NOVEMBER 15, 1916 



1067 



GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE 



NATIONAL PROBLEMS 



Article L 



BY PROFESSOR FRANCIS JAGER 

 President National Beekeepers' Association 



There was a time not very long ago 

 when our great national industries — rail- 

 roads, steel, sugar, lumber, etc., were in 

 their infancy and were known only under 

 the name of " our infant industries." They 

 were struggling under foreign competition, 

 domestic disorganization, lack of funds, 

 low prices, and poor management. They 

 were groping along a doubtful path toward 

 success. At this critical time the govern- 

 ment of the United States, ever alert for 

 the ultimate success of home industries, 

 reached fortli its helping hand. By wise 

 legislation and abundant appropriations 

 and bonuses it raised these infants to 

 sturdy youngsters who now are even verit- 

 able giants whom the government finds it 

 dilTicult to manage. To encourage the rail- 

 road industry for instance, land grants were 

 given to companies, amounting to a strip 

 of land twenty miles widie along their 

 whole right of way. Protective tariffs, 

 easy credits, favorable banking laws, and 

 our foreign consuls were engaged as nurses 

 in behalf of these infant industries. 



To extend to the sti'uggling industries of 

 the country all possible financial and moral 

 help has become an established policy of 

 our government. 



As some industries get rich and self-sup- 

 porting the paternal care of the govern- 

 ment turns toward other infants — still 

 young and struggling. Among these at 

 present is our bee and honey industry. 



It seems we have not yet realized how 

 good a friend old Uncle Sam is to us. We 

 have been straining our private energies 

 and have been spending our limited funds 

 to establish the honey industry on a solid 

 footing. Spending time, energy, and mon- 

 ey, talking, writing, organizing, attending 

 conventions, etc., has achieved wonderful 

 results. State organizations have been es- 

 tablished, CO - operative associations and 

 marketing centers have sprung into exist- 

 ence, while methods of production of more 

 and better honey have been devised. 



But it has taken the beekeepers a long 

 time to realize that there are limits to the 

 enterprise of individuals. To place the 

 honey industry, scattered thruout this im- 

 mense continent, and consisting of number- 



less small units, into a compact body endow- 

 ed with life, power, and strength, we must 

 have state and government aid. If we 

 should feel inclined to boast of our or- 

 ganization and strength as developed at the 

 present time we have only to contemplate 

 the general advance of prices of all staple 

 articles while honey has not advanced. On 

 the contrary, the prices today, especially 

 on extracted honey, are ridiculously low. 

 This certainly should take away our self- 

 conceit. 



But ours is a contented profession. Just 

 see. We say, " How much it costs to pro- 

 duce other foods, while honey costs practi- 

 cally nothing to produce! We can afford 

 to sell it cheap," etc. Excuses to cover our 

 own weakness and inactivity ! If the steel 

 and coal magnates would live up to this 

 argument of " no first cost," the ore lands 

 obtained for a song, the ore mined at a 

 fraction of a dollar per ton, instead of com- 

 plaining about our billion-dollar coal and 

 steel trusts cutting juicy melons for their 

 owners, we would be enjoying these gifts of 

 nature at just as ridiculously low a price 

 as honey is sold for today. But they are 

 organized and that makes the difference. 



In a few articles I wish to show what 

 we need and how to get it. 



The very first thing the beekeepers, both 

 present and future, need is instructions. 

 Beekeeping is a science, and a very deep 

 and complicated science at that. Knowl- 

 edge is poweor. It is also success and 

 wealth. The ignorance of the average bee- 

 keeper is appalling, and the failure of the 

 country to obtain better results is traceable 

 directly to this ignorance. Yet the bee- 

 keepers are far from being unwilling to 

 learn. The difficulty is that they have very 

 small opportunities for learning. We have 

 pa])ers and periodicals and books — all good 

 and thoro; but out of 800,000 beekeepers 

 hardly 100,000 ever see any of them. 

 Knowledge is such a wonderful treasure 

 that everybody wants it, but nobody wants 

 to fight for it. It must be brouglit to the 

 beekeepers and presented to them with a 

 bow and free of charge. Only the State 

 and the Government could do that. The be- 

 ginning was made tentatively a few years 



