1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



539 



policy of this journal always has been ( and 

 we hope always will be) against the drink- 

 traffic in any form. 



INDIANA WITH ITS PURE-FOOD LAW; PURE- 

 FOOD LAWS IN OTHER STATES. 



Indiana has joined the great procession, 

 and passed a pure-food law which is now in 

 force, though it had resisted all efforts for 

 the past ten years to get a pure-food law on 

 the statute-books. An appropriation of $15,- 

 000 was passed to put the law in working 

 order, and there is a provision for coopera- 

 tion with the officers of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, as the Indiana 

 law is identical with the national. Quite a 

 number of States are about to pass similar 

 laws, or have already passed them. New 

 York, which now has a very effective law, 

 will probably pass a law to conform with 

 the national one, and Pennsylvania has one 

 before the legislature, which is strorigly sup- 

 ported by the Wholesale and Retail Grocers' 

 Association. The idea in these cases is to 

 avoid the clashing of the State and national 

 laws, and, as a rule, the adulterators can 

 hire plenty of lawyers. Similar laws are ex- 

 pected in New Jersey and Maryland, so that 

 by the end of the year, all the States, with the 

 exception, possibly, of some in the South, 

 will have pure-food laws in operation. Our 

 southern friends ought to endeavor to inter- 

 est their representatives in this matter, for 

 it would put our country in the fore fi'ont of 

 all nations in regard to the quality of our 

 goods, and it is well known we lead them 

 all in quantity. 



No great nation has yet dared to put into 

 operation so drastic and far-reaching a pure- 

 food law. Of course, it would be good poli- 

 cy for all bee keepers to attempt to improve 

 on the quality of their product, eliminating 

 all thin and discolored honey from the mar- 

 ket, and, as far as possible, turn out a fancy 

 product, for there is a strong demand all 

 along the line for strictly fancy goods. 



SELLING HONEY. 



It will be noted by this time that Glean- 

 ings is devoting more space to the problems 

 connected with the sale of honey. Our rea- 

 son for doing so is that the time has now 

 come to make a vigorous effort to turn the 

 trend of honey prices upward, and we wish 

 to furnish our readers with all the informa- 

 tion available that they may join in a crusade 

 for higher prices. The national pure-food 

 law gives us the powerful assistance of Uncle 

 Sam. It seems to us now is the accepted time 

 to raise prices, and it is our wish to stiff- 

 en the back-bone of the bee-keeper so that 

 he will positively refuse to sell at the extreme- 

 ly low prices which formex'ly prevailed. We 

 wish, also, to furnish our readers with facts 

 and figures about honey and its intrinsic val- 

 ue, which will enable them to explain to con- 

 sumers the superlative quality of honey as a 

 food. Perhaps it would be well for bee- 

 keepers who sell locally to furnish their local 

 newspapers with items taken from Gleanings 



from time to time; and if the publisher is fa- 

 vored with an advertisement it is very proba- 

 ble these items will be inserted. We wish 

 that every bee-keeper would exert his influ- 

 ence in having the truth about honey pub- 

 lished. To succeed we must convince the 

 public that honey is not surpassed by any 

 food known. We have right on our side. 

 We also have the law on our side. If you 

 disagree with us we should be glad to hear 

 from you. 



GLEANINGS AND THE REFORMED SPELLING. 



The following letter, received from one of 

 our subscribers, will explain itself: 



Dear Mr. i?oo<;— Editorial references in recent is- 

 sues of Gleanings to "reformed spelling" prompt 

 me to suggest: 



1. That you are too modest by half. Gleanings is 

 just as "big" and "influential" in its class as the 

 Literary Digest is in its chosen field, if not more s». 

 Why not lend your influence, so far as it goes, be it 

 much or little? 



2. The movement is not new. Changes and modifi- 

 cations of the original spellings have been silently but 

 steadily going on for a hundred years or more, and the 

 present agitation dates back a quarter of a century. 

 In 1883 the American Philological Association and the 

 English Philological Society recommended, as a con- 

 venient basis, 3500 amended spellings. These are re- 

 corded in the Century, the Webster international, and 

 the Standard dictionaries. For more definite work, 

 12 of these simplified forms were, in 1898, approved 

 and adopted by our National Education Association, 

 and have since been used by it in all its publications. 

 This list has been extended to cover about 300 words 

 in common use, many of which have dual spellings, 

 thereby forcing a choice " whether or no." Hence in 

 adopting, to a greater or less extent, this list Glean- 

 ings would not be a pioneer blazing a trail through 

 an unexplored country. 



3. You would not be lonesome nor considered eccen- 

 tric. The Simplified-spelling Board, which is respon- 

 sible for the present agitation, is composed of some of 

 the most eminent men of letters in this country and 

 England. More than 15,000 persons have signed a 

 promise to use the simplified spellings recommended 

 by the board — among them 4000 teachers in universi- 

 ties and colleges, presidents of universities and col- 

 leges, superintendents of schools, and a great number 

 of lawyers, clergymen, physicians, scientists, journal- 

 ists, and Mother professional men and leaders in every 

 walk of life. About 150 periodicals— many of them 

 with national circulation — are now using siniplifled 

 spelling, some far in advance of the tentative ' three 

 hundred words." More than 2000 firms and corpora- 

 tions are doing the same thing, both in correspond- 

 ence and advertisements. The literature of some of 

 these concerns penetrates every quarter of the civi- 

 lized world. Lonesome? Not a bit of it. You would 

 have an abundance of the very best company, and the 

 procession is growing larger every day. 



In view of these facts, and many more which might 

 be cited, can you afford to have your enviable reputa- 

 tion as a leader marred by allowing the printed prod- 

 uct of your skill to be a " mossback " orthographical- 

 ly speaking? 



Minneapolis, Minn., March 13. W. S. Wingate. 



There is a good deal of truth in what you 

 say. While it is true that Gleanings is by 

 no means small, nor without influence in its 

 class, yet its chosen field is comparatively 

 small when put against the chosen field of 

 the Literary Digest. A literary paper, or 

 one popular in its general nature and char- 

 acter, could wield a mighty influence be- 

 cause of the magnitude of its field. There 

 are probably not over 500,000 bee-keepers all 

 told in the United States, and not a tenth of 

 these take a bee- journal. Suppose we make 

 it 40,000. Their influence would be small in 

 comparison with the mighty clientage of the 

 magazine and newspaper readers. Under- 



