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GLEAN [NGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1 



thieves break through and steal. Now, with all 

 the other wonderful things that have come true 

 in our civilization, it seems to me it is high time 

 for our government to provide a place for these 

 little savings, where the rewards ot toil can be 

 put where thieves do nol break through and steal. 

 The government can easily do it. 



A good woman, a friend of mine for more than 

 forty years, said to me just a few days ago that 

 there is no one thingso much needed in the Unit- 

 ed States as a safe place for the earnings of Amer- 

 ica's children. It is a great comfort to me to 

 know that there are those in my employ who 

 have worked for me or for our institution, if you 

 choose, for more than forty years; and these old 

 friends of mine have long been in the habit of 

 entrusting me with their surplus earnings. I 

 mentally thank God that I can honestly say, each 

 and every one of them has always had his earnings 

 when he called for them. Well, this particular 

 friend of mine was, years ago, persuaded to take 

 some of her money away from me and loan it to 

 another party — to a minister and his wife who 

 wanted it; and I am afraid they suggested that it 

 was not quite as safe with A. I. Root (with his 

 craze for developing the Home of the Honey-bees) 

 as it would be in their care, and so she let them 

 have it. This man was a minister of the gospel, 

 but he was in other business also. By the way, 

 I have long had a sort of feeling that ministers 

 of the gospel ought not to be very much engaged 

 in other kinds of business or occupation. Of 

 course, the pastor of a church wants some kind 

 of recreation. I would by all means let him have 

 some chickens, a garden, and a few hives of bees; 

 but these things should be only secondary or a 

 side issue. One who accepts and assumes the 

 sacred calling of one of God's ministering ser- 

 vants, to lift his fellow-men out of darkness into 

 light, ought to give all his energies and strength 

 to that one thing. I do not believe in being half 

 preacher and half lawyer or bee-keeper or any 

 thing else. Well, this minister of the gospel 

 died soon after this, and his financial affairs were 

 in a very bad condition, his estate paying only a 

 few cents on the dollar. His life was insured for 

 a goodly sum; but I think that none of that 

 money was used to pay back the poor hard-work- 

 ing girl whom he and his wife had induced to 

 take her scanty earnings from a safe place, and 

 give them into their care and keeping. 



Now do not get an idea, dear friends, that I 

 am boasting. As I look back I realize that there 

 have been several times in my life when, had I 

 died suddenly, it would have been a hard matter 

 to pay every one every cent that was his due. 

 And this brings me to the special point of this 

 Home paper. Every one of us, especially those 

 who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 

 should have his affairs in such shape that his 

 wife or friends can readily satisfy every claim, if 

 he should be called away suddenly by accident 

 or otherwise. At one time during the past win- 

 ter one of the younger members of our firm gave 

 me notice when I was down in Florida that we 

 had purchased more beeswax and basswood than 

 we ever had before. As both of these commodi- 

 ties would surely be wanted, they felt as if The 

 A. I. Root Co. ought to be prepared, as we al- 

 ways had been before, to take at a fair price 

 whatever was offered. Of course, we have had to 



borrow at certain seasons to do this. I asked 

 the question how much money we had borrowed 

 to invest in these things, and what the basswood 

 and beeswax were worth that we had in stock. 

 The reply came that the wax and lumber care- 

 fully stowed away and fully insured amounted to 

 more than the borrowed money; and I said, 

 "Keep on takmgwhat comes in through the reg- 

 ular channels of trade, but do not solicit any 

 further shipments." 



But a careful and substantial business firm 

 should proceed rather cautiously in matters of 

 this kind; for even beeswax and lumber may take 

 a sudden drop in value; and this drop in value 

 may make trouble. What I started out to say 

 was that no follower of the Lord Jesus Christ 

 should ever deliberately go into any deal or spec- 

 ulation that may render it impossible for him to 

 hand over what is due at any time it may be 

 wanted. Of course, special arrangements are oft- 

 en made that the money is not to be called for 

 before a specified time; but every professing 

 Christian should be very careful about getting 

 into any sort of predicament, by accident or oth- 

 erwise, whereby he absolutely can not do all that 

 he agrees to do. The government could handle 

 and care for the money belonging to working- 

 people more surely than could any one single 

 person. The best and most upright men are 

 likely to die at any time; and, despite all precau- 

 tions that can be taken, so far as I know there is 

 no positive assurance that the children or others 

 who take charge of the business after one's death 

 will manage it as it was before. Unforeseen 

 things are likely to occur. We can insure our 

 property and our lives; but even insurance com- 

 panies sometimes become bankrupt. People who 

 fail in business often have comfortable homes that 

 the law can not touch; but occasionally we see 

 instances where the man who fails gives up his 

 last copper to satisfy his creditors; and I hope 

 that God will give me grace enough to give up 

 my last copper and go to the poorhouse (if need 

 be) rather than to feel that I had kept back one 

 single cent of the honest earnings of any hard- 

 working business man or woman. 



There have been many warnings recently in 

 the Rural Ne-zc -Yorker and other periodicals 

 against investing money in the various schemes 

 and stock companies that are advertised. With 

 the good prices that we have for all sorts of rural 

 products — poultry, fruit, etc. — there seems to be 

 an unusual number of people who have a little 

 spare money to invest. But the RuraVs advice, 

 which I heartily second, is, do not invest your 

 money in any of these institutions that urge you 

 in papers to invest. And especially beware of 

 those who tell you they can pay you a much 

 larger interest than you can get around home. I 

 am well aware that even our religious periodicals 

 are giving place to such advertisements. I read 

 one such only a few days ago, declaring that 

 money invested with them would bring 14 per 

 cent sure. Have nothing to do with any such 

 offers. I would almost advise that you stop hav- 

 ing any paper come into your home that contains 

 advertisements of that kind. Any honest person 

 or institution that wants money can usually get 

 it for 6 or 8 per cent. Of course, it makes some 

 difference where only a small amount is wanted 

 for a short time, Our savings banks usually pay 



