154 



THE AMEBIC AN APICULTURIST. 



hand in hand with them for the in- 

 terests of the majority. 



Silence on our part simply admits 

 that we accept the unjust and mis- 

 represented position tendered us by 

 the former. 



Whatever may have been the 

 raison cV etre for the other "young 

 journals" the "Apiculturist" was 

 instituted to fill a place until then 

 occupied or filled by no other jour- 

 nal, and instead of holding our 

 peace at the dictation of others, 

 or faltering in the one aim of our 

 life, we propose to speak whenever 

 we deem that the interest of the 

 beekeeper demands it ; and we 

 would ask our contemporaries to re- 

 member that the mere assumption 

 that we have misrepresented and 

 abused them, to the extent that we 

 are not to be considered "gentle- 

 men," will do for fliose who never 

 become aught else than children no 

 matter how great their age. 



We can only be silenced with 

 reason, logic or proof; we never 

 mean to be defeated with paper air- 

 guns. We have, in our opinion, 

 made all our statements in a fair and 

 manly way, but we never proposed 

 to pick the thorns out, and if our 

 contemporaries wish to prove us in 

 error they must do it by taking the 

 same course or forever hold their 

 peace. Past records are the crite- 

 rion, not present assumption. Per- 

 chance our contemporaries may 

 learn this in the early future and not 

 administer these parental spankings 

 without first proving us to be guilty 

 of misdemeanor. 



It is really too bad that after re- 

 porting us dead, preaching our 



funeral sermon and announcing our 

 resurrection, they at last attempt to 

 punish us again before admitting us 

 to their ranks. This even surpasses 

 the cruel treatment of some of the 

 young Indians who are passing 

 through the ceremonies which en- 

 title them to the position of men or 

 braves. 



Well, we have managed to strug- 

 gle through it all thus far (no thanks 

 to our contemporaries) and per- 

 haps we may be able to survive the 

 rest. 



Mr. Newman in a late issue of the 

 Bee Journal says : "Now let us have 

 no more of such nonsense but let 

 the bee papers (how the term bee 

 journal troubles him) get down to 

 work for the good of the pursuit of 

 beekeeping, if that is the object of 

 their existence." 



Why ! that is just what we have 

 urged from the commencement, and 

 Mr. N. is but repeating our advice ; 

 but we differ somewhat, perhaps, in 

 regard to the meaning of the term 

 nonsense. 



In accepting the position of tem- 

 porary vice president in the Bee- 

 keepers' Union now being organized, 

 we have done so trusting that we 

 may give our support to an object, 

 the intention of which seems to be 

 to protect the interests of the bee- 

 keepers. 



At present this seems to be the 

 best means of commencing proper 

 organization, but we should forget 

 our duty if we neglected to explain 

 our views upon this subject. 



It is better to look matters square- 

 ly in the face at the commencement 

 than to find in the near future that 



