1S99 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



279 



your clover seed did not go right along without any 

 delay. 



I am very glad indeed if you are so well fixed; but I 

 do think you might take better care of little amounts 

 where cash has been advanced simply to do 3-011 a fa- 

 vor. The goods were shipped from here promptly, 

 but were stopped by connecting lines at Bellaire. 

 Yours very truly, 



A. I. Root. 



P. S. — Since the matter has been called to my atten- 

 tion I have decided that we can make the two bushels 

 of alsike $10.25 instead of $10.50; therefore we inclose 

 in this stamps to the value of 25 cts. 



Now, dear friends, I have a double purpose 

 in submitting this whole matter to you. It il- 

 lustrates the way in which hard feelings and 

 bitter words come up. It explains, too, why 

 it is that so many people feel bitterness and 

 hate toward the railroad companies. Ever 

 since we have been in business we have been 

 greatly annoyed by having goods stopped, by 

 express as well as freight, because connecting 

 lines would not carry them an}- further with- 

 out having the charges paid in advance. The 

 reason of this is, that railroad companies so 

 many times carry goods long distances, which 

 are never called for at all. Sometimes people 

 go and inquire about the charges, and then 

 leave the goods, and never go after them. 

 Perhaps they laugh about it, and say they will 

 just let the railroad company keep them. Po- 

 tatoes are frozen in transit. The consignee 

 shakes the barrel, concludes they are frozen 

 and worthless, and goes off leaving them on 

 the railroad company's hands as if the latter 

 were responsible for the blizzard. There are 

 thousands of like cases. Sometimes the com- 

 pany collects the freight charges of the ship- 

 per, but may be it will cost more than they 

 are worth to do this. 



Again, some railroad companies are more 

 accommodating than others. One company 

 receives goods without asking any advance;'- 

 but when they turn them over to another line 

 this line refuses to take them any further with- 

 out payment in advance. Now, the agent of 

 the company has no authority to take even so 

 small a sum as 29 cents, and prepay the 

 charges on $10.50 worth of clover seed; there- 

 fore the goods must be held until they send 

 word back to the shipper. Well, now, the 

 shipper may have had lots of experience like 

 that of our book-keeper. He has paid a few 

 cents for A, B, or C, and then used some post- 

 age-stamps and time to explain the matter, 

 telling him they advanced the bard cash just 

 to do him a kindness; but too often A, B, or 

 C lets it go and forgets it, or says to himself, 

 " Well, I guess I paid him enough for his clo- 

 ver seed, anyway. I think he can stand the 

 29 cents; " and pretty soon the shippers get to 

 be like the railroad companies. They say, " We 

 do not hand over the cash for anybody." 

 You may, perhaps, be aware that many of the 



* By the way, perhaps I should explain that, where 

 a railroad company sends for advance payment, they 

 bring up to our office a written request, but do not 

 leave any copy of such request. They go to the book- 

 keeper with the statement ; but the statement is car- 

 ried right away again. I have tried to get our clerks 

 to copy every such request, and to keep the copy. 

 Even a few lines scrawled with a pencil on a piece of 

 waste paper should be copied and preserved, in the 

 above case we have no means of knowing just what 

 the railroad company did report besides what the 

 book-keeper can remember of the transaction. 



large department stores that sell on such small 

 margins are following the same plan. And, 

 by the way, I wonder if our friends realize 

 the expense of keeping a set of books neces- 

 sary to have open accounts with thousands of 

 people scattered all over the land — especially 

 the expense necessary to send repeated state- 

 ments to people who will not say a word for 

 almost a whole year. 



Now, there is another side that might be 

 taken up. There is usually but a small profit 

 on clover seed, it is true; but in the above case 

 there was sufficient profit so we could have af- 

 forded to lose the 29 cents, even in case he did 

 not pay it ; and had I gotten hold of the trans- 

 action this would have been done. Yes, I 

 think that, according to the spirit of the string 

 of beautiful texts at the head of my talk, I 

 might have done still more. If a man has 

 bought some clover seed of me which ought 

 to be put into the ground at once, and even if 

 it required me to advance all my profit, 

 and a little more, in order to help him get his 

 seed in at the right time, I think I would ad- 

 vance it. But, of course, circumstances would 

 have much to do with a case of this kind. I 

 believe the clerks all know my disposition to 

 be liberal ; and I do not know but sometimes 

 they keep things from me because they know 

 I would trust a man when he ought not to be 

 trusted. Well, if this is true I am glad that I 

 err on the side of charity and love. Our 

 friend speaks of references that he could give 

 us. Yes, he did give us references ; but we 

 could hardly be expected to write for refer- 

 ences when a man asks for a credit of only a 

 few cents. 



And now let me go back to the original 48 

 cents advanced first. I suppose friend D. did 

 not send it at first because he did not feel in 

 duty bound to pay the freight until he had re- 

 ceived the goods; and when it looked as if he 

 would ;/ ever get them, he did not see why he 

 should pay any freight at all ; and, in fact, he 

 asks us to take this trifle out of the value of 

 the goods when we receive it. As to why he 

 did not send it after he received the goods, I 

 can not answer, nor can I see why he did not 

 include this 43 cents when he sent the $10.50 

 for the clover seed. Perhaps he forgot it. I 

 do think he owes us an apology for asking us 

 to collect of the railroad company the value of 

 the goods which he already had in his posses- 

 sion, or he should at lease explain matters in 

 some way ; but I still think, from the tone of 

 his letters, that he means to be a fair sort of 

 business man. In regard to his threat of not 

 trading any further with us, such things never 

 worry nor disturb me. We invest every year 

 large amounts of money in advertising, it is 

 true ; but I have never yet wanted all of the 

 trade. If I have wronged anybody, then I am 

 worried ; but if he decides to trade somewhere 

 else when I am not to blame, it does not trou- 

 ble me at all. What is my loss will be gained 

 by some other brother ; and I am sure of this, 

 for the Bible says so. If I serve my fellow- 

 men in an unselfish and Christianlike manner 

 we shall always have plenty of patronage. 

 The things to worry about are the sins in one's 

 own heart, and not what his neighbors may do. 



