ISifJ 



(JLKAMXiiS IN UHK ( I'l/mnO. 



150 



KH'al iinpnit;iiicc. I will, luiwcvcr, answer 

 ytinr (jin'stidiis in pail. and will from time to 

 iiini' irivf yon nunc. I'Mi'st. von asl< how I sm-- 

 ft'ctifii in my miinaiicnifni of several apiaries 

 alone. I answer, t liat the aitempl was a suc- 

 cess. Ihonjih but liltle llesh icmaiin'd on niy 

 bones ai the close of the season, lint I am 

 pleased to say that I have rejrained •.'() jhs. of 

 the lost llesh. l''rom the live apiaries I secured 

 7 tons of coinl) honey in sei-tions. and l'.'(H) ll)s. 

 of extracti'd. 'I'his w as all sei-nreil and lianh^d 

 home wiihimt helj), lu'sjdes cabins and mailiiiK 

 ■.'S'J queens, and writing- well. I don't Unow 

 how many lett<>rs. From these live apiaries 

 the queens were removed as soon as esrgs were 

 found in queen-cells, and in from I'J to IS days 

 virjjin (pieens were Efiven iliese (pieenless colo- 

 nies. This I do by running them in the sec- 

 tions that are usually on at this season. I will 

 give yon mor(> when yon call aj^ain. (Jood- 

 ilav." " A. E. Mamm. 



IJristol. Vt.. Feb. l.'i 



{To he continued.) 



[We are very glad that our correspondent has 

 resumed the iise of his pen again, and w(^ hope 

 he will not wast(» any time in the book-business. 

 That department of bee-literature is already 

 overdone. He will reach a, far greater number 

 of readiM's through the bee-periodicals, and we 

 trust he will favor us with the items of his ex- 

 perience during the jjast summer. Detailsl 

 these are just the very things be '-keepers are 

 clamoring for. Too much of our beo-literature 

 is made up of g(>neralities. We once said to Dr. 

 Miller thai one valuable feature of his " Year 

 .\mong the Hees" was that he told all about the 

 liiUc thinijs that are so necessary to know. We 

 are not at all afraid that our busy friend Mi-. 

 Manum will give too many details— the more 

 the better. Now. instead of writing iiersonal 

 letters to so many individuals we trust he will 

 tell his experience through the columns of 

 Gle.\n'ixos. and thus save himself a great deal 

 of time, and do a vast amount of good besides.] 



A BOUNTY NOT DESIRABLE. 



ANOTHEK PHASE OF THE SI BJE( T. 



As the discussion of " bounty or no bounty"" 

 is ou. allow me to say just a few words on the 

 negative side of the question. It seems there 

 are three points to consider: First, if the gov- 

 ernment gives a bounty on sugar, shonid we 

 not also have a bounty on honey? Most as- 

 suredly we ought: for any one who has studied 

 the sui)ject at all knows that sugar does com- 

 pete with honey to HO)nc extent. Second, is it 

 right and projx'r for the government to give a 

 V)ounty on sugar, honey, or any thing els<;? I 

 say no. The functions of government do not 

 include the right to tax the great mass of its 

 citizens for the benelit of a favored few. The 

 principle underlying tin; whoh; system of boun- 

 ties is wrong in the alistract. 



Dr. .Miller argues, with I 'ope. that "' whatever 

 is. is riglit."" To many persons this kind of 

 reasoning savors strongly of that of the Middle 

 Ages, when monarchs claimed that every thing 

 tliey did was right because a king i-onl'dn't do 

 wrong, evr-n if he tried. Again. Dr. .M. says lie 

 isn't politician enough to know whether the 

 giving of the sugar bounty was a righteous act 

 or not. riease ask him if he has forgotten that, 

 "for an intelligent and studious people, a re- 

 publican form of government is the best in the 

 world: for an ignyrant or indifferent, the 

 woist:"" and "it is the first duty of every Amer- 

 ican citizen to study and understand economic 

 government. 



Lastly, is the bounty on honey desirable if 

 light ■.' I don't believe it is, because, though it^ 

 would pill some extra money into the bee-keejj- 

 I'l's" pockets at lirst. within a few years a niiilti- 

 liide of honey-producers would ari.se and over- 

 stock the market, causing the bottom to drop 

 out of already low prices. R. ('. Ewi.vci, .Jit. 



Libertv. Mo.. I'"eb. 10. 



BOUNTY ON HONEY. 



XOT DESIH.^ni.K IK .\or KltillT. 



in discussing this question on page so. Dr. 

 Miller"s logic all rests on a good many iffi: and 

 if the lirst if is displaced, his whole fabric of 

 logic comes tumbling to the ground, as others 

 of like character do. Tlie fact that we have a 

 law that (jives two cent,s a pound to tlios(! who 

 make .■)()() pounds of sugar or over, does not 

 prov<' that the law is right. But I suppose that 

 Dr. Miller could give no other r"'0()f of its jus- 

 tice excejit that " whatever is. is right.'" The 

 righteousness of it hds lieen (luestioned. | do 

 not believe that our law-making power has yet 

 advanced so far that it is infalliiile. I know that 

 it once authorized and protected slavery. I 

 know that it has legalized, and in some places 

 does now legalize, gambling: and I know that 

 it does to-day. in the gn^ater portion of our 

 country, and in every Christian nati(m, legalize 

 and take its shaie of the piotits in that crown- 

 ing shame of civilization, the drink -traffic. 

 Therefore the simple fact that a law. has been 

 enacted is not conclusive evidence that the 

 principle recognized by it is just. But we are 

 not left in uncertainty on the point under dis- 

 cussion by the courts, for we have many deci- 

 sions by them, and, so far as I know, they are 

 all to the effect that taxation for the purjiose of 

 giving bounties (excepting bounties for ilu' de- 

 struction of wild and ferocious animals, and 

 mischievous vermin, and the like) is not legiti- 

 mate, and soiue of them characterize it as rob- 

 bery. The State of Pennsylvania (and probably 

 others) has prohibited it in its constitution": 

 and no town, village, or city, can l(>gally levy a 

 tax to give a bounty to any individual or cor- 

 poration for the purpose of encouraging or car- 

 rying on any kind of manufactming or other 

 business. The principle is plain and simple, as 

 laid down by the courts, that the goveinmewit 

 can not take /»y money by taxation, and cjive 

 to some one else. It can tax me for the neces- 

 sary expenses of the governnient only. 



Now, it is a fact that two wrongs can not 

 make one right: and if a bounty on sugar is 

 wi;ong in principle, and results "in a special 

 injury to the lioney-prodiicer by com|)etiIiou 

 (which it does not), it will not make it right to 

 I'liact another law on a wrong pi'inciijle by pay- 

 ing a bounty on honey. But the only wav to 

 make it right would be to undo the lirst wrong 

 by repealing the sugar bounty. But is it the 

 bounty ou sugar that makes it cheap? I think 

 not. It v'dff t((hin(i off tlie tariff. On any arti- 

 cle that we do not produce enough of, for hoiue 

 consumi)tion, a duty \\ill inevitably increase 

 the pi'ice. and the removal of it will reduce the 

 price, as is proved by the removal of tln^ duty 

 on sugar: and the bounty has no efTect what- 

 ever. exce[)t to stimulate home production. 



I have dwelt entirely on the (piestion of the 

 justice of the proposed law, because I think, 

 with Dr. Miller, that, if it is not right, it is not 

 desirable; and the only thing in the article of 

 ('. F. Thomas that I can not indorse is the in- 

 timation that, although he would consider a 

 bounty on honey a fraud on soinehody, yet. as it 

 would benelit liiin, he would not object very 

 strongly to it for that reason. Let us be just 



