1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



713 



chancetoscoop up the farmer's hard earnings. 

 In one of these reports in the Practical 

 Farmer a college professor owns up that he 

 himself Qot swindled out of a hundred dol- 

 lars. Of course, there is usually a little fault 

 on both sides. It is very much safer and 

 better to avoid trusting anybody who has 

 only a transient reputation. Buy what you 

 want of somebody who has been in business 

 for years, and has earned a reputation. No 

 matter what strangers may tell you, do not 

 be in a hurry to place confidence in their 

 statements. It rejoices my heart to see how 

 much our farm papers are doing to protect 

 the public and expose frauds. Almost every 

 State in the Union has now one or more 

 good farm papers, and they are edited by 

 good bright high-toned moral men. I have 

 as yet seen only one farm paper on the wrong 

 side of the temperance question, and during 

 the past summer I have been glancing over 

 nearly all the agricultural papers of the 

 United States. I have done it, largely be- 

 cause I wanted to see what was being done 

 to educate and lift up our rural people. Yes, 

 it rejoices my heart to be among the crowd of 

 workers that are now devoted to outdoor in-, 

 dustries. The man who would plan to swin- 

 dle a town or a community, and set about it 

 by going to church, making a contribution, 

 and winning the respect and confidence of 

 Christian people, that he may in the end run 

 off with their money, ought to be behind the 

 iron bars, and live on bread and water for 

 the rest of his life. He not only wrongs the 

 community, but he hurts and degrades the 

 cause and name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



Sometimes some of us are in too much of 

 a hurry to think evil of people we do not 

 know; but I am afraid there is a tendency of 

 late to be too ready to give credence to the 

 statements of wolves who come among us in 

 sheep's clothing. 



Now, there is another side to this story. 

 You will notice I have another text — "Thou 

 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." If all 

 mankind could be converted so that all self- 

 ishness and greed were completely rooted 

 out of every heart, all of these troubles would 

 end. When one of these wolves in sheep's 

 clothing sells somebody counterfeit money, 

 you say, "Good enough for him;" for a man 

 whose heart is right before God and his fel- 

 low-man would have no use for counterfeit 

 money. Some years ago one of these slick 

 chaps came to me and said, "Mr. Root, if you 

 will just give me a few minutes of your time 

 I will show you something that will cost you 

 only 2.") cents, and you can sell it right along 

 for a dollar." 



I told the man I did not want any such 

 chance — I was not in that kind of business; 

 and he seemed astonished to learn that I 

 would not talk with him nor even look at his 

 patent right; and I still think, as I did then, 

 that any man who is willing to take from his 

 friends and neighbors (or from anybody else, 

 for that matter) a dollar for something that 

 costs him only '25 cents, ought to be ashamed 

 of himself. There are no such people in the 

 kingdom of heaven. Let»me di^ess a little. 



I happened to say to an editorial friend of 

 mine that I was going to use the text I have 

 to-day, and that our rural people need con- 

 stant warning, when he replied something 

 as follows: 



" Mr. Root, that is all right and good; but I 

 have often wondered that you did not in your 

 talk take up the grafting schemes and bribes 

 that are going on in the great cities. It is 

 positively alarming, and it will be the wreck 

 and ruin of our nation if it is not stopped." 



I replied: 



"Well, here is a great work for our city 

 papers. Let them show up grafting in high 

 places, without scruple. Hold these men up 

 to the limelight of public opinion, no matter 

 where it hits nor whom it hits." 



He replied: 



"Mr. Root, that is all right; but I tell you 

 it is not an easy thing to do. Here a while 

 ago I had the full facts in regard to a most 

 shameful grafting, and was prepared to show 

 the man up and take the consequences. I 

 went to my informant and told him what I 

 proposed to do, and said I might get sued for 

 libel. He said, 'Go ahead,' and added that 

 he would come forward as a witness and 

 help me. Before I got my article in print, 

 however, he came to me and said he could 

 not do it. The man stood high in society, had 

 respectable connections, and had always en- 

 joyed a fairly good reputation; and because 

 he backed out I had to give it up." 



Now, friends, we have reason to believe 

 there is more or less of this work going on 

 all over our land. In the city of Zanesville, 

 Ohio, a business man had the courage to go 

 ahead and prosecute the violators of our re- 

 cently enacted temperance laws; and so suc- 

 cessful was he that the speakeasies of that 

 place were made to disgorge $30,000 of their 

 ill-gotten gains through the efforts of one 

 man. When the police of the city were de- 

 termined not to make any arrests he compel- 

 led them to do their duty according to their 

 oaths of office. As a consequence his place 

 of business was recently dynamited; and a 

 short time later, that same night, his house 

 was badly wrecked by two successive charges 

 of dynamite. His wife very narrowly escap- 

 ed death.* This is what one sometimes gets 

 when he makes a stir because our laws are 

 not enforced; and while I am about it I wish 

 to say that if the good people of Zanesville 



* Since the above was dictated I find in the Cleve- 

 land Plain Dealer the following: 



CoLi'Mius. (»., ( )ct. 25.— The tax paid l-y illicit retailers of 

 liquor appreliendeil hy the liquor-tax dcputie.s in the State 

 Kalrjanil Food t'liniMilfsloners olli<-e this year will more than 

 equal the total expense of operating the department. The 

 legislature appropriated nearly »!i5.000 for the department, 

 and the tax will exoof d that sum. 



Last year the names of 2fi4 persons were certified to the Au- 

 ditor of Stale to be placed on the duplicate for the liquor tax, 

 and this year the ninnlicr will not be under :iOO. 



The bitrt'est '• kililntr " was at Zanesville. w here 52 saloonlsts 

 continued lu business after ihe county voted d.-y. It Is a 

 stand-off between ihe wet and dry territory as to which fur- 

 nishes more violators 



Still later we set the following: 



Hear .Mr /.'oor— The nood people of Zanesville have, I un- 

 derstand, taken care of the loss sustained by D. B. Gary. The 

 money loss was not so crreat as it might have been: a few 

 hunilred dollars covered the entiio loss. I am told the people 

 of ZanesNllle quietly raised the money and handeil it to Mr. 

 tiary. There will be no ii.cd of making it a State matter 



Colnmbus. C. N< 



V. h. PlST-MW, 

 ; lltor Ohio .-Imerirnii /< 



