1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



49 



self a born fitness for editorship such as doesn't 

 yet exist. There is a lack in bee-literature. 

 The bee-journals already published are not 

 what they ought to be. He will give the fra- 

 ternity just what they need, something pro- 

 gressive, and not keep thrashing over old straw 

 from which the grain was winnowed years ago. 

 But after he has fairly launched on the sea of 

 journalism, it begins to dawn on him that, in 

 spite of his great talent and peculiar fitness, 

 bee-keepers can not be made to see it in the 

 same light, and will still persist in being satis- 

 fied with the old standbys. Subscriptions do 

 not pour in as he anticipated; and as something 

 more than two or three hundred subscribers is 

 needed to pay for setting the type, to say nothing 

 of ink and paper, there's nothing left to pay for 

 editorial labor; so, after the struggle of a few 

 months or years, the project is given up, and 

 the brilliant journalistic talents allowed to rust 

 because their owner was born in an unappreci- 

 ative age. 



Bee-journals already established are them- 

 selves to blame somewhat for some of the disap- 

 pointment and loss resulting to those who never 

 should have entered the field. Not to appear 

 underhanded in my accusations, I will arraign 

 Gleanings on this charge. Now stand up in a 

 straight row, Mr. Editor, listen to my charge, 

 and see if I don't tell the truth. There comes 

 the Initial number of The Front Rank Bee- 

 keeper, and you feel that you must give it a free 

 advertisement. If you don't, the publisher feels 

 defrauded of his natural and inalienable rights, 

 and does not hesitate to mention in print the 

 mean spirit you have shown. Now, what kind 

 of business policy is that on either side? Sup- 

 pose Smith starts a store in a new place where 

 Jones has been for years the leading merchant. 

 Jones rushes to the newspaper office and pays 

 for the " ad " that Smith has had inserted. 

 Some might praise Jones for his courtesy, but 

 more likely he'll be called a fool. Merchants 

 don'l do business in that way. Is there any 

 reason why the code that prevails among rival 

 merchants should not prevail among rival pa- 

 pers ? 



You may say that, whether the code should 

 be the same or not, the fact is that it is not the 

 same, and that it is only newspaper courtesy to 

 make kindly mention of a rival enterprise; at 

 least, if it is not common courtesy it is some- 

 times done, and it's an act of kindness to men- 

 tion favorably the new candidate for public fa- 

 vor. I beg pardon, it isn't kindness; at least, it 

 generally isn't. In your heart you know there 

 isn't one chance in ten, if in a hundred, that the 

 venture will be profitable, and the sooner the 

 publication stops the less will be the loss. But 

 your words of commendation — and you try to 

 commend all you can without lying — help to 

 keep up hope; for if an o'd journalist approves, 

 there is certainly no reason for discouragement. 



Then, too, your mention makes more or less 

 call for sample copies, and possibly a few sub- 

 scriptions are sent in ju-;t on the strength of 

 your recommendation. So you have helped to 

 keep up the delusion just a little longer, and 

 what good have you done? — merely helped to 

 prolong the agony in a case where you were al- 

 most sure death must inevitably come. Better 

 let your silence help to kill it the sooner, and 

 thus end its misery. 

 Marengo, 111. 



[When you asked me to furnish you a list of 

 the bee-papers that had once lived and died, I 

 thought perhaps half a dozen would very near- 

 ly cover the number; but when I came to look 

 over our back volumes, representing all the 

 bee-papers, both living and dead, I was sur- 

 prised that the list should be so large. Surely, 

 in the bee-journal line also the dead greatly 

 outnumber the living. 



There were some bright progressive men who 

 were at the editorial helm of some of these bee- 

 papers— men, too. of experience in the publish- 

 ing business. If they have made a failure of it, 

 those with no experience who are contemplating 

 embarking in such a doubtful enterprise would 

 do well to pause long enough to never embark. 



With all the experience the editors of the old 

 existing bee-journais have had. it is doubtful 

 whether, if they were to sever their connection 

 with their papers, they would be able to start 

 another bee paper that would live and pay ex- 

 penses. The fact of the matter is, the old relia- 

 bles have come to be so thoroughly intrenched 

 that the new rivals have almost no chance 

 whatever— at least, that list of the dead as com- 

 pared with the living seems to look decidedly 

 that way. 



The trouble is, the number of bee-keepers in 

 the country is comparatively small; and among 

 that list the number who take a bee-journal or 

 bee-journals is smaller still. We have on our 

 books something like 100,000 names of bona-flde 

 bee-keepers. Of this number, not over 12,000 

 take any bee-paper. As a general rule, one or 

 two bee-journals seem to be all that they will 

 take. VVhat show is there, then, for a new can- 

 didate, without experience, without much capi- 

 tal, without the coterie of experienced writers, 

 to go in and divide that patronage, especially 

 when the price charged is often equal to that 

 asked by the stand by existing journals? 



In saying this I am not trying to throw bricks 

 at new bee-papers over the shoulder of Dr. Mil- 

 ler; neither am I afraid they will cut down our 

 patronage, for they have not. Indeed, our cir- 

 culation, until these hard times came on, kept 

 right on at its old pace the same as before the 

 rivals were in the field; and even now it reaches 

 verv close on to 8500. 



Well, doctor, since you have asked me to 

 stand up in a straight row I shall have to con- 

 fess that, when Gleanings has acknowledged 

 the arrival of a new rival, it has done so purely 

 out of editorial courtesy, and because it would 

 have looked mean, as you intimate, to ignore 

 its appearance upon the field ; but I believe, as 

 you say, that it is not courtesy nor a kindness. 

 For instance, suppose that the old established 

 journals had refused to recognize the initial 

 numbers of many of the above defunct list; 

 the probabilities are they would have died soon- 

 er, and thus saved their publishers a considera- 

 ble amount of money. Whether those same 

 publishers would have appreciated that at the 

 beginning is very doubtful; but if living now, 

 I am sure they will realize the truth of it as 

 they never saw it before. 



