■02 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



around the outside of the fence — at least I did 

 not discover any, and I was rejoiced to find 

 no gambling-devices or low-lived side shows, 

 nor any thing objectionable in that line. 

 There was a very large attendance of wide- 

 awake farmers and everybody else interested 

 in any branch of agriculture. The various 

 churches and the W. C. T. U. furnished ex- 

 cellent lunches and refreshments ; and last, 

 but not least, the honey display, both comb 

 and extracted, was about as nice as I ever saw 

 at any State fair. Whom do you suppose I 

 found in front of one of the neatest-looking 

 honey-stands? Why, it was our old friend 

 Mrs. Jennie Culp (now Mrs. Williamson). 

 She has been out west for several years ; but 

 she found her bees had not been sold in her 

 absence, and so she is back in Ohio keeping 

 bees again, and selling honey. 



Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich, a very nice-looking 

 couple, were presiding at an adjoining stand ; 

 and Dr. Besse, and some others whose names 

 I do not recall, were near by. I was a little 

 surprised to see at least half a dozen excellent 

 exhibits after such a poor season. But the 

 Ohio bee-keepers, at least, do not propose to 

 be snowed under, even if we have had one 

 season that is almost an entire failure. 



OUR 

 HOMES, 



BY A.I. ROOT. 



In our last issue I told you we were having 

 a conflict here in our town in regard to the 

 matter of saloons or no saloons. I mentioned, 

 too, a certain petition that had been circulat- 

 ed. This petition was put to the council, ask- 

 ing them to call for a new vote in regard to 

 the matter of opening saloons here. When I 

 learned that a good many of our helpers had 

 signed this petition I made an appeal to them, 

 which I have thought best to submit to the 

 readers of Gi^Eanings. 



A LITTI^E TALK FROM A. I. ROOT TO OUR EM- 

 PLOYEES IN REGARD TO THE TEMPER- 

 ANCE ISSUE NOW PENDING. 



I hardly need say any thing to the older 

 ones in our establishment in regard to the 

 stand that I have always taken here in Me- 

 dina in regard to temperance matters. I 

 have thought, however, it might be well for 

 me to state my views a little more clearly in 

 regard to having open saloons here. First, 

 let me say I want all of our boys, old and 

 young, to be men in the best sense of the 

 term, and by all means to have opinions of 

 their own. During our last presidential elec- 

 tion it was reported I was going to turn off 

 every man in my employ unless he would 

 vote for McKinley. Later on it was report- 

 ed by people on the other side of the fence 

 that I was going to turn off all who zvould 

 vote for him. To correct such unreasonable 

 statements I put up a notice over the time- 

 desk, something as follows : 



^^ Vote for whom yon please^ but donH talk 

 about it during working Iwurs, please.'" 



I hope the people who have known me all 

 my life, especially around home, would know 

 that that would be my stand. But saloon or 

 no saloon here in our town of Medina is a 

 little different matter from the one I men- 

 tioned regarding politics. In regard to this 

 question I would still say, vote as you please ; 

 or I would a little rather put it, vote accord- 

 ing to the dictates of your own conscience. 

 If you can vote for an open saloon in Medi- 

 na, and ask God to bless you in so doing, 

 by all means vote that way. But let me ask 

 of you not to get all your information as to 

 the great money-producing power of the sa- 

 loon from the saloon-men themselves, for they 

 have an ax to grind, and that ax is yourself. 



In the Medina Gazette recently there 

 was a thought that I wish most earnestly to 

 commend to all. It was something like this : 

 " Let there be no intemperate discussion in 

 discussing temperance in our town." And 

 now may God help me to be temperate in my 

 hostility to the saloon business. 



VOTE ACCORDING TO YOUR CONSCIENCE. 



Now, boys, if I were going to vote for open 

 saloons I do not believe I would work any 

 longer for The A. I. Root Co.* Now, hold 

 on. Do not say I said you would be turned 

 off. We never turned a man off because he 

 was a Democrat, Republican, or Prohibition- 

 ist; and I do not suppose we would think of 

 turning a man off, even if he voted for an 

 open saloon. That is not our way of doing 

 business. When we are discussing as to what 

 hands to keep and whom to let go during the 

 dull season, the first question among our 

 board of managers is, " Does this man do his 

 work well, and is he always on hand?" If 

 the answer comes in the affirmative, he is not 

 likely to get turned off, even if he does some- 

 times frequent saloons. f By the way, several 

 of the large railway companies have recently 

 put up rules to the effect that they would dis- 

 charge any of their men who might be seen 

 even going into or out of a saloon. Now, 

 that is going further than your old friend 

 A. I. Root ever thought of going. Years ago 

 he did bear down pretty hard on the tobacco 

 habit. But if it was an error it was in a good 

 cause. I do not know what you think about 

 it; but some of your wives, sisters, and nioth- 



* Perhaps a little further explanation should be 

 made here. An open saloon can do more harm in a 

 few hours, especially if those hours are after dark, 

 than all the ministers, all the schools, all the Endeav- 

 or societies, and every thing else of a like nature, can 

 cure in vs^eeks or months, or perhaps years. A boy 

 may be started to ruin in one night in the saloon, and 

 his' start may be such that all the efforts that can be 

 made through his natural life will be unavailing. 

 Now, when you know a man is spending his life and 

 means in keeping saloons out of his native town, if 

 you deliberately propose to work against him, and 

 undo his lifework faster than he can build it up, I 

 submit that ordinary consistency, or a very small de- 

 gree of manliness, should stand in the way of your 

 even asking him to give j-ou work. 



t Permit me to say, however, it is very seldom in- 

 deed that we find such a man as the above. He may 

 be so for a time, but he must either give up his hab- 

 its or else he will very soon come to be very unreli- 

 able. 



