536 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



of US were discouraged at the backset the 

 other way; but is it not possible that an- 

 other wave for temperance is gaining force 

 and vohime? See the following, clipped 

 from the Cleveland Plain Dealer : 



Bryan, O., July 23. — Williams Co. voted to-day 

 under the Rose law, and by a majority of 1779 de- 

 cided to remain dry. _ _^ 



How does that sound — 1779 ? Praise the 

 Lord for nearly 2000 majority on the "safe 

 and sane" side. I feel a little sorry, hoAv- 

 ever, that our friend the Plain Dealer 

 did not have just one word of encourage- 

 ment for the good joeople who worked so 

 hard to bring this about. 



While we are about it, here is something 

 more that just came to my attention: 



After October 1, absinthe, which is being sold in 

 increasing quantities in the United States, will be 

 barred from importation, and also from being trans- 

 ported from State to State. The Pure-food Board 

 to-day decided that absinthe as a beverage is dan- 

 gerous to health. 



We rejoice to know from the above that 

 absinthe is ri;led out because of its being a 

 dangerous habit-forming drug, and also be- 

 cause it can not be any longer transported 

 from State to State. Now if Uncle Samuel 

 would just say the same in regard to intox- 

 icating liquors, what an achievement it 

 would be ! 



By the way, the French government is 

 now engaged in a conflict against absinthe, 

 as its direful effects are getting to be so 

 widesiiread as to affect materially the wel- 

 fare of the nation. Its use was introduced 

 into France from Algiers, where the 

 French soldiers became greatly addicted to 

 its use. Its use is now forbidden in the 

 French army. 



Later. — Switzerland has prohibited the 

 drug. 



BEER AND POLITICS. 



See the following, from the New York 

 Tribune for July 30 : 



liner's cargo all beer; galleon of amber 

 treasure comes to our relief. 



A great cargo of beer stole into this port last 

 night under the cover of darkness in the hold of 

 the North German Lloyd liner Main from Bremen. 

 She had a few passengers, but they were outnum- 

 bered twenty-five to one by beer-kegs. 



When the report came up from Quarantine 

 that the Main's entire cargo consisted of 2583 

 barrels, Herr Knirim, the beer expert of Hanover 

 Square, was called up on the telephone and told 

 of it. He bubbled over with deliglit, so to speak. 



"I am not surprised," he said. "I thouglit 

 something like that would happen. There has 

 been a shortage of Pilsner and Munchner since the 

 political conventions at Chicago and Baltimore, and 

 the sangerfest recently held in Philadelphia has 

 been a big item in diminishing the supply. 



"The cargo in the Main is a big beer consign- 

 ment. There are not many importers of beer in 

 this country, and the biggest of them imports only 

 61,000 half-barrels a year." 



When it comes to pass that a political 

 convention results in a shortage of beer 

 in our large cities such as Philadelphia, 

 Chicago, and Baltimore, to the extent that 



it exhausts our own national resources, 

 what sort of president and governors can 

 we expect from such great political con- 

 ventions? We are much obliged to the 

 Tribune for turning on the limelight, even 

 should it prove true that their symj^athies 

 are with the brewers. 



ELECTROCUTING THE MAN WHO SOLD THE 

 DRINK, ETC. 



Mr. A. I. Root: — In Gleanings for July 15, 

 page 460, I notice you use the following language: 

 "But if anybody is to be electrocuted, let it be 

 the man who sold the drink." Now, my dear 

 friend, I trust you will pardon me if I take issue 

 with you on that point. Would you sell a man 

 the right to engage in a certain line of business, 

 take his money for the privilege, put it in your 

 pocliet, and then electrocute him for engaging in 

 the business that you have just sold him the right 

 to engage in ? The man who sold the drink was 

 doing a lawful business, and had paid his money 

 for the right to do so. His business is made 

 lawful by the party in power — a party that is 

 sustained and kept alive by the vote of Christian 

 men who knowingly sustain the liquor traffic by 

 voting for a party that has legalized, upheld, de- 

 fended, and protected the liquor traffic whenever 

 in power ever since the party had an existence, 

 and is doing it to-day. 



It is easy to see why prohibition doesn't pro- 

 hibit — because the law is put into the hands of 

 old whisky-party officials who don't want it to 

 prohibit. "Put new wine into new bottles, and 

 Loth are preserved." 



Morenci, Mich., July 17. W. S. G. Mason. 



Amen to what you say, Bro. Mason. 

 When I said what I did, I did not contem- 

 plate voting for a man who is afraid to 

 "come out in the open" against the liquor 

 business. Now it is up to Woodrow Wil- 

 son to come out thus and tell us whether 

 or not he has anything to say in regard 

 to the rum traffic. 



WHO SHALL BE ELECTROCUTED? ETC. 



Mr. Boot: — In commenting on Thomas Dewees' 

 letter, page 460, July 1, you say the letter has 

 given you a new suggestion, saying, "Do not put 

 to death any more men who commit murder under 

 the influence of drink ; but if anybody is to be 

 electrocuted, let it be the man who sold the drink." 

 I shall have to differ with you as to the one who 

 should be electrocuted (if any should). I say, 

 electrocute the man or men or political party 

 who gave the man the privilege to sell the drink 

 that makes men drunk and then commit murder 

 without a license. I am not a saloonkeeper, by 

 any means; but let us give them their just dues. 

 A saloonkeeper, so far as the liquor traffic is 

 concerned, is no worse than the man or men or 

 political party that gives him the license to sell 

 the drink. This thing of laying the blame on the 

 saloonkeeper for all the drunkenness and mur- 

 ders, etc., is old. It would have done 25 years 

 ago ; but we have become too much enlightened 

 now to lay the blame on them alone. Lay it 

 where it belongs — on the voter. You say, under 

 the heading "Prevention Better Than Cure," "Not 

 one of the candidates for the presidency of the 

 United States — that is, one with any prospects of 

 election — dares open his mouth in regard to recom- 

 mending prevention as being better than cure." 

 Who really knows who has any chance of election ? 

 If all the church members who vote, and all the 

 professed Christians, would vote for the candidate 

 who dares open his mouth in regard to recommend- 

 ing prevention as being better than cure, we 

 could put Mr. Eugene Chafin in the White House 

 in 1913. He is the man who, if elected, would 

 "make mention" of the liquor traffic in his mes- 

 sage. I am like you in some respects. I am 

 watching and praying, and also voting for a man 

 and party that fears God but does not fear the 

 liquor powers. 



Rosedale, Ind., July 29. J, R. Heaton. 



