1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1157 



their filthy hands on our bright, pure, harm- 

 less, innocent little girls?" Well, the opin- 

 ion of your old friend A. I. R. is that God 

 has not permitted such men to roam at large. 

 It is men in office who do it. It is you and 

 1 who have failed to raise our voices and 

 make a protest against open saloons in our 

 land, or, worse still, our immediate neigh- 

 Ijorhood.* We have not waked up as Georgia 

 (lid. From the accounts in the papers it 

 would seem that women and children did 

 more rejoicing when the breweries and 

 whisky-shops were banished from that State 

 than the voters themselves. 



Here is another clipping from that same 

 Cleveland Leader; but I am ashamed to be 

 obliged to note that neither the editor nor 

 any one else saw fit to make any footnote 

 against the publication of such a statement. 

 Read it and see what you think of it: 



RBCOBDS OF ARMY PLEA FOB CANTEEN; JXTDGE AD- 

 VOCATE'S REPORT ARGUES ABOLITION A MISTAKE. 



Washington, August 18.— The annual report of 

 General Porter, acting Judge Advocate General of the 

 Army, presents a strong plea for the restoration of 

 the army canteen, and backs up its conclusions with 

 figures. 



The report dwells upon the evil results following 

 the passage of the anti-canteen act, which, it is 

 said, undoubtedly has caused the location near mili- 

 tary reservations of resorts for the sale of intoxicat- 

 ing liquor which pander to the appetites and passion 

 of those enlisted men who, largely by reason of the 

 prohibition in question, frequent the same. These 

 resorts are beyond the control of the military author- 

 ities, and their presence is highly detrimental to mil- 

 itary discipline. If the men were permitted, as under 

 the canteen system, to procure a reasonable amount 

 of drinks in barracks and under the supervision of 

 their officers, the effect undoubtedly would be condu- 

 cive to military discipline and reduce the number of 

 court-martial trials for offense due to drunkenness. 



I shall have to confess, friends, that I do 

 not know any thing about General Porter 

 who is quoted; but even if he is acting Judge 

 Advocate General of the Army, there is some- 

 thing queer about this man. This whole 

 thing is gotten out by the brewers, because 

 they are grabbing at the last straw to save — 

 I was going to say themselves, but I mean 

 their business, from destruction. The de- 

 struction comes the other way. When these 

 things are sifted down we find every time 

 that it comes from some intemperate official. 



Let me quote again: "These results are 

 beyond the control of the military authori- 

 ties." What does it mean in this United 



* Since clipping the above from the Leader I discov- 

 er the Plaindealer of the same date contains substan- 

 tially the same thing as that of the Leader; but they 

 give the following additional, in quotation-marks, in- 

 dicating that they got it from another source. 



" If legislation prohibiting saloons within one and 

 one-eighth miles of a military post were followed in 

 all States the effect would undoubtedly be conducive 

 to military discipline, and reduce the number of court- 

 martial trials for offenses due to drunkenness." 



t When the Anti-saloon League of Ohio was first 

 started it was my privilege to contribute the first $,500 

 through Mr. Metcalf, of Elyria, who gave a like sum. 

 Brother Metcalf explained to me that the reason of 

 his opposition to the open saloon was a lot of picture 

 cards he took out of his pocketbook, spreading them 

 out. They were obscene pictures calculated with 

 hellish ingenuity to inflame the passions of youth or 

 those already inflamed by drink. He said he had him- 

 self gone into saloons and picked these cards up from 

 off the counters in various cities; and he said that that 

 alone was a sufficient reason for his Hghthing the sa- 

 loon as long as God gave him breath. 



States of America to have a great general 

 make such a statement? Are they unable 

 to prevent the establishment of low dives, 

 and gambling and drinking places, close by 

 where our armies are located?! What a con- 

 fession! While I have the other two clip- 

 pings in hand, here is still another one that 

 was just handed me, clipped from the Balti- 

 more News of Aug. 16; but I have space to 

 quote only the head-line: 



"All North Carolina may soon be 'dry.' " 

 May God be praised for such things that 

 are coming now thick and fast; and may we 

 each and all rejoice that it is our privilege 

 here in the United States to hasten the day 

 when the open saloon shall be no more. 



MY DUCK STORY. 



Yes, friends, and it is a good one too. It 

 is going to be a five-pointed story, and each 

 point, I think, is something not only of val- 

 ue but not generally known. The first point 

 I got from a neighbor, Mr. Philip Bolei, who 

 lives two miles out of town. Last winter he 

 had four ducks, mostly Pekins, but with a 

 dash of Indian Runner blood. A bee-keep- 

 er who was here for supplies sold him a 

 Pekin drake for $1.50. He began in Febru- 

 ary setting the duck's eggs under a hen; and 

 last evening Mrs. Root and I went over to 

 see his family of ducks, all from the four he 

 wintered over. He has raised over 200, big 

 and little. Those hatched in February sold 

 for 60 cents each; and a brighter, happier 

 family of ducks I never saw. The above 

 (from four ducks to 200 in one summer and 

 the summer not nearly over — only August 

 10th) is point No. 1. 



Point No. 3 comes in here. He proposes 

 to sell all but four of his best before winter 

 comes, so he has no expense of wintering a 

 large flock. Of course, he has to winter 

 enough of the common fowls so as to have 

 sitting hens for business in the spring. He 

 owns two incubators; but either they are not 

 first-class or else he has not got the "hang" 

 of them. He says that a great part of the 

 time 12 eggs under a hen brought forth 12 

 ducks. Now, with this way of managing he 

 is at no expense for buildings, such as chick- 

 en-coops, fixtures, or any thing of the sort. 

 His ducks have the range of the farm, and 

 are out of doors, when it gets to be warm 

 weather, day and night — no expense for 

 buildings, structures, nor appliances — that is 

 the second point. 



I caught on to my third point a few days 

 ago when I went over to pay a visit to Mr. 

 Vernon Bui't, the champion bee-keeper, not 

 only of Medina Co., but I might almost say 

 of Ohio. Well, friends, Mr. Burt's mother 

 is in the duck business, and 1 was alive with 

 astonishment and enthusiasm when she in- 

 formed me that her young ducks, just hatch- 

 ed, did not have any mother nor any brooder, 

 and did not need any. I remonstrated. 



"Why, Mrs. Burt, these baby ducklings 

 certainly need a mother till they get old 

 enough to eat— say 48 hours. ' ' 



