ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



123 



is not fit for the position — sit down on 

 him Hkewise. It is our duty as Ameri- 

 can citizens, and members of a grow- 

 ing institution, to select the very best 

 men and women that we have for our 

 official positions — persons who have 

 energy, and will put some push and life 

 into the pursuit in which they are en- 

 gaged and that which they represent. 

 If I were the Secretary of the Na- 

 tional Bee-Keepers' Association I would 

 feel it a duty to push the interests of 

 the Association everywhere possible; 

 and if I were President I should do the 

 same thing; but I am not electioneering. 

 I would not have an office in the As- 

 sociation, 



Mr. France — I want to say just a 

 word of explanation to Dr. Bohrer, and 

 for the benefit of some others, as I 

 was at the San Antonio convention. The 

 disturbance in the East is a good deal 

 like some ■ church choirs that I have 

 been in before now. Some wanted to 

 be heard, and because they couldn't be 

 heard just as they wanted to, they made 

 a little disturbance; but the choir kept 

 right on singing; and since the San An- 

 tonio meeting, 88 from New York State, 

 and 104 from Pennsylvania., have voted, 

 and sent their dues direct to the Na- 

 tional. [Applause]. And in the elec- 

 tion of the National, officers, of which 

 I have received returns it is quite nicely 

 divided up — the election of Mr. L. A. 

 Aspinwall, for President; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Geo. E. Hilton; Secretary, Jas. A. 

 Green; General Manager, N. E. France; 

 Directors, G. M. Doolittle, Jas. A. Stone 

 and R. A. Holekamp. You will notice 

 if you are going to draw the line on 

 bee-supply men, the majority of these 

 have handled supplies, more or less. 



Pres. York — Mr. Aspinwall and Mr. 

 Hilton are from Michigan; Mr. Green 

 is from Colorado; Mr.France from 

 Wisconsin; Mr. Stone from Illinois; 

 Mr. Doolittle from New York; and Mr. 

 Holekamp from Missouri. 



Dr. Bohrer — ^If they don't supply any- 

 thing else, they supply honey. 



Mr. Abbott — There has been a good 

 deal of agitation, and a good deal said 

 in certain bee-papers concerning various 

 fraudulent dealers. There are only 6 

 or 8 bee-supply manufacturing estab- 

 lishments in the United States, and prob- 

 ably 300 or 400 bee-supply dealers. I 

 think these gentlemen who make such 

 charges owe it to the bee-keepers as a 

 whole to mention names. If Mr. Root 



is a fraud we ought to know it. We 

 all know him pretty well, and we don't 

 think you can tell us anvi^hing new 

 about him. If Mr. Lewis is a fraud we 

 ought to know it. If the Falconer 

 Manufacturing Company is a fraud we 

 ought to know it, and so on around. 

 We know them personally^ and think 

 they are all right. We think they are 

 honest. We think 'they are honorable. 

 We think they are engaged in an hon- 

 orable, conservative, upright business, 

 offering wares that the bee-keepers seem 

 to want, for they are making their fac- 

 tories bigger and bigger all the time 

 every year, and if it were not for the 

 support of the bee-keepers of the United 

 States they could not afford to do it. 

 Now, if it is a crime to furnish people 

 something they want, whj^, then, these 

 people ought to be ostracized and ex- 

 cluded from associating with bee-keep- 

 ers. If it is not a crime, let us stop 

 all this nonsense about classes. The 

 more we talk about classes, the more 

 we divide humanity up into classes ; the 

 more we magnify the differences, the 

 more strife and contention we make. I 

 know a few of those New Yorkers wih 

 leave the National Association, but it 

 reminds me of a remark that Ralph 

 Waldo Emerson . made once when an Ad- 

 ventist was talking with him very ear- 

 nestly and enthusiastically to convince 

 him that his philosophy was wrong, and 

 that the world would surely come to an 

 end. Emerson in his quiet, quaint way — 

 and if you ever saw him you know he was 

 very quiet and very mild-spoken — 

 smiled, and Laid, "Well, what if it does? 

 It won't trouble me very much. Some- 

 how I think I can get along without 

 it." Somehow I think the National As- 

 sociation can get along without about 

 a half a dozen of those fellows, and if 

 they do not want to come in, why, the 

 world is as big outside as it is inside — 

 let them stay out. It seems from the re- 

 port of Mr. France that the majority 

 of them want to come in. There are 

 only a few of them in New York, and 

 if they can get along without the Na- 

 tional Association, and would rather not 

 be in it, the National Association isn't 

 going to die to accommodate them. It 

 is going to live right on, and not stop 

 breathing. 



Dr. Miller — It is not because these 

 men are rascals, as mentioned by Mr. 

 Abbott — it is not necessary to take any 

 such view as that. The resolution, if 



