1608 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



It is hard to understand why, with all the popular 

 opposition to railroads, there is not more sentiment 

 against the exactions of the express companies. The 

 behavior of the railroads is mild compartd with the 

 hidden monopoly of the concerns which dominate 

 express transportation. Combined in an informal 

 trust which controls the whole system, they are 

 accountable to nobody for the rates and service ren- 

 dered, and in many cases do not, apparently, care 

 particularly for the interests or opinions of their 

 patrons who pay enormous prices for their services. 

 By ownership of one another's stock, and arrange- 

 ment as to roads and territory, it matters little to 

 them whether business is transferred from one 

 express company to another. Their insolence to the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission is a matter of rec- 

 ord. It looks as if the Commission, backed by the 

 new law, would finally get the upper hand, but it is 

 certainly a slow process with the first skirmishes in 

 favor of the express companies, who have actually 

 succeeded in raising the already exorbitant rates in 

 several localities, concealing their actions in various 

 ways through change in classification, regulations 

 as to weight, etc. 



Temperance. 



"THE CHARACTER OF THE ENEMY WE ARE 

 FIGBTING," ONCE MORE. 



Our readers have doubtless seen the state- 

 ment that Mr. Joseph Zeitlin, of Brooklyn, 

 N. Y., who is 102 years old, has used whisky 

 and tobacco all his life, and lately they are 

 declaring he also smokes cigarettes, and 

 that he smoked twenty of them to celebrate 

 the day he was 101 years old. I knew when 

 I saw the statement going through the pa- 

 pers (and papers, too, that ought to be 

 ashamed to publish a thing of this kind) 

 that it was a fake item, yet I had no means 

 to prove it. The American Issue has how- 

 ever (see the issue for Nov. 1), chased the 

 thing down and hunted up the truth in the 

 matter. Like the ouirageons canards told 

 by the Dnffy whisky pt-ople, it transpires 

 that Mr. Zeitlin is probably 102 years old ; 

 but he is a foreigner, and does not speak- our 

 language. The facts could be obtained only 

 from his granddaughter All the whisky he 

 has ever taken was a small glass before his 

 noonday meal, and that was taken medici- 

 nally, ft is true he uses tobacco, but not at 

 all to excess ; and the whole story about his 

 using twenty cigarettes in a day, or cigar- 

 ettes at all, was probably manufactured by 

 the venders of cigarettes. Now think of it, 

 friends — the idea of putting before the youth 

 of our land, and then having it copied 

 world-wide by the editors of newspapers, a 

 statement to the effect that cigarettes, whis- 

 ky, and tobacco are not so very bad after 

 ail; and the statement in some of the papers 

 might induce many an American boy to 

 think that these things actually contribute to 

 health and longevity ; and yet our courts 

 tell us, and the Department at Washington 

 tells us, that we have no laws to punish a 

 man for such malicious lying. They base 

 their falsehoods on the fact that Mr. Zeitlin 

 is actually living at 136 Lexington Avenue, 

 Brooklyn, N. Y. The worst thing about 

 these false statements is that many of the 

 editors put on a heading to suit themselves, 

 and this heading (or something additional 

 in the way of a footnote) many times seems 



to cast a slur or ridicule on the good men 

 who are battling against intoxicants and ci- 

 garettes among our children. 



collier's weekly and THE PATENT-MED- 

 ICINE BUSINESS. 



I suppose thousands of good people re- 

 joice to notice the bold and fearless way in 

 which Collier''s Weekly has held up and ex- 

 posed patent medicines that depend on 

 whisky, morphine, etc., for their pretended 

 help to the sick and suffering; but, like a 

 good many others, while I rejoice to see 

 these things held up to the full light of day 

 it gave me a big jolt to notice cigarettes ad- 

 vertised in the very same issue where they 

 exposed and held up the sins of other peri- 

 odicals, especially our religious journals. 

 If my opinion were asked I think I should 

 say that cigarettes are doing more damage, 

 especially to the youth of our land, than any 

 fake medicine extant. Another thing, there 

 is certainly much exaggeration in their se- 

 vere criticisms of our Christian papers. The 

 Christian Endeavor World has replied in a 

 very kind and Christianlike manner. I wish 

 to clip just one paragraph written by thj 

 publisher of the journal just mentioned: 



I believe, Mr. Editor, if you will go back over your 

 own files for the same period that Mr. Adams covers 

 in examining our issues, you will find in your own 

 columns not only patent medicine but also whisky, 

 beer, and cigarette advertising. 



Truly it behooves those who live in "'glass 

 houses" to be a little careful how they 

 "throw stones" indiscriminately. 



The religious periodicals, however, ought 

 not to be greatly troubled, especially when 

 they are not guilty. My dear old pastor, 

 Rev. A. T. Reed, used to say in his morn- 

 ing prayer, before he had preached his ser- 

 mon, ' O Lord, we thank thee for our ene- 

 mies, for they tell us of our faults when our 

 friends wouLi not dare to do it." While we 

 forgive the exaggeration, let us carefully ex- 

 amine the charge and see if at least a part 

 of it is not true. 



A suggestion to contributors. 

 We wish to offer a suggestion. When you 

 desii e to describe a process, method, or de- 

 vice, be sure that you make a clear, clean- 

 cut description, describing the process, meth- 

 od, or device, leaving all other explanatory 

 matter to be stated later. A short time ago 

 we read over a description of a process m 

 which the author interjected explanatory 

 matter at each step of the operation. When 

 we had finished reading the whole we had 

 to go over it a second and third time before 

 we could clearly separate the explanations 

 from the actual thing thatj was being de- 

 scribed. First describe the .hing itself brief- 

 ly, then repeat, putting in the explanations. 

 By so doing the reader has a birdseye view 

 at the start, and when he comes to the ex- 

 planations they serve to elucidate and not 

 confuse. 



