STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 465 



In regard to the surety upon the bond, there should in all cases 

 be at least one surety, and whether you will require more than 

 one will depend upon whether, in your judgment, the principal 

 and one surety offered render the bond perfectly good. 

 I have the honor to be 



Very respectfully yours, 



Moses E. Clapp, 



Attorney General. 



H. A. Johns, of the Sioux City Nursery and Seed Co., writ- 

 ing from Sioux City, Iowa, under date of Mar. 30, 1887, to the 

 Secretary of State in reference to the requirements of the a,ct, 

 says: ''I desire you to call the attention of the Attorney General 

 to the fact that we sell direct to the farmers in the nursery busi- 

 ness the same as we do the Minnesota merchants in the seed busi- 

 ness, aul all pirties who S3U are simply wjrkiug for us direct, 

 and I feel confident that with as liberal a ruling as he can 

 make will conduce to all conforming to the requirements of the 

 law. As we, and not our hired men, are the responsible parties, I 

 think if we give bond and furnish to each man a copy, it will be 

 right and save us a great inconvenience. ' ' 



This letter being referred to Attorney General Clapp, elicits 

 the following reply: 



Attorney General's Office, 



St. Paul, Minn., April 1, 1887. 



Hon. H. Mattson, Secretary of State. 



Dear Sis: The communication of H. A. Johns, treasurer of 

 Sioux City Nursery Co., received. I do not see how I can give 

 the construction asked for. While the law may be oppressive, 

 and I would be inclined to mitigate its severity by liberal con- 

 struction, still I can not ignore the plain language of the law. 



If the company employs persons in this State to sell their 

 stock, such persons are the agents of the company and must each 

 give the bond required. 



It is true that the company is the responsible party, and had 

 the law-making power been content to take that view, it would 

 have been sufficient. Ofiicers whose duty it is to administer the 

 law cannot assume to say what would have been sufficient as a 

 law, but must take the law as the law-making power has left it. 

 59 



