Published Montlily by the W. T. Falconer Manfg Oo. 



Vol. VIIL 



JULY, J898. 



No. 7. 



The Power of Association. 



Written for the American Bee-Keeper. 



BY HON. EUGENE SECOR. 



el®. 



^Jfi T ought not to be necessary, at 

 J^\'s this late date in the nineteenth 

 ^'® century to offer any extended ar- 

 gument to prove the power and value 

 of organized effort. 



There was a time in the history of 

 mankind when the individual seemed 

 to be a more potent factor in society 

 and business than at present. There 

 was a time when every man builded 

 his own home and defended it by his 

 own right arm. There was a time 

 v/hen every successful enterprise was 

 projected and carried to completion by 

 personal enterprise, personal valor or 

 personal wealth. 



Even after tribal relations had been 

 established and tribal protection guar- 

 teed, success depended almost entirely 

 on individual exertion. Cities were 

 built, large mechanical transactions at- 

 tempted and cattle ranches established, 

 all without syndicates. 



But the world is a little older than it 

 was. Society has changed in some re- 

 spects. Almost everything is done dif- 

 ferently from what it used to be. Now, 

 instead of every man being his own 

 banker, and carrying his money in the 

 sack when he goes down into Egypt to 

 buy corn, he writes his check on New 

 York or London. Business methods 



have so improved that a dollar goes 

 farther in transacting the world's busi- 

 ness than it :Iid in the old time. This 

 has been brought about through or- 

 ganization and combination. A great 

 many individual dollars brought to- 

 gether through associated effort may 

 be made to produce effects which never 

 cotild have been brought about by the 

 same individuals acting each for him- 

 self and independently. 



Organization has become the great 

 fact of the age. No railroads are built 

 by individual capital. No steamship 

 lines are owned and controlled by one 

 man. Great commercial enterprises 

 are launched and sustained by com- 

 bined capital and organized eifort. Cor- 

 porations have taken the place of the 

 once single-handed manufacturer until 

 it is hardly possible for one man, with- 

 out capital, to compete with corporate 

 wealth. 



Since the busines of the world is 

 largely done by great corporations the 

 trade guilds have been a natural out- 

 growth, because the only way to meet 

 organization is by counter organiza- 

 tion. Men lay their heads together, 

 form alliances for mutual protection 

 and thereby gain strength impossible 

 to the single worker. 



Men interested in a common purpose 

 are enabled to unite on a common plan 

 of action and work to some effect. For 



