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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1 



cents for something that has a market value 

 of only 25 cents. But I do not like that way 

 of doing business. It is demoralizing. The 

 newsboys sell papers for a cent or two cents 

 when they can not do any better; but there 

 is a tendency to encourage them in asking a 

 nickel where they judge from the looks of 

 their customer that he would not mind it. 

 As a consequence, lots of people pay a nick- 

 el who really can not afford it. Besides, 

 they dislike to say any thing about so small 

 a matter as two or three cents. This is all 

 wrong. 



Now, do not stop reading this paper be- 

 cause you think I am going to keep on talk- 

 ing about saving pennies. Let us take a 

 big jump. Yesterday's daily announced that 

 Secretary Taf t declared he would purchase 

 vessels for carrying freight to the Panama 

 canal of foreign countries unless our Ameri- 

 can ship-builders stopped putting their prices 

 away up for every thing wanted for the 

 Panama canal. At this there was a big jan- 

 gle, and a big protest from the American 

 people. They thought it an outrage if the 

 people of the United States should not have 

 the privilege of furnishing all the material 

 for the Panama canal. "All right." re- 

 plied our square-footed old friend. " You fix 

 up the price to Uncle Sam reasonably near 

 what you would to anybody else, and we will 

 trade at home. If you do not, we will buy 

 where we can buy the cheapest." 



I have a little plant growing in my green- 

 house, named "Honesty." It is an old- 

 fashioned plant that has been recently 

 brought to the front. I told the children in 

 our Sunday-school, as I held up one of the 

 plants, it was "old-fashioned Honesty." 

 Now, I fear there are some people who be- 

 gin to think other kinds of honesty are old- 

 fashioned; and that, in order to get "into 

 the swim," and keep up with the times, we 

 must follow the trusts. Standard Oil, big 

 railroads, etc. , and ' ' charge all the traffic 

 will bear." God forbid that this fashion 

 should go any further; and our good Presi- 

 dent is bound that God (through our great 

 rulers) shall forbid such a fashion; and in 

 order to help forbid this kind of dishonesty 

 it behooves each and every one of us —yes, 

 right in our homes, and, if you choose, right 

 at the kitchen table— to insist on fairness 

 and old-fashioned honesty. Explain to the 

 dealer exactly what you want, ask him what 

 the price will be, and when the boy brings 

 it down insist to a reasonable extent on hav- 

 ing goods according to the agreement. 

 Please do not misunderstand me, and think 

 that I mean that people who are well-to-do 

 should make a row about a few cents or a 

 nickel. It is not the money that is involved. 

 It is, rather, a matter of education. Let 

 us teach the boys who bring the meat and 

 groceries, honesty and fairness; and let us 

 set the example by always preserving a 

 Christian spirit. 



One reason why Mrs. Root and I have ad- 

 hered to the cash-down principle all our 

 lives is to avoid being asked to pay for 

 things twice. But we have not succeeded 



after all. Every little while a bill is brought 

 in for something that they claim was not 

 paid for. If it is a small amount we have 

 been in the habit of paying it. Investi- 

 gation shows sometimes that some of the 

 family made the purchase in question, and 

 either forgot or did not understand our fash- 

 ion of spot cash. Sometimes after a trou- 

 blesome investigation we find the stuff was 

 sent to some other Root than A. I. Root. 

 Once the boy who delivered the stuff kept 

 the money and reported that it was not 

 paid. He confessed it, however, when suf- 

 ficient pressure was brought to bear. 



The worst trouble in these transactions 

 was that the dealer waited a month or two 

 before informing us. One person, a good 

 friend of mine, waited for two years before 

 he told me he thought we must have forgot- 

 ten a bill I was owing. He excused himself 

 by saying that he had let it run because he 

 felt a little backward about dunning people 

 who were usually so prompt. 



So many things like that come up that I 

 finally put a notice in our family paper, say- 

 ing that, if I owed anybody, I wanted the 

 account sent in at once, for it was my wish' 

 to pay spot cash everywhere and to every- 

 body. 



Now, you may think it a little singular, 

 but we have almost a quarrel in trying to- 

 avoid running accounts. Let me mention 

 one thing right here with emphasis. It is a 

 very bad plan to pay cash part of the time, 

 and have the account charged part of the 

 time. It is bad for the dealer, and bad for 

 you. You must do either one or the other. 

 For instance. The A. I. Root Co. has a run- 

 ning account at a certain hardware store. 

 This is so the messenger boy who makes 

 daily trips for the mail can bring things 

 wanted for the factory. Well, I told them 

 when I wanted things for myself individual- 

 ly I would pay down so as to save them the 

 labor of book-keeping. Well, sometimes I 

 would pay down and sometimes I did not. 

 I was obliged to own up once or twice that 

 I went off with stuff and forgot to say any 

 thing about pay. 



One day I was wondering if this state of 

 affairs— this being obliged to pay for things 

 twice— belonged particularly to Medina. So 

 when I was visiting at different places I in- 

 quired of relatives if they had any such 

 trouble. A relative in Xenia repHed, "No 

 end of trouble. A man in our town brought 

 in a bill of 15 or 20 dollars, over two years 

 old. He said I had never paid it. It was so 

 long ago I had lost my receipt. We had a 

 big jangle about it, and were going to have 

 a lawsuit. Just then I blundered on to some 

 of my old books and papers, found the ac- 

 count-book, and made him acknowledge I 

 paid him the money just as I stated it." 



And so I hear of similar cases. A person 

 told me he had the same fight we did to pay 

 spot cash so as not to be asked to pay same 

 bill twice. In arguing the matter with a 

 merchant he urged that a man who paid 

 spot cash ought to have little better prices, 

 if any thing, than the one who obliges the 



