142 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Feb. 25, 1904. 



was, and in part it has been a success, but largely a failure, 

 from the fact that when we have a poor crop we won't say 

 anything, and won"t tell of it; and when we get a good crop 

 sometimes we are a little — not only anxious to tell it, but 

 some way it enlarges as it goes on, until the product seems 

 to be immense. To overcome that partially, I believe it is 

 possible through the National Association ; it could bear the 

 expense. The membership ought to know at least twice dur- 

 ing the year what the bee-keepers of the whole United 

 States are doing. We ought to know what States have 

 produced an immense crop and what parts have little or 

 nothing. We ought to know about what the price will be, 

 and instead of — as Mr. Muth and some others have men- 

 tioned — throwing an immense amount of honey upon one 

 market, as has been done in Chicago, while other cities have 

 gone without, we ought to have some equalizer, through, 

 perhaps, this National Association, so that we would know 

 better. I have tried over my own State, while inspecting 

 diseased bees, to check sending the surplus of honey on the 

 Chicago market. Other places have been suggested, where 

 they have found far better prices. It is not always advisable 

 to crowd to the great centers with our product, because it does 

 not stay there, it has to go out. The first question asked by 

 the Reception Committee in California when we got off the 

 train was, "How are the Dakotas, Minnesota, the iron and 

 copper districts of Michigan and Wisconsin for a honey 

 market?" It was rather a stunner to me what California 

 wanted to know anything about that for ; but, through coopera- 

 tion, they had a salesman who was ready to go at a moment's 

 notice to sell honey in car-loads, and he did go immediately 

 after that convention, and he went right up into that coun- 

 try. He was investigating. 



There's another side to what this National is doing that 

 I rather regret bringing up, in one sense of the word, that is, 

 there is a tendency, because we are strong in numbers, to 

 impose upon brothers and neighbors with our bees. Some 

 have done so, that could have been avoided, and had they 

 not belonged to the Association they would not have tolerated 

 what they have, and the boast has been made, "Oh, well, 

 my bees have bothered, or if they do bother in your vine- 

 yards, as they do in California and some of the fruit dis- 

 tricts, you will have to put up with it. I belong to an Asso- 

 ciation that will soon be 2,000 strong, and you dare not face 

 it." I have had to settle by correspondence and legislation 

 between .30 and 40 lawsuits in the short time I have been 

 in office — a part of a year. It is not a credit to our Associa- 

 tion, in one sense, that we have had that number of con- 

 flicts. I do say we have not lost a case as yet, although 

 there are two turned against us, but the appeals of these 

 look very favorable to our side; but almost all of these 

 could have been avoided. I wanted to make a brief of each 

 of those in my Annual Report, but I am sorry that, for the lack 

 of time, it could not have been done. One member wrote me 

 and criticised, saying, "Don't, under any conditions, if you 

 make a report of them, say anything in regard to my case. 

 It brings me personally out before the members of the Asso- 

 ciation, and I am really ashamed of the condition in which 

 I have been, and you. through the Association, have pro- 

 tected^ me and got me on my feet— just keep my name out 

 of it." So I have refrained from it, treating all as nearly 

 alike as possible, and in various cases I have simply men- 

 tioned the locality, and not named the parties, the same as 

 I do in regard to foul brood. There is something about 

 the bee-keepers partially unjust, that is, to retain these trou- 

 bles after they are corrected. 



I am in hopes that we may, not far distant, have some- 

 thmg that will have a tendency to help on this subject of 

 marketing honey. The Association can do in many ways 

 what individuals cannot. I remember it wasn't many years 

 ago when this question of reduced freight-rate on shipping 

 of honey Was up. All honey went under the same class 

 whether it was comb or extracted honev. We all had to pav 

 a high rate of freight. There was a committee to go before 

 the railroad people to see if we could'not get a reduction 

 It tailed because it was not strong enough. It had been 

 renewed and failed. Then more of an organization took it 

 up, and got somewhat of a reduction. Through coopera- 

 tion, in the West, they can ship honey from California to 

 Colorado at much cheaper freight-rate than they could if it 

 were not for their cooperative work. Now there is a possi 

 bihty ahead that the National may secure something in that 

 line. There IS, as I said, a possibility that the Members of 

 the Association can get their supplies, what are necessary at' 

 somewhat of a reduction. 



There was a case which possibly it might be well enough 

 to call your attention to. Some years ago the trouble arose, 

 in Canada, and was not settled. It was partially a local 

 affair, but from the fact that we had so many other things on 

 hand our former General Manager was partially compelled 

 at the time being to ignore it, and it passed over until I be- 

 came General Manager. I found the conditions were these: 



There were over there between 20 and 30 members in 

 the National Association, with a lot that wanted to join if 

 they could see there was any advantage to it, and one of 

 rheir number, who belonged to the .Association, had been in 

 Court, and had borne the expense, partially, and their bee- 

 inspector had gone into his own pocket and borne out the 

 rest, rather than see the bee-keeper beaten in a iust and hon- 

 est cause. They applied to me to know if the National Asso- 

 ciation cared enough about Canadian people to protect its 

 members. I said, "Yes, so long as the Canadian members 

 are a part of us, we think just as much of them on that 

 side as on this, in any suit. We are going to show no par- 

 tiality." 



"That being the case," they replied, "we have had a 

 lawsuit, and there has been a considerable expense, and the 

 members of the Canadian Association feel that you ought 

 to bear a part of it." 



I referred the matter to the Board, and got an order to 

 make settlement with the member. The result was they had 

 a convention in a short time, and we had something like 60 

 additional members. They have had another meeting lately, 

 which I have not had a report from, but I am satisfied there 

 will be a large number more increase from that. 



In Texas, a little while before our National Convention 

 in Los Angeles, there was trouble at San ^A.ntonio. Two 

 little boys living on a city lot adjoining one of our mem- 

 ber's apiaries, took it into their heads to have a little fun, 

 so when they would go by the bee-hives they would either 

 hit the hives with clubs, or would throw stones or some- 

 thing which would jar and interefere with and trouble 

 those bees, and they would then hide and watch the passers- 

 by, and have the fun of it. That thing was tolerated for two 

 weeks, and nobody entered any complaint until one of the 

 boys got an eye swollen shut. 



Now, the boy's father was working for the city, and he 

 immediately applied to the mayor to have the bees declared 

 a nuisance and moved out of the city. There was sym- 

 pathy, of course, and the case came up and the bees were 

 ordered out. But unfortunately there were a whole lot of 

 other bee-keepers in San Antonio, and when one apiary went, 

 all the others would have to go. We have a representative 

 on our Board of Directors there, so I turned the case over 

 to Mr. Toepperwein to take care of it. Through the sug- 

 gestions of the members of the Board he has carried that 

 case. It went into Court, and the Judge decided that there 

 is no law in Texas, or in other lands, forbidding the keep- 

 ing of bees in the city, and we won the case. But we could 

 not have done that if we had not had a man on the ground. 

 And when it came in Court we had present all the bee-keep- 

 ers from the City of San Antonio, who owned bees in the 

 city — like so many bees that had been dropped in the hive. 

 There were 121 bee-keepers of San Antonio standing there 

 in Court, buzzing mad, ready to fight. It meant something. 

 He could not have won if he had not been a member of the 

 Association. 



We want these protections ; but let us not aggravate 

 troubles and thus bring them on unnecessarily. To avoid that 

 I sent out over 4,000 copies to the members and to those 

 who have been bringing complaint, of the little leaflets, 

 "What the Courts Say," and the other one, "Bees and Horti- 

 culture." It has been a help, and if there is any one page that to 

 me, in all of them, is dearer than any of the others, it is one 

 of the last pages in the leaflet, "To the City Bec-Keeper." 

 If the city bee-keepers — and it includes a large number of 

 our members — would heed the warnings therein it would 

 save us many dollars that we might use to spread out in 

 literature or in some other way that would be an advantage to the 

 members of the Association. For instance, soon after going out 

 of their winter quarters, the city bee-keeper's bees — the charge 

 will be brought by the wholesale ne.xt spring of bees soiling 

 the clothes on the wash-line. You know what it means when 

 they are taken out from the cellar, and it is quite an annoy- 

 ance to the neighljors adjoining these city apiaries. I have 

 suggested remedies — not a cure, but a help for it — that if 

 you know the day that your neighbor is to wash clothes, and 

 your bees are just going out, just delay putting those bees 

 out until after wash-day, so that they may have the balance 



