GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



What hath God wrought? — Num. 23:23. 



Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his right- 

 eousness, and all these things shall be added unto 

 you. — Matt. 6:33. 



I have also given thee that which thou hast 

 not asked, both riches and honor; so there shall 

 not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy 

 days. — I. Kings 3:13. 



538 



ON page 742 

 of Gleanings 

 for Novem- 

 ber, 1919, you 

 will find a letter 

 from S. S. Kres- 

 ge and some of 

 my remarks in 

 regard to it. 

 Kresge is the 

 man who gave 

 $10,000 in a sin- 

 gle subscription 

 to the Anti-sa- 

 loon League 

 while the fight 

 was under way 

 to make Michi- 

 gan dry. The 

 brewers got track of it; and knowing that 

 he is the proprietor of a chain of five and 

 ten cent stores scattered all over our land, 

 they suggested that it would be wisdom for 

 him, to be a little careful or the liquor party 

 might decide unitedly to get him into finan- 

 cial trouble. Instead of being scared he 

 promptly turned over to the Anti-saloon 

 League another $10,000; and some good au- 

 thority has stated that this man Kresge 

 probably did more to help Michigan take 

 the lead in the list of dry states of the 

 Union than any other man. 



Our readers will remember that I went 

 through Henry Ford's great factory, or 

 string of factories, some years ago, and I 

 wrote it up for these pages. Well, I have 

 been thinking for some time, especially 

 since Ford is just now astonishing the world, 

 that I should like to go through his plant 

 once more. And now you can understand 

 that it was one of my "pleasant surprises'" 

 when I received an invitation to visit 

 Kresge, and at the same time look over the 

 Ford plant once more. If you now excuse 

 me I wish to sidetrack a third time. 



Some of you have taken Gleanings long 

 enough to remember my hobby of five and 

 ten cent stores away back in 1880—42 years 

 ago; and I gave on these pages pictures of 

 the five and ten cent counter which we in- 

 stalled on the fairgrounds here in Medina, 

 and told you what a success it was. I find 

 by looking back that I continued the five 

 and ten cent trade, and sending the articles 

 by mail, for something like 15 years. At 

 aiaout that time I was advised by the doc- 

 tors that I had only a short time to live, 

 even though I should go to a warm climate, 

 give up business, and do everything possi- 

 ble to live a little longer. Then a little 

 later I told about running away from my 

 own funeral, by riding a Ucycle. Now, about 

 the time I dropped the "counter store," 

 as we called it, my good friend Kresge took 

 it up. I recently went through his great 

 store in Cleveland. Although his establish- 

 ment is of itself a small-sized c'ltn (so it 

 seemed to me), it was really a beehive, of 

 human beings instead of bees. I think there 

 were something like 250 clerks, most of them 



Aucil'sT, 1!)22 



girls — jiice, 

 briglit, q u i c k, 

 smiling girls. 

 Everybody seem- 

 ed to be happy. 

 The store was so 

 crowded that we 

 often had to wait 

 before we could 

 get around. In 

 one of the base- 

 ments there was 

 a neatly arrang- 

 ed restaurant or 

 lunch room; and 

 I had a very 

 nice supper — all 

 that was good 

 for me — for just 

 15 cents. I am told there are now some- 

 thing over 200 such Kresge establishments 

 scattered throughout the principal cities of 

 the United States. Now, please do not 

 think I am bragging when I suggest to you 

 that not only Kresge but even Luther Bur- 

 bank himself have intimated to me that 

 they were pupils in bee culture, and took 

 my little journal, years ago, almost when 

 it was started. Kresge especially tells me 

 of the great interest with which he studied 

 the ABC book in years gone by, and that 

 the money he received from his bees helped 

 him to finish his course in college. Now for 

 the Ford establishment. 

 The Ford Plant Makes Finished Automobiles 

 Faster Than a Queen Bee Lays Eggs. 

 I shall have to go over it very briefly on 

 account of my limited space. As before, we 

 had to wait for the crowd up to a certain 

 hour, when a guide was appointed to take 

 charge of visitors. The first thing that im- 

 pressed me was just acres of busy men, all so 

 close to each other that many times it seem-- 

 ed they lacked elbow room. A pathway was 

 roped off for - visitors; but when there was 

 actually no room to get through. Ford was 

 thoughtful and kind enough to make an 

 overhead bridge or runway where visitors 

 could stand and see what was going on be- 

 low. I was impressed during my former 

 visit with the moving platforms or broad 

 belts that carried thfe heavy parts of the 

 automobile from one place to another. In 

 many places this belt moved so slowly that 

 the workmen on both sides of it performed 

 their part of the work while it was moving. 

 Then besides these moving platforms or ta- 

 bles, as it were, there were belts or wire 

 ropes in motion overhead; and from these 

 moving ropes hooks came down, and work- 

 men were constantly placing pieces of fin- 

 ished work on these hooks; and so, instead 

 of heavy lifting, or sending a boy or man 

 to carry the different parts, they had but 

 just to reach overhead and unhook where 

 wanted. These strings of moving hooks 

 went everywhere. It seemed as if they trav- 

 eled miles. 



I was interested in studying liumanity as 

 well as machinery — yes, more so. I wanted 



