n8 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



j^reat, and the carriers at length did not 

 dai-e to refuse it rebate money — that this 

 company's pohcy eventuated in the des- 

 truction of nearly every other company in 

 that branch of trade, and gave it a mo- 

 nopoly embracing more continents than 

 one. Who wants the task of proving to 

 that company s satisfaction that their pol- 

 icy was wicked ? On the other hand, if 

 Mars or Venus, or the best planet of Alpha 

 Centauri, were open for settlement, who 

 would consent to stay on earth, should a 

 couple dozen equally big and bad monop- 

 olies get footing? 



A certain rich man ( it is also rumored ) 

 got on by making some hundreds of em- 

 ployers work without any wages, and 

 take their pay out of money contributed 

 by the sleeping-car public. Beggary is 

 the plain English of it. Reported also 

 that this man at length came to make 

 his employers give him a percentage of 

 the proceeds of their beggary, besides 

 working for nothing. Who wants the 

 task of proving to the like of this man 

 that his course was anything worse 

 than a nice little business arrangement 

 all round? Boss beggar piling up the 

 money; subordinate beggars securing 

 enough to make them objects of envy 

 to wage-earners outside; public generally 

 indifferent, else .shaking with laugh- 

 ter. Who cares for a few reformers 

 who won't be satisfied with anything? 

 O Devil, thou art indeed a most wonder- 

 ful Devil ! O sleek, sly, wonderful spirit, 

 whose words from Eden to Uz, and from 

 Uzto Ouarantania sound] to weak man's 

 ears just like the simple truth ! 



Now it is not supposed that Mr. Doo- 

 little in saying the above realized that he 

 was doing anything discreditable to a 

 good man. lUit I hope he'll be able to 

 say " I'aithful are the wounds of a friend" 

 when I tell him he was so doing. I say 

 that the quotation at the head of this 

 View is not living at the .s'eek and won- 

 derful Devil with the sword of the Spirit 

 — it is not laying at him with the kick of 

 an honest man — it is just gently stroking 

 him down the back. One almost listens 



to hear his majesty purr. Every trick- 

 ster will feel bolder after reading that 

 quotation; and general petty trickiness in 

 business doings is a greater obstacle to 

 making this world what it ought to be 

 than either of the evils I have brought 

 out in the three paragraphs just preceed- 

 ing. True and innate modesty is not so 

 rare, and does not need such careful cul- 

 ture and support on absolutely every side, 

 as the desire to deal truly and fairly by 

 one's customers. The greatest monopoly 

 on earth is not so hard to tackle as covet- 

 ousness in the heart of man. (I know, 

 for I've put honey in case, and have said 

 to myself " There, I may lose pennies on 

 that honey, but I can stand it, and will. " 

 and then, first you know, you'd see me 

 looking for pretty faces to put outside. ) 

 The meanest man that ever carried on 

 beggary by proxy and called it business is 

 not so mean as any one of us will get to 

 be if we only yield to the spirit of the 

 world, and take little short steps, all in 

 the covetous direction, and keep on tak- 

 ing them long enough. " All our people 

 do so " is the Congo cannibal's argument 

 — does it prove anything ? The fact that 

 schemes to deceive purchasers are almost 

 universal is only a peremptory call to 

 arms for all those who have been listen- 

 ing to the Man of Nazareth. The true 

 question is not " Can this or that be sus- 

 tained logically ?" But " Does this re- 

 flect a heart tremendously in earnest 

 against the evils of a world crammed full 

 of wickedness ?" If we believe in war- 

 fare against the world the fle.sh and the 

 Devil we nuist not be talking "armistice" 

 all the while. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The American Bee Journal is so much 

 in evidence all the time that the coming 

 around of its regular turn does not amount 

 to much — nevertheless I give it its line 

 of caps, and range its citations together 

 underneath. No great change since last 

 time — unless it is to sell all its "depart- 

 ments" to the ragman, retainingonly the 

 old and long tried ones— and the new 

 broom of Beedom Boiled Down. 



