1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



707 



more good than the people who sit on the street corners and 

 talk politics while their wives are waiting at home for the box 

 of bluing which they sent them for. [Laughter.] 



I trust that your meeting will be profitable and enjoyable 

 to you ; and I extend to you once again a most cordial wel- 

 come to this State. R. E. Moork. 



Pres. Root — I now take pleasure in introducing to you 

 Chancellor (leorge E. MacLean, of this University. 



Chancel lor ]?IacI.can'i$ Address of Weleoiiic. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen of llie Nortli Amerienn 

 Bee-Keepers' Association : — 

 It is strange that so orthodox a body as this should re- 

 verse the standard chorus of the standard hymn, and have us 

 no longer sing " More to follow," Moore have having preceded 

 me. But it seems to be sometimes the case that the less is as 

 important as the " Moore." We see an example in the little 

 bee which is so big when considered in the light of what it 

 does. 



I come for the purpose of bidding welcome to the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Association. In my early days, in my 

 grandfather's garden in Connecticut, I became acquainted 

 with bees. At that time the bees saw fit to consecrate me for 

 this occasion. A bee stung me on the tongue. And heuce 

 you shall have a "honeyed tongue" to-night. I come, then, 

 not to flatter, but simply with that tongue which the bee en- 

 larged for me. And so with that honeyed tongue I come to 

 say " Welcome," in behalf of the University of Nebraska. 

 Welcome to the "bee-hive" of the State of Nebraska. Where 

 the Governor comes from, they have electric cars which 

 have on them this motto : " Capital — to the Penitentiary. " 

 There is no line from this place to the Penitentiary : the Uni- 

 versity is the bee-hive of the State. We have here, when 

 there is idleness elsewhere, industry and life. A "swarm "is 

 almost constantly in the great "hive." We have more 

 students than we can comfortably get into our lecture rooms ; 

 1,.537 studeuts in this University last year. 



People talk of hard times ; but our students are here to 

 give proof that the hard times are possibly a blessing. These 

 times show that the parents and the children of Nebraska 

 have opinions that look higher even than dollars. And the 

 people of the State show what they are made of in sacrificing 

 as they do to have the boys and girls here. Here, like busy 

 bees, they not only gather honey, but carry honey home to 

 the hive. 



In welcoming you, then, in behalf of the University, the 

 bee-hive swarming with that which is most precious in the 

 State — youth — I welcome you, as you see, to that which is full 

 of sweetness even in these times of bitterness ; that which is 

 full of promise for the future. In giving you this welcome, I 

 wish — following one line which the Lieutenant Governor 

 opened up — to emphasize the importance and the diversity of 

 the various forms of our agricultural pursuits. When I was 

 in Europe, I discovered that interests in bee-keeping pre- 

 vailed. In looking at these, I wondered how great might be 

 the interest in bee-keeping in the United States. I was sur- 

 prised to find that there was an interest of nearly twenty 

 million dollars in the products of the bee; that there was 

 about seven million dollars worth of honey and wax yielded 

 every year. I discovered that there are 300,000 people en- 

 gaged in bee-keeping work. I was especially delighted to 

 learn of the intelligence attending upon this occupation. 

 There are 114 societies and 8 journals especially devoted to 

 bee-keeping. And I rejoice that there is one of tbese journals 

 in the State of Nebraska. When these statistics are set be- 

 fore us, we see the need of fostering this society. 



I perceived that it came upon you to advance the hygienic 

 condition of our people, by seeing to it that this honey, so ex- 

 cellent as food, should be furnished to the people more pure — 

 that our honey should be unadulterated. [Applause.] Then, 

 looking forward, as the estimates have been made by authori- 

 ties on the subject, I discovered that you could increase this 

 industry, with things as they now are in the United States, 

 ten times — and still find support for your bees. The flora is 

 here to support ten times the colonies of bees that are flying 

 over our forests and fields. And thus your Industry is that 

 industry that is called " blessed." It is well that many, others 

 as well as members of your industry, have called the bee " the 

 blessed bee." It is this insect that teaches us how we may 

 increase the yield of our fruits and grain, and so the bee car- 

 ries manifold blessings to the vegetable environment in which 

 she lives. How important then is your convention ! We should 

 all receive an impulse from it. This University, not repre- 

 sented here tonight as I would like to see it, because of the 

 many duties upon our students, shall receive, if our professors 

 have their will, an impulse from your work. You lay the 



sciences under tribute. As they are applied, we learn more 

 and more of the great industries; how to test the products; 

 how to make the bee a blessing as Nature intended it to be. 



In the welcome that I give, I am delighted that we wel- 

 come some "queens " among the bee-keepers. Now England 

 is very proud of the fact that she has one queen. But I per- 

 ceive that you advertise that you mail 20,000 queens a year 

 through the mails of the United States. Over there we read 

 of the one queen's mail — of Her Majesty's mail. But I am 

 thankful that here you have not only bee-queens, but that 

 every American woman is a queen engaged in the work with 

 you ; who will see to it that this heretofore overlooked indus- 

 try shall be made what it should be. For man alone can never 

 carry on any great industry without the help of woman side 

 by side with him in the work. 



I welcome you, as you know, to a University in which the 

 women have proved their scholarship equal to that of the 

 men, though there are as yet but one-third as many women as 

 men in this University. 



By way of proving the sincerity of the welcome, to-morrow 

 you are invited to set an hour, at your convenience, when you 

 will make an excursion through this " bee-hive," and see our 

 " bees " at work. If you find one that Is not at work, you 

 may put him or her out of the hive. Also please remember 

 that the University has a great Universty farm consisting of 

 320 acres. There, though we cannot show you much in the 

 way of bee-keeping, we can show you that renewed life has 

 been given to agricultural interests. 



Welcome, then, and come again as soon as you can. [Ap- 

 plause.] George E. Mac Lean. 



Pres. Root then announced a song by a Lincoln quartet, 

 composed of Messrs. Camerou, Evans, Cougdon and Lansing. 

 The song rendered was entitled " Bee-Keepers' Reunion Song." 

 At the close of the song, the President announced that Mr. 

 Secor, the author of the words of the song that had just been 

 sung, was present, and would respond to the addresses of wel- 

 come. 



Response to the Addresses of Welcome. 



We're glad to be invited to the " wild and woolly West," 



Where the cowboys run the country with neither coat nor vest — 



(According to the silly claim of many Eastern folk 



Who never seem to comprehend a breezy Western joke). 



But some of us have ' traveled " — in fact, been here before; 



Have felt the grip of Western band extended at the door; 



We don't expect that Indian raids are everyday affairs, 



Or that the hungry prairie wolf will snap us unawares; 



And neither do we look for men in this new prairie State, 



Who lack in kindness or in worth because 'twas peopled late. 



We know that all of virtue and of hospitable cheer 



Are not confined to older States, they've taken root out here. 



The hearts of these, our brethren, we should expect to find 



Responsive as their generous soil — the richest o£ its kind. 



Boast not, ye Yankee truck-raisers— pent up between the hills— 

 Of the greenness of your verdure, or the music of your rills. 

 Here broad and fertile acres wait for millions yet to be— 

 Wait but the march of Empire West— the bivouac of the free. 

 These prairies, like an ocean vast in billowy grandeur roll — 

 A blessing in each valley, and a promise on each bnoU. 

 There's food enough in this rich soil, stored up long, long ago. 

 For ten times ten the present needs of population's flow. 



So if the hive of industry be over-crowded East, 

 There's room for several swarms out here ("priority rights "re- 

 leased). 

 But from an economic view my mental kodac shows, 

 No drones need be imported here- the nvrker is what "goes.'' 

 This climate is a little " hard " (so I have been informed) 

 On idlers, and, if such migrate, they'll wish they'd never 

 '' swarmed." 



I said that none but ii-vrl'erx are in demand out here ; 



Perhaps you bee-men present may think it somewhat queer 



That (jiceeii-s are not a vital part of such a colony. 



They are, my friends, important, but, don't you clearly see 



A'tbra-ska queens are just as good— and acclimated, too— 



As any foreign race or blood, albeit old or new '. 



So if you've not contracted, and you chance to find one here, 



She's warranted, I'll venture, to be without a peer. 



'Tis Eastern blood and Western vim that make the world go round ; 



In other words, they make things ■■ hum "- to us a clieerful sound. 



