THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



October, 



According to the report of the 

 treasurer of the National Association 

 there was in its treasury then some 

 $1,115 and it has two thousand mem- 

 bers from whom it could raise $2,000 

 at once. 



How many thousands has this League 

 raised and spent on advertising? What 

 has it done that National's committees 

 would not have done if this new con- 

 cern had not butted in? Who ever 

 heard of a campaign of education of a 

 nation being accomplished in a few 

 months with a few thousand dollars, 

 and yet thatjs what they implied they 

 were to do, for they said: "A large 

 share of last year's honey crop is still 

 unsold, while the market is practical- 

 ly dead, as is easily shown by refer- 

 ence to the market reports. The crop 

 of the coming season will soon be here, 

 and, should it prove a bountiful one, 

 with last year's crop still unsold, 

 where will prices go then?" And a 

 little farther on they say: "Before 

 adjourning it was resolved to do no 

 general advertising until there is at 

 least $5,000 in the hands of the treas- 

 urer." Decidedly inconsistent. We 

 must look elsewhere than in their ex- 

 planations for the cause of their pre- 

 cipitate action. Here is a list of the 

 members of the executive board: Dr. 

 C. C. Miller, W. Z. Hutchinson, Ar- 

 thur L. Boyden, George W. York, C. 

 P. Dadant, N. E. France and George 

 C. Lewis, and the officers elected by 

 this board are; President, Dr C. C. 

 Miller; vice-president, George C. 

 Lewis; secretary, W. Z. Hutchinson; 

 treasurer, Arthur L. Boyden; manager, 

 George W. York. Compare these 

 names with those of the speakers 

 quoted at the beginning of this ar- 

 ticle and with the officers and commit- 

 tees of the National 



Now these gentlemen had a perfect 

 legal right to form any sort of a com- 

 pany they chose, name it about as 

 they pleased, and invite the support 

 of the masses. But several of them 

 had no moral right to do as they 

 have done after what they said and did 

 at the meeting of the National Asso- 

 ciation, and particularly after that as- 

 sociation — of which some of them are 

 its officers and servants — had taken 

 formal and proper steps to do the very 

 thing the League claims it is to do. 

 Having asked the support of the pub- 

 lic they will be scrutinized by the 

 public. Being members and officers 

 of the National Association, whose 

 trust they appear to have betrayed, 



other members of that association an 

 going to hold them accountable an( 

 they will be called upon to answe 

 some very pertinent questions. 



Some of these men ar^directly in 

 terested in the supply trade; and it i 

 vital to their interests to have a con 

 trolling hand in the literature of_th< 

 business. Others are dealers and job 

 bers in honey, and naturally they, toe 

 look askance at the plain producer' 

 presuming to control their own aflfairs 

 Some are interested in advertisini 

 agencies, and have an eye for bus 

 iness. Some are publishers and find i 

 essential to their best interests to b 

 able to "be on the inside." Some ar 

 inspectors of apiaries in which posi 

 tion they wield a powerful infiuencf 

 In all essential things each support 

 the other. So long and so noticeabl; 

 has this condition existed that bee 

 keepers refer to the group as "th 

 ring." 



It is perfectly proper for thes 

 friends to assist each other in any le| 

 gitimate and open way, but to do s p 

 at the expense of the honey producer . 

 is something about which the latte 

 are going to have something to say. 



They claim to be acting for the goo 

 of the bee-keepers at large, but woul 

 it not be more seemly to wait unt 

 these bee-keepers asked them to act 

 Yes, the Association asked and direc 

 ed some of them to act and define 

 what they were to do and now merr 

 bers of that Association want tol kno^ 

 why they took it upon themselves t 

 try to forestall the Association plar 

 They also want to know why thislii 

 tie group of men consider their unite 

 opinion in Chicago superior to thei 

 opinion and that of the bee-keeper 

 assembled at the St. Louis meetinj 

 There are a lot of other things meir 

 bers of the Association want to'' kno> 

 and they are going to come pretty nea 

 finding out. 



The time has arrived when the hone, 

 producers are going to manage thei 

 own affairs and they are going to sa; 

 to all others, "Keep of? and keep otji 

 When we want your goods we wil 

 buy and pay for them, and when yo 

 want ours we will sell them to yov 

 but we will have no entangling alji 

 ances." 



Bees hate the electric wires, an( 

 there are well authenticated cases o 

 a swarm of bees altering their fligh 

 to avoid adjacency to the lines. — Lon 

 don Globe. 



ley 

 103 



