " In honor preferring one an- 

 other." The husband should make it his con- 

 stant study to assist and help and please his 

 wife; and she in turn should make it her con- 

 stant thought to minister to his comfort, each 

 one setting aside self for the good of the other. 

 Now, when capital and labor can be doing just 

 this, then shall we have a millenium here on 

 earth. But doubtless many of our readers will 

 say, " Capital has not done this, and does not 

 propose to do it. Capital is the stronger party, 

 and labor the weaker one. Labor always has 

 submitted — at least almost always — and you 

 would recommend, Bro. Root, that labor still 

 submit." No, I do not. I know capital has a 

 seeming advantage; and I know, too. that cap- 

 ital has been, in some cases, very lofty, over- 

 bearing, and unfeeling. In the very same way, 

 many husbands, by their superior strength, and 

 perhaps greater knowledge of the world, and 

 possibly greater mental force, have the advan- 

 tage, and in a brutish, selfish way, pj-opose to 

 keep it. Both pictttres are sad ones. Where is 

 the remedy? I should say, dear friends, before 



we try legislation or the ballot — that is, before 

 we rely entirely upon the.se ag(Uicies — we should 

 look into our own hearts and see that f?(Ci/ be 

 right: be sure they are in fighting trim. You 

 know what I mean by "fighting trim." The 

 fighting to bedone is in the line of the te.Kt I have 

 cliosen at the head of this talk — "Not by might 

 nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord 

 of hosts." 



Let us tak<' our friend's letter in order. First. 

 he expresses surprise that I should give nuDteij 

 to the railroads. Why, dear friend R.. it is 

 these same railroads that are revolutionizing 

 the earth. Without the railroads yon could not 

 live where you are now. Without them we 

 should be in barbarism, as other nations are 

 now, and where they must stay until railroads 

 can let the light of civilization shine in upon 

 them. It is the railroads that enable us to live 

 in places where famine and starvation would 

 be constantly recttrring without them. See 

 the examples in the Old World. For want of 

 railroads the inhabitants of China, in certain 

 districts, are starving to death by the inlllioti. 

 A former pastor of our church is now in China. 

 He told us of a railroad that was built in China 

 some years ago. The Chinese let the same bit- 

 ter spirit enter their hearts that now and then 

 comes into the hearts of our people here at 

 home, and they tore the railroad all up — demol- 

 ished the locomotive, tore up the track, bent 

 the rails, and then — well, what then? Why, 

 they starved to death during poor seasons, just 

 as they have been doing for centtiries past I 

 Dear brother, you do not give the whole of that 

 Iw'autiful text from Proverbs, about giving to 

 the rich. The whole verse reads, " He that 

 oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and 

 he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to 

 want." 



You will notice the starting thought— in fact, 

 the leading thought in the verse is, " He that 

 oppresseth the poor to increase his riches." 

 Then follows the other part of the figure in re- 

 gard to him that should favor the rich. That 

 is, if a man wanted some work done, and in- 

 stead of letting a jwur man do it he should give 

 the job to a ric/i man, such a one shall surely 

 come to want. Is not my construction right? 

 You think that I gave to the rich in giving to 

 the railroad. Why, dear brother, it is my own 

 friends and neighbors who are building that 

 I'ailroad. The prime mover in the whole pro- 

 ject is a little energetic, wiry man who lives in 

 a neighboring town. He has been working for 

 an east and west railroad for all of fiv(> or six 

 years. He got it started and under headway 

 some years ago; but one disaster after another 

 snowed him under, and we supposed he was 

 hopelessly ruined. He kept at the work, how- 

 ever, winter and summer. Just before we got 

 the road undcu- way I laughingly told him that, 

 if ((Hi/bocZy deserved a railroad, he did, in an- 

 swer to his indefatigable industry and persever- 

 ance. He told me confidentially that, if it fail- 

 ed again, he would be hoiieh^ssly mined, and 

 we. too, wottld have oar chance of getting an 

 east and west railroad, as an outlet for our in- 

 creasing business, for ever lost. At one of our 

 railroad meetings it seemed as if the project 

 must be given ui). The people began to lose 

 heart, and go home. Then I stepped in and 

 gave them an exhortation, and made some rash 

 promises, as some of my friends thought — some- 

 thing like matching every subscription that 

 would be made during the remainder of the 

 evening. They rallied, and came back: and we 

 got so near tiie desired goal that night that the 

 railroad took a fresh start and went ahead. 

 Railroads and printing-presses, dear brother, 

 follow in the wake of missionaries, as you well 

 know. It is true, many vicious and profan« 



