248 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Apr. 22. 



CEORCB W. YORK, . Editor. 



PtIBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. YORK & COMPANY, 

 MS afiobigran St., - CHICAGO, IJ,/,. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Sent Free. 

 (Bntered at the PostrOfHoe at Cbicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter. 



Vol. imil. CHICAGO, ILL., APR. 22, 1897. No. 16, 



Editorial Con)n)cr)i^^ 



Lost Numbers of the Bee Journal.— It seems 



lately that a good many copies of the Bee Journal get lost in 



the mails — at least quite a number of our subscribers call for 



missing copies. Now, we don't know why that should be, for 



we use the same care in mailing that we always have. Bu t in 



case you do miss a copy, ask for it, and we will send it again. 



Don't wait three or four months and then write us, for by that 



time we may bo unable to supply it. We just now have a call 



from Australia for about 30 back numbers running through 



the years 1890 to 189i inclusive. Of course we can't supply 



them now, even tho the subscriber does offer us four cents per 



copy. 



•*-'-*- 



The New XTnion— A Call for Volunteers.— 



We have received the following "letter of acceptance" and 

 " inaugural address" from Hon. Eugene Secor, the newly- 

 appointed General Manager of the United States Bee-Keepers' 

 Union : 



Editor American Bee Journal — 



Dear air : — I notice in your issue of April 8, that I have 

 been " promoted." Did I not have the fullest confidence in 

 the honesty of the E.'jecutive Board, I should suspect they had 

 gone "behind the returns" in declaring me elected. The 

 " people " evidently thought I hadn't anything to do, and that 

 I would be glad to dinUnouish myself by a campaign of prohi- 

 bltkjn against fraud. 



I have heard before of "ofBce seeking the man," and this 

 is positive proof that the theory upon which this government 

 was founded has not gone into " innocuous desuetude." 



Since " the voice of the people is the voice of God," I sub- 

 mit with the best grace possible. 



But if it's war you want, please furnish the " munitions." 

 There isn't any use for me to step into the " breach" unless 

 at least 500 volunteers will " support " uie. 



Come on, boys ! Let's at 'em ! But, " money talks." Send 

 your $$ to Dr. Mason— f don't want the stuff. 



Yours truly, Edgenk Secor. 



Forest City, Iowa, April 8, 1897. 



Now that has the true ring of a leader. When a man says, 

 " Come on," it means he's ready to go ahead, and only wants 

 the rest of tho "army" to follow and back him up. 



Of course, the leader in the proposed fights to be under- 

 taken by the New Union cannot do anything without " muni- 

 tions," or "sinews of war." You see, he calls for 500 volun- 

 teers. That's not many. Why, there should be four times 

 that many to respond at once from among the readers of the 

 American Bee Journal alone. Then with all to "volunteer" 

 from the readers of Gleanings, the Review, etc.— well, there 

 oughtn't to be any trouble about " munitions." 



Now, if it will bo any more convenient for our readers to 



send their membership money to this office, do so, and we will 

 be glad to see that it gets into the proper hands. Every bee- 

 keeper is interested in the work to be done by the New Union. 

 So send on your dollar and become a member at once. Let us 

 not allow the new General Manager to suffer for the want of 

 " munitions," but rather back him up in such away that he 

 will have no excuse to " let up " in the warfare against honey 

 adulterators, commission frauds, and every other fraud that 

 hinders or robs the honest producer of honey. 



Xhe New Union is already receiving words of en- 

 couragement. Here is what that big Minnesota bee-keeper, 

 Mr. C. Theilmann, wrote us April 9 : 



Friend York : — I see by this week's American Bee Jour- 

 nal, that the New Union is now in full operation, and I hope 

 that all good bee-keepers who are willing, and desire, to keep 

 in check and root out the honey-commission swindlers and 

 thieves and adulterators, will join, and send in their dollars. 

 I will send mine in to-day. Success cannot fail to be the out- 

 come with such men in office as the New Union now has. 



C. Theilmann. 



Mr. Theilmann has set a good example. Let 500 others 

 do likewise before May 1. With such encouragement as that 

 would be. General Manager Secor could " trot off " at a lively 

 pace after the swarm of adulterators, honey-commission frauds, 

 etc. 



Is a New Union Unwise? — On page 242, Prof. 

 Cook has a most excellent article — one that would have been 

 about ten times as valuable had he written it in time for it to 

 have had its influence on the vote on amalgamation last .Jan- 

 uary. It seems strange that the Professor should now be so 

 strongly in favor of one of the very objects proposed by the 

 New Constitution, and yet when some of us were trying to 

 bring about amalgamation, so that honey-adulteration might 

 be fought, he did not favor it. One reason why we wanted to 

 unite the two societies was so that the fight against honey- 

 adulteration might be undertaken and pusht hard; for we 

 knew the General Manager of the old Union was opposed to 

 having that organization take up this important work. He 

 showed that very clearly in his last Report, when he was 

 opposing the New Constitution, where he said : 



" The real question is this : Shall it now add to its work 

 that of prosecuting honey-adulterators'? Under the name of 

 ' Amalgamation ' the one real point sought to be gained is this 

 feature, and that should be thoroughly understood. 



" If the Union is to be re-organized to do this work, it will 

 subvert its original purpose and mainly change its character. 

 It will have multitudinous lawsuits begun all over the coun- 

 try, and must have lots of money to employ attorneys to at- 

 tack that dydra-headed monster — adulteration." 



Of course, it would "subvert its original purpose and 

 mainly change its character," if amalgamation bad carried. 

 But who cares about "its original purpose" of defense, 

 now that the work in that line is practically all done ? Sup- 

 pose its "character " ftnri been changed so that the money 

 now lying idle in the treasury of the old Union could be used 

 in prosecuting adulterators, would anybody shed tears over 

 that? 



We think the fact is, there is no need to talk about the old 

 Union taking up adulteration, for the majority voted to use its 

 present funds as in the past, and at tho rate of expending it 

 the last two years, it will hold out perhaps two more years. 

 The New Union is planned to do not only the work originally 

 proposed by the old Union, but infinitely more, as specified in 

 Its objects, which we publlsht two weeks ago. 



Prof. Cook says, and very correctly, too : " I am inclined 

 to the opinion that many who voted at the last election [in 

 January] were not Informed properly or fully as to the just 

 what was intended." Of course they " were not informed 

 properly or fully." How could they be, when only OJic side of 



