1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1489 



inary vote be considered an informal ballot, 

 publish the results, and then let every one 

 vote as he likes. [We indorse all that Dr. 

 Miller has said. The Association should 

 avoid every appearance of evil. And right 

 in this connection we desire to go on record 

 as believing that no representative of a bee- 

 supply factory, nor any of its agents, should 

 be directors, nor hold any other office in the 

 Association. While this very class of people 

 has undoubtedly helped to build up the or- 

 ganization to its present strength and effi- 

 ciency, we believe the time has nowcome when 

 their services are no longer needed. We ad- 

 vocated this principle some six or seven years 

 ago, and in conformity therewith refused to 

 serve as director, though twice elected on two 

 different occasions. We are sending a mark- 

 ed copy of this journal to each member of 

 the Board of Directors, urging that they lay 

 the matter before the members for their con- 

 sideration; and we would suggest that, a 

 year hence, the matter in the form of an 

 amendment to the constitution be submitted 

 for vote of the members at the next annual 

 election. In bringing this up we do not wish 

 to imply that any supply man as an officer 

 of the National has abused his privilege; 

 quite to the contrary; but the principle is 

 wrong, and the organization should steer 

 clear of any ajjpearance of an "ax to grind." 

 We do not believe it is necessary nor wise to 

 liar out editors or publishers of bee-papers 

 if they are not otherwise connected with the 

 supply business. — Ed.] 



Let me give you a statement from an ed- 

 itorial in the Chicago Record- Herald, which 

 is no prohibition paper, but a leading daily 

 well patronized by liquor advertisements. 

 Here is the statement, which is as good a 

 summing-up of the present situation as I 

 have seen: 



A list of the States that are " dry " or partly " dry " 

 would be practically a list of all the States in the Un- 

 ion. So rapidly has the movement been spreading of 

 late that it would be difficult to keep up with the facts 

 were it not for the prohibition leaders, who provide 

 ever revised tables of the status. When Oklahoma 

 enters the Union and the Georgia law takes effect 

 there will be five prohibition States. In Tennessee 

 there are no saloons outside of four municipalities. 

 In Kentucky, only four counties are wholly "wet," 

 and only 22 out of 119 have any saloons at all. In South 

 Carolina most of the State is dry, and elsewhere the 

 county-dispensary system prevails. In Alabama there 

 are 27 dry counties. In Ohio. 1140 out of 1376 town- 

 ships and 60 per cent of the municipalities are " dry." 

 And so it goes. 



[Similar statements, only more extended, 

 have appeared in different papers through- 

 out the country. Verily it is evident that 

 the great newspaper world is beginning to 

 wake up to the fact. The Saturday Evening 

 Post, a magazine that probably has as wide 

 a circulation as any weekly in the United 

 States, contains an article in its issue for 

 Nov. 9 entitled "The Battle of the Bottle." 

 Some very interesting facts and statistics are 

 given, and then follows a deadly parallel 

 showing the difference between dry and wet 

 territory as to the amount of crime commit- 

 ed. We quote two paragraphs which are 

 right in line with those taken from the Chi- 

 cago Record-Herakl: 



Beyond this you fear thit prohibition will lessen 

 your labor. It ivill. It will surely diminish the num- 

 ber of convicts now employed in your mines. That 

 enormous force of convicts who are working for you 

 in the mines serve as a permanent strike-breaking nu- 

 cleus to hold the labor unions in check. A convict 

 can't strike, he can't quit, can't get away. Convicts 

 help to fix the wages of free labor. The convicts from 

 liquor counties are twice as numerous as those from 

 dry counties. These very convicts have recently giv- 

 en out a statement showing a startling number whose 

 crimes were caused by whisky. 



Compare prohibition Maine with Alabama. Maine 

 last year killed two persons by murder. In Alabama, 

 with twice the population of Maine, during the last 

 four years there have been 1381 cases come to actual 

 trial: 328 were not convicted; 78 were sentenced to 

 death; 330 convicted in the first degree; 205 in the sec- 

 ond degree; 440 of manslaughter. In 1906. 1132 of Ala- 

 bama's convicts were in prison for murder, assault 

 with intent to kill, and assault with weapons. Such 

 men form part of the labor in the mines. Alabama 

 has 2600 convicts; Maine has 186, white. Prohibition 

 will undoubtedly decrease this class of labor. 



And yet, strange as it may seem, there are 

 many people in Maine, and some good ones 

 too, who think prohibition in their State is 

 not a success. Because they find an occa- 

 sional blind tiger or an occasional drunken 

 man in the streets of their cities they conclude 

 the great principle of State-wide prohibition 

 is a failure. They might just as well argue 

 that, because there are murders, the law 

 against murder should be repealed. — Ed.] 



On account of the crowded condition of 

 our space in this issue our Harris burg Na- 

 tional Convention Report is omitted from 

 this number. We hope to resume it in our 

 next issue. 



W. L. CoGGSHALi>, of Groton, N. Y., who 

 possibly owns as many or more bees than 

 any other bee - man in the United States, 

 writes that he expects to spend two months 

 at 680 North Madison Ave., Pasadena, Cali- 

 fornia, probably for his health. Pasadena is 

 right in the heart of some of the best bee 

 country of Southern California, and we are 

 sure there are many bee-keepers in that vi- 

 cinity who will be glad to meet their distin- 

 guished fellow-craftsman from New York. 



We have been favored with a copy of a 

 very nice paper-bound book of 140 pages on 

 the subject of bee-keeping in Spain by mod- 

 ern methods. The author is Senor M. Pons 

 Fabreques, editor of the Spanish bee-jour- 

 nal La ApicuUura Espanola. The name of 

 the book, "Nueva Cartilla del Apicultor," 

 indicates its mission, and the writer is evi- 

 dently well grounded in the modern meth- 

 ods of keeping bees, for the hives, etc., which 

 he recommends and illustrates are up to 



