THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



301 



and 1 last year not only voted for him but 

 publically urged his re-election. As years 

 and experience usually bring wisdom to a 

 man of ordinary intelligence, and as Mr. 

 France's position in life shows that he is 

 not below the average, I believe that he is 

 the logical successor to himself in the of- 

 fice he now holds. But for President, 1 

 and many others do not believe that Mr. 

 Hilton is the best m.an for the Presidency, 

 and solely because he is a supply dealer. 

 His interests are not those of the honey 

 producers and cannot be. Do you suppose 

 that if the National had not been domin- 

 ated by supply dealers that long ere this 

 the Society would have secured reduced 

 prices on many goods ? 



How heartily is a man going to work 

 for a measure which means lessened in- 

 come? Put it up to yourself. How mvch 

 initiative or how much aggressive work 

 will you put into a measure which will 

 lower the price you are to get for the 

 honey you have so laboriously secured in 

 Mich., or that will seriously cut the price 

 of the advertising in the Review or its 

 subscription ? We would consider you 

 more than simple so to do. and yet, as 

 honey producers, we are asked to put at 

 the head of our National body a man 

 whose interests lie in maintaining the 

 prices of all that the bee keepers use. 



You are constantly urging the keeping 

 of more bees, and to further that object 

 suppose you lend your aid to the men who 

 would like to follow your advice by les- 

 sening the cost of following it. The pro- 

 ducer's side is the opposite of the manu- 

 facturer's side. The former work for 

 lower cost of needed implements and sup- 

 plies while the latter work for higher 

 prices for the same things. Under such 

 natural conditions we are fools to elect a 

 supply dealer to the head of our organ- 

 ization and then expect to secure reduc- 

 tions. There are a good many simple 

 minded persons among bee-keepers as 

 evidenced by the way they have danced 

 attendance on every varying fad put forth 

 by the thrifty supply men and the clever 

 exploiters of new races of bees. But all 



are not so, as you have seen by the with- 

 drawal of the New York members. 

 Others, whose homes are farther apart, 

 and hence cannot so readily get together 

 for mutual aid, have seen fit to remain in 

 the body and work for its regeneration. 



To discredit an opponent is oft the 

 quickest way to make harmless his oppo- 

 sition, and so the opponents of the "N. B. 

 K. A. for Bee Keepers only" have put up 

 the cry that the advocates of such a policy 

 are assailing the character and integrity 

 of the supply men and their agents. It 

 was a clever ruse but it is losing its 

 power. 



As honey producers let us take and 

 keep control of the National Association 

 which in name is curs and is supposedly 

 for our protection and benefit. 



Providence, R. 1., Sept. 28, 1907. 



[For once Mr. Miller has taken up what 

 I deem a legitimate line of criticism, and 

 1 agree with him that oflficial documents 

 ought to contain no electioneering. Three 

 years ago the Board of Directors passed 

 a resolution or rule instructing the Gener- 

 al Manager to publish, in the bee journals 

 in August, d. call for a postal caid vote 

 for nominations of candidates for the sev- 

 eral offices to be filled at the next election, 

 and on October 1st the General Manager 

 and one other disinterested member 

 should count the votes, and the two persons 

 receiving the highest number of votes for 

 a certain oflfice should be the candidates 

 for that oflfice, and the results of that 

 vote should be published at once in the 

 bee journals. Instead of sending out a 

 call for this vote in August, sending it to 

 the bee journals, the General Manager 

 did not send it out until September 22nd, 

 and then in the form of a circular, instead 

 of to the bee journals. 



With his multiplicity of cares and duties, 

 and I can well understand how the Gen- 

 eral Manager might have overlooked the 

 sending out of the notice in August, and I 

 presume that the publishing of the notice 

 in a circular addressed to the members 

 carried out the sjMrit of the resolution, 

 but I think it would have been much bet- 



