642 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



October 13, 



York. I was greatly surprised to see how many local organi- 

 zations they had. There is one of them in Seneca county that 

 has a membership of something liiie 75, and they meet once a 

 month during the honey season. In the county adjoining that 

 they had an organization with something like 60 members. In 

 Otsego county and Tompkins county they have local organi- 

 zations. Tompkins county has a local membership of some- 

 thing like a hundred. I think there are something like a 

 dozen counties well organized. Mr. Marks speaks about local 

 organizations affiliating with parent organizations. I doubt 

 whether that could be done in States where bee-keeping is not 

 so extensively pr.acticed as in New York. There is scarcely a 

 farmer in those counties that does not keep some bees. In 

 each one of those organizations they recommend bee-keepers 

 to take some bee-paper, or to become members of the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union. I think you will And the member- 

 ship from that State is greater than from any other, probably 

 due to that one fact. 



Mr. Lathrop— We have several bee-keepers' organizations 

 in Wisconsin, some of them quite prosperous, and I under- 

 stand that there are some more being organized this year. A 

 good many of our bee-keepers in southern Wisconsin have 

 been members of the National Bee-Keepers' Union, and we 

 voted to recommend that the two organizations should be com- 

 bined, but our members are slow to join the United States 

 Bee-Keepers' Union while they are members in the other, and 

 while they have paid their dues. I never joined this Union 

 until to-day because I was a member of the other organization, 

 and I believe that up to the present time the work has been 

 all right, and I had the protection I needed in that organiza- 

 tion. I would like to see the membership in the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union come into this, so that we could all be to- 

 gether. I think that would be a good step towards what you 

 are talking about now. 



Dr. Mason — You say that the old Union has furnisht you 

 all the protection you needed. What do you mean by that ? 

 What protection does it furnish? 



Mr. Lathrop — Well, it Is like life insurance. It never did 

 anything for me, but I always felt that I had something to 

 fall back upon in case of emergency. 



Dr. Mason — What would the emergency be ? 



Mr. Lathrop — There might be an emergency. I have one 

 apiary that I have had 13 years in a certain place, adjoining 

 another man's property. It is not near a public highway, but 

 the man who owns the land cultivates corn there. He said 

 the bees bothered his horses, but that he would try to work, 

 and if he couldn't work then he would do something else— he 

 would try to have the bees removed as a nuisance, or some- 

 thing of that kind. I put up a high board fence, and took all 

 the precautions I could. I expected to have a lawsuit, and I 

 understood that if I did the Union would fight it for me. I 

 was speaking of the National Bee-Keepers' Union. 



Pres. York — I should like to ask Mr. Lathrop why he 

 would not receive the same protection by being a member of 

 the United States Bee-Keepers' Union ? 



Mr. Lathrop — I think I would. As I had membership in 

 the other I thought it would be all right for the time being, 

 because it had always done good work and been successful. 



Dr. Miller — I am not going to give anything new at all, 

 but I want to say that I think one of the greatest things to 

 help increase the membership is the influence of the bee- 

 papers. They have done good work, and I believe that a con- 

 tinuance of that same work, and possibly a little more work 

 on that same line, will do great good. Possibly they need a 

 little encouragement by knowing that we recognize their 

 work. Then it might be a good thing for those who write to 

 the papers to mention the matter and urge that all should 

 become members of this Union. I very much doubt whether 

 there is any one thing that will do as much to increase the 

 membership as that. I believe the bee-papers could do more 

 than they have done. They have, of course, done more than 

 they are paid for doing; but I believe that if they will do a 

 little more yet it will do good. 



Dr. Mason — The editors of nearly all the bee-papers have 

 said to me, " Whenever you have anything in the line of the 

 work of the United States Bee-Keepors' Union, let us have 

 it." I think we all feel under obligations to the bee-periodi- 

 cals. If Mr. Root wasn't here I would say that we are a 

 little more indebted to the American Bee Journal than we are 

 to Gleanings. Editor Merrill, former editor of the American 

 Bee-Keeper, pitcht into Mr. York and myself rough-shod 

 when this Union was first started, for the part we took in its 

 organization, but the new editor, Mr. H. E. Hill, is doing all 

 he can for the Union, and is ready to do more. On the first 

 page of our program is a cut that Editor Hill got up and 

 loaned to us for use in printing the program. I for one feel 

 very grateful to him. Dr. Miller talks about the papers doing 



more than they are paid for. We don't pay them anything. 

 Editor Hutchinson, of the Bee-Keepers' Review, does all 

 he can to aid the Union, and Editor Holtermann, of the Cana- 

 dian Bee Journal, speaks a good word for us whenever he 

 can. 



Dr. Miller — I do think they can do a little more if they 

 want to, and I don't think we ought to do anything to stop 

 them. 



Pres. York — Perhaps it would be all right If I askt Dr. 

 Miller to tell the publishers in what way they can be more 

 useful. There are some things that publishers "don't know," 

 the same as with Dr. Miller. (Laughter.) 



Dr. Miller — In reply to that I would say that they might 

 do a little more of what they have been doing, or perhaps do 

 it a little oftener. The quality has been good, but the quantity 

 might be increast a little. Not that I am finding fault at all, 

 but a little more of the same kind would do more good. I am 

 only saying this in order to encourage them by making them 

 feel that their work is not without result. They certainly 

 have done more than ought reasonably to be expected of them. 

 I believe that the lack is rather on the part of those who write 

 for the journals. We ought ourselves to give them something 

 oftener, and not depend upon them to furnish the material 

 and the place to publish it. 



Pres. York — I think one great help to the publishers 

 would be this: Let the Union do some real, active work, and 

 we will report it. That, I think, would help more than any- 

 thing else to increase the membership. 



Dr. Mason — I might say that Mr. Marks, at my sugges- 

 tion two years ago, when we were trying to organize this 

 Union, sent me a constitution, and in it he embodied these 

 thoughts of his in detail about starting up local organizations. 

 But it seems that it is cot feasible; ?0 many of our people are 

 selfish. I may feel that I do not need to pay a dollar to be 

 protected, because I can take care of my own affairs better 

 than the Union can ; but I feel that I am under obligations 

 to the fraternity in helping to do away with the adulteration 

 of foods. That is the reason I gave my dollar a year. 



Frank Rauchfuss (Colo.) — I am of the same opinion as 

 Mr. Marks, that we should organize county and State organi- 

 zations ; they should be the center, and the national organiza- 

 tion should be the head. That is the way I have been talking 

 at home. I really think it is feasible, because I have seen 

 what has been accomplisht In Germany. It Is done there, 

 and I don't see any reason why it should not be done here. 



Dr. Mason — Are there not a great many more bee-keepers 

 in Germany than there are here in proportion to the Inhabi- 

 tants ? and aren't they closer together ? 



Mr. Rauchfuss — Yes, sir ; and they are a different class 

 of people ; they are mostly teachers, preachers, and wealthy 

 farmers, who can afford to spend a little money in going to 

 meetings, and things like that. 



Dr. Miller — Mr. Rauchfuss will remember that there are 

 dozens and dozens of those who never attend the meetings 

 and yet are members. There is where the Germans have got 

 the start of us. With us it is too often the case that only 

 those are members who attend the conventions; but those 

 plodding Germans stick to it, year after year, and if they 

 never go to the conventions in their lives but once or twice, 

 all the rest of the time they are members. They have large 

 societies and large meetings, but the meetings only take in a 

 small part of the membership. While I am willing to have 

 the Germans come In here with us, I would like to beat them 

 in some things. If we could only beat them in that respect, I 

 would like it very much. 



Mr. Rauchfuss — Our Colorado association has workt un- 

 der the same serious difficulties. We have a small member- 

 ship, and I have been trying to get the membership up. I 

 had some help from the American Bee Journal, and we appre- 

 ciated it very much. We have done this much : Every one 

 that is a member of the State organization derives some benefit 

 in buying his bee-supplies. That is what gets them. If they 

 see that by paying 50 cents for membership they can save 

 $5, they will come in every time. We have 150 members, 

 and more coming. 



Dr. Mason — Last year the Secretary of the Salt River 

 Valley Bee-Keepers' Association (In Arizona) sent me 17 

 names and §17. This year he sent 14 names and $14, and 

 some names had been sent before that. None of them have 

 attended our conventions. They are too far away to make it 

 convenient to attend. I don't know but it would be a good 

 plan if your next Secretary would write this matter up and 

 put It in the papers. I believe that we can organize as the 

 Colorado folks are doing. 



Mr. Rauchfuss — There is another way : Start a case — 

 prosecute somebody for adulteration, and show the bee-keep- 

 ers that we are doing something with the money that has been 



