GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



April, 1920 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



Lead us not into temptation. — Matt. 6:13. 



Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — Matt. 

 19:19. 



The love of money is the root of all evil. — 1 Tim. 

 6:10. 



FOR some time 

 I have been 



wondering 

 why people per- 

 sist in carrying 

 large sums of 

 money around 

 on their persons. 

 Scarcely a daily 

 paper comes out 

 without some ac- 

 count of a hold- 

 up ; and in most 

 cases it happens 

 that the victim 

 had been guilty 

 of carrying 



money around in his pocket, when, so far 

 as I can see, there was no need of it. I 

 have been wondering why the editors of 

 our various periodicals do not come out in 

 open protest. The mayors of our cities, 

 our police, and all public officers should 

 come out in a loud protest against keeping 

 money anywhere except in a bank. Con- 

 cealing money somewhere in the home 

 is so frequent, or has been so frequent, 

 that when burglars get wind that a con- 

 siderable sum is hidden somewhere they 

 tear the house all to pieces in order to find 

 the " hidden treasure." Not only the ac- 

 cumulated savings of men for years, but the 

 hard earnings of women also are gone in 

 just one night, and, what is of still greater 

 import than money, there is sometimes the 

 loss of life. 



With this preface I give below an article 

 which I furnished for our county paper: 



RATS, ROBBERS, AND "THE ROOT OF ALL 

 EVIL." 

 Editor Gazette : — It pains me until I can stand it 

 no longer vphen I continually see mention made in 

 the papers of people — mostly good hard-working 

 people — who persist in carrying their money ahout 

 in their pockets, say hundreds of dollars and some- 

 times even thousands. And then, worse still, they 

 " lug it home " and keep it over night when theire 

 is no need of it at all. The banks all over the land 

 are made to keep money and keep it safely; and yet 

 our poor mistaken deluded men — yes, and women 

 too — will keep their hard earnings, maybe the ac- 

 cumulations of years, hidden away somewhere in the 

 home. Put your money in the bank and keep it in 

 the bank; and when you want to pay somebody, let 

 the money still stay in the bank and make out a 

 simple check for it to give to the person you owa 

 Every bank will give you a little check book full 

 of blank checks; and it is a very simple matter to 

 pull out a check and sign your name to it. 



In the last issue of the Gazette we are told of a 

 hard-working farmer who, after selling his wheat 

 crop, put the money in the bank all right; and them 

 for some reason which I can not understand he 

 took this money out of the bank and put it in his 

 pocket. He was waylaid by four masked men who, 

 by some means, knew he was going to take his 

 nioney out of the bank, and laid their plans accord- 

 ingly. 



Just a few days ago I heard of another hard- 



a 



working farmer 

 who, it was said, 

 took his money out 

 of the bank to buy 

 stock of the Root 

 Co. But he took it 

 home first to keep 

 it over niglit and a 

 part of it was 

 stolen. Now, -may- 

 be this was just 

 gossip, but it does 

 not matter. It il- 

 In.vtrates the point. 

 Tlie Root Co. does 

 not want money. 

 We very much prer 

 fer a check on the 

 bank. If you bring 

 us the money some- 

 body has got to 

 " lug " it up to the 

 bank and thus incur another risk. Let me digi-ess 

 a little. 



Two or three years ago a careful estimate show- 

 ed that rats rob the people of the United States of 

 one hundred million dollars annually; and our ex- 

 periment stations and agricultural papers have been 

 ursing cement floors for all farm buildings, so there 

 will be no place for the rats to locate under the 

 floor of any building on the farm. Then they urge 

 that all rubbish be removed, having no place left 

 where a rat can skulk and hide. Give the rat ter- 

 rier or the faithful household eat a good chance to 

 win out in the chase, and pretty soon the rats will 

 decide that the locality is unhealthy for rats and 

 mice. 



Some years ago I visited a nice farm home, just 



recently finished. The proprietor showed us all over 



the place with pride. He said something like this : 



" Mr. Root, there is not a spot on the whole 



premises where a rat or mouse can hide." 



Then he showed us the kitchen and pantry and 

 washroom, and said, " Not only that, we have tried 

 to fence off flies. We do not leave a particle of any- 

 thing lying around loose for flies to live on. The 

 result is, they are starved out. There are no flies 

 around here." 



Do you see the point, friends ? We want to wind 

 up " this carnival of crime " that is now cursing 

 not only our State and nation, but out-of-the-way 

 Medina. Do not carry any money around with you 

 at all except just enough for personal needs. Pay 

 by check. 



As good and wise a man as E. R. Root some 

 years ago went away from home and almost missed 

 the train. It was about to start. He rushed into 

 the ticket office, got his ticket, and ran for the train 

 .iust Ktiirting. In his hurry be crammed his roll 

 of bills into any pocket that was handiest, deciding 

 he would straighten it out when he got on the 

 train. Well, he never " straightened out " that 

 money, because when he, half out of breath, put his 

 hand in that same pocket, there was not any money 

 there. One of the fellows who were probably 

 watching around the ticket office for just such con- 

 tingencies saved him the trouble of straightening it 

 out. 



Wlien you are obliged to carry money put it in 

 some inside pocket where the thief will have trouble 

 in reaching it. When you expect to use some part 

 of it for some particular purpose, sort out just the 

 amo\int you need, and no more, and be ready to 

 make change, and make it quickly. 



Some: one may suggest that the banks will break 

 or be burglarized — yes, even in broad daylight, as 

 has happened in the last few days so many times. 

 My reply is that, may God be praised, banks do not 

 break now as they did in times past or since na- 

 tional banks were organized. In regard to holdups 



