192 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



no one journal is the only one that goes into 

 the hands of its readers — that any one is 

 only supplemental to one or more others. 

 This need not i)revent any editor from mak- 

 ing his i^aper the best of all if he can, while 

 it would allow, yes, compel him to put him- 

 self and all he is worth into it. 



Allow me to say, friend H., that you are a 

 severely practical man, and you make a pa- 

 per that, as a practical one, is jjor crceUcnce. 

 You will never lack for patrons who will 

 stand by you cheek and jowl ; but not every 

 intelligent reader would have that woman's 

 would-be-funny account of her troubles in 

 clipping a queen's wing omitted. If an ed- 

 itor is disposed to cater to the wants of such 

 readers, let him — you need not. I venture 

 neither of you will suffer in the end. 



So far this essay has been a plea for the 

 journals as they are, and I will now touch 

 briefly upon some of the points you men- 

 tion. I agree with you in regard the charac- 

 ter of advertisements that are to be admit- 

 ted. I would have my pai)er stopped when 

 the subscription expires. I know of only 

 one argument against an editor dealing in 

 supplies, and that is, as you say, he gains 

 the confidence of his readers — they fall in 

 love with him, so to speak — and they are 

 often unduly influenced by him. The con- 

 sequence is they often get a lot of hives or 

 something which they find out later they do 

 not want. How I did want $r)0 once that I 

 might invest iir a certain hive, and how 

 glad I have been since that I had it not. 



As to appearance, the Review is particu- 

 larly neat but not attractive. Plain speak- 

 ing isn't it ? The typography is good, but 

 there is one thing lacking — a cover. Could 

 you not make the extra pages of advertising 

 space on a cover pay for it ? 



Now one thing more. Thank you for your 

 words concerning compensation to contrib- 

 utors. The biggest share of all 1 have writ- 

 ten has been voluntary. Whether solicited 

 to write or not, I aim to do my best. Any 

 one who sincerely desires to excel will do 

 that. But I feel more like doing my best 

 when I hope to get pay for it. I certainly 

 do not believe that any one interested in his 

 subject writes with any less merit when he 

 expects pay. 



Mechanicsbukg, 111., Nov. .5, 18'J0. 



Let Bee Journals be Bee Journals Only, — Most 



Journals Started to Advertise Supplies, — 



Let Subscribers Pay in Advance, — 



Keep Out Impractical Writers. 



.JAMES HEDDON, 



MS usual, Mr. Editor, you have gone 

 all over the ground and made pretty 

 nearly all the points, taken the thun- 

 der right out of our mouths, in your 

 leader before we could say boo on the sub- 

 ject. There is no doubt in my mind but 

 that you are pretty nearly right in your ideas 

 of bee journalism, and the best evidence of 

 it is the kind of a journal you make. It is 



just the kind l prefer. Yes, sir, let us have 

 our bee journals separate and independent 

 from all. other subjects. How graphically 

 you have described my method of reading a 

 bee journal, and oft times I go through one, 

 confident that I have every point of value to 

 me, in less than fifteen minutes time. Yes, 

 by all means, let us have the author's name 

 right under the head of the article, as the 

 question of " who wrote it " has very much 

 to do with what we maij find in the latter 

 part of it when we have not glanced it all 

 through. 



Now, then, what you say about short arti- 

 cles. I think right to the point. True, there 

 are many times when brevity would add 

 value to long articles on a subject which 

 does not demand length, but there are many 

 subjects connected with our pursuit which 

 to abbreviate in discussing, would ruin. Of 

 all the "twaddle " that I have found in any 

 class of journalism, I have seen most in our 

 own, and it will be many years yet, no 

 doubt, before a first class journal will be 

 appreciated by the large majority of readers, 

 over one of the "twaddle" variety. There 

 are too many " twaddlers " among the read- 

 ers of bee journals. 



There is no doubt in my mind but that the 

 object of advertising supplies has given 

 birth to nearly every bee journal which has 

 been started in this country. I know it was 

 not the case with your own, and if I remem- 

 ber correctly, neither was it with the old 

 Auierican Bee Journal, although I am not 

 sure, because that journal is older than my 

 knowledge of the business. As for myself, 

 I will say that I prefer to take a journal 

 whose editor is not interested in bee keep 

 ers' supplies, and for more reasons than 

 one, most of which you mention in your 

 leader. 



I have to smile at what you say about cash 

 payment by subscribers. You know I am 

 the publisher and proprietor of a weekly 

 local newspaper. I have studied this sub- 

 scription question carefully. I have read 

 about it in journals devoted to journalism, 

 heard essays read at our conventions, and 

 my opinion is that if all would do it, it 

 would l)e best for both publishers and read- 

 ers, if every editor charged cash in advance 

 and stopi)ed his paper the moment the time 

 expired for which it was paid. This is the 

 metropolitan method of doing business, and 

 I believe the best. You speak about the 

 man who, while he cannot remit all, might 

 remit a part. What do you think about a 

 part of fifty cents, the price of your paper ? 

 The man who cannot remit it all must be 

 financially — and I was going to say " coru- 

 mon-sensibly "—below anything and every- 

 thing, which can make one fit to appreciate 

 any kind of a paper. I know just what it is 

 to be awful poor. I began life with a fam- 

 ily, just forty-five dollars worse off than 

 nothing, and have had a fifty cent piece look 

 just as large to me as it possibly could to 

 any man. ( )ne rule I always made, and that 

 was to run in debt in large chunks. I never 

 let any bill come to maturity. No one ever 

 drew upon me through the bank. I always 

 paid all exchange and paid all debts before 

 due, and when I could not do it without 



