I'lik JiK/'J-Kh'EPERS' litVlEW. 



193 



so, Mr. Case has not only lost money by con- 

 fidence men. but has lost opportunity by be- 

 in;^ afraid to trust plain, outspoken, fearless 

 and honest people. It is just this false sen- 

 timent that I am most anxious to replace 

 with a better one. In the first place, bee 

 journals have no right to publicly pronounce 

 a man a fraud, whether he /s a fraud or )i<)l. 

 Libel is libel, even when the truth is told, 

 under many and varied conditions. A bee- 

 keepers' organization could collectively pur- 

 chase Dunn's and Bradstreet's commercial 

 reports, and a secretary could be drawn on 

 for information. This would be author- 

 ative, legal and according to rule. After all, 

 most people will find out cjuioker and cheap- 

 er at home, and will learn not to trust those 

 not reported good, no matter what nice let- 

 tors they may write. 



Yon are correct I think, Mr. Editor, when 

 you state that the probable reason why or- 

 ganization has done so little, is because bee- 

 keepers haven't been able to discover its 

 usefulness : and I wish to add that they 

 haveu't yet been able, except in the case of 

 the bee-keepers' Union, which was organ- 

 ized for the special purpose of dignifying 

 our profession, and maintaining our inalien- 

 able rights. It was plain to the founder of 

 that Union, that there was a broad, un- 

 touched and easily workable field for organ- 

 ized effort iti that line, and the Union was 

 formed, and the results proved the original 

 conception correct. Then up came the idea 

 of the anti-adulteration attachment. It 

 would seem that even children might have 

 discovered that this attachment would only 

 act as a clog upon the Union, and that said 

 Union could do nothing at all in the line 

 proposed. But grown men couldn't see it ; 

 they see it now, I think, hut if they don't, let 

 the Union once put this adopted appendage 

 into active operation, and they will learn it 

 right away. Before organization can ac- 

 complish anything, it must be harmoniously 

 organized aright, and then its members 

 must pull together as one man ; they must 

 have a common purpose upon which all are 

 enthusiastically united ; then they will 

 "stand," not "fall." I said purpose, not 

 purposes. What would you think of a dem- 

 ocratic-methodist organization ? 



Then there is another weak condition con- 

 nected with the apicultural organizations we 

 have had. The leaders have not been honey 

 producers, consequently they were not filled 

 with apicultural enthusiasm. What kind of 



enthusiasm then, did bring these men to our 

 conventions, and cause them to seek a lead- 

 ing position at the front ? Some desired to 

 be seen. Others had axes to grind. They 

 had some money speculation in view. It 

 has been preachers, professors, publishers, 

 supply dealers, and a few side-issue bee- 

 keepers, who have been at the front as lead- 

 ers, because of their energies to get there, 

 and the foolishness of bee-keei)ers to assist 

 them. Most of these men are impractical, 

 not only as honey [)roducers, but as workers 

 in any cause. We want practical organizers, 

 instead of theoretical ones. Nearly all of 

 our experimental stations have been man- 

 aged by men who would starve to death as 

 honey-producers, a little quicker than at any 

 other line of business. They had their 

 heads full of Cyprians, Apis Dorsata, anti- 

 tobacco, temperance, religion, and every- 

 thing good and bad, wise and silly, that 

 dosen't belong to the special interest of the 

 honey producer. Some preachers can talk 

 well. The graduate from some college can 

 write a good hand, and he is supposed to be 

 good material for a secretary. First give 

 us honey producers, and then give us the 

 best speakers and writers, from among that 

 clans. Put your preachers, and professors, 

 and most of your literary bee-keepers, back 

 on the back seats where they can learn some- 

 thing practical, and advance them as fast as 

 they can prove that they have learned it by 

 raising honey and shipping it to market in 

 crates and barrels. The best credentials are 

 bank checks for honey. How many times 

 have we been enjoined to bring samples of 

 our supplies to bee conventions, and how 

 many more times have we been criticized 

 for not doing it ? I think the place to ex-_ 

 hibit bee hives is in the apiary. The other 

 fittest place, in bee journals. Anyway let 

 the bee-keeper who attends conventions be 

 that enthusiastic that he will forget to take 

 along his bee hive. The organizers and ma- 

 nipulators of our associations are possessed 

 of too much theoretical talent, and not near- 

 ly enough practical tact. When our bee 

 journals shall have succeeded in weeding out 

 the copious writers of sophistry and false 

 theories, men who have two large apiaries 

 and a wheel in their head, and one poor, 

 little, old, broken down apiary in their back 

 yard, then we may be able to weed them out 

 of our organizations ; then we can organize 

 wisely and to some purpose. Please excuse 

 the plain and frank style of this essay, Vjut 



