Jan. 17, 19C1. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



37 



The National Bee-Keepers' Association. 



General Manager Secor's 4th annual report was sent to 

 members of the Association last month with a votin^^-blank 

 for the election of three directors and general manager. 

 Mr. H. F. Moore and the Editor of the American Bee Journal 

 were selected as the committee to receive and count the bal- 

 lots. The result will likely be known in time for announce- 

 ment next week. 



In order that General Manager Secor's report may have 

 a wider circulation we give it here: 



FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE GENHRAL MANAGER OF THE 

 NATIONAL BEE-KEEPEKS' ASSOCIATION. 



Forest City, Iowa, Dec. 11, 1900. 

 Fellow Members: — At the last annual election of general 

 manager and directors, Dec, 1899, the question of uniting 

 the two National societies was submitted to the members of 

 both organizations, and the new constitution, which slightly 

 changed the name of our society, was ratified and endorst 

 by a large majority of both old societies. It is therefore 

 gratifying to report that what some thought to be two rival 

 associations with similar aims have united, and the increast 

 interest augurs well for the now-named "National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association." 



There is no doubt about the usefulness of such an or- 

 ganization, if properly managed. The question of its effi- 

 ciency under the present management is pertinent, and ev- 

 ery member may rightfully express his confidence or his 

 criticism by his vote, or in any other proper way. The 

 present manager does not pretend that his judgment is in- 

 fallible or that the efficiency of the organization can not be 

 increast by other management than his own. But this 

 much he does claim — to have honestly and faithfully dis- 

 charged the duties imposed to the best of his abilily. 



The board of directors and all other officers of the As- 

 sociation have heartily cooperated with the general mana- 

 ger in the business in hand, and therefore entire harmony 

 prevails, so far as this writer is informed. 



The kind and appreciative words received from time to 

 time from members of the Association and friends gener- 

 ally are prized beyond compare. They are like sweet flow- 

 ers found in desert places where one expects nothing but 

 the hard thorns of bitter opposition. It is easy to labor 

 when one is cheered on by encouraging words. 



I have not in every instance been able to help those who 

 have appealed to me. Some cases have been too hard. For 

 example, it is not possible to collect a bad debt if the debtor 

 is bankrupt and execution-proof, with no disposition to pay. 

 Dishonest honey-dealers will sometimes evade their debts 

 and escape punishment just as a thieving bank-teller will 

 occasionally squander the savings of depositors and go 

 scot-free. The suggestion is here emphasized that it is bet- 

 ter to look up the financial rating of every man who buys 

 honey, and the honesty of every commission man, before 

 making a consignment, rather than try to recover a bad 

 debt hastily accepted. 



THE CASE OF UTTER VS. UTTER. 

 Several months ago, in the County of Orange, New 

 York, two brothers fell out, the one a grower of peaches 

 and the other a bee-keeper and member of this Association. 

 The peach-growing Utter sued the bee-keeping Utter before 

 a Justice of the Peace, and askt for damages done to plain- 

 tiff's peach-orchard by defendant's bees. The case was 

 tried, and after a good deal of damaging evidence was intro- 

 duced by the plaintiff, and astounding revelations as to what 

 bees could do and did to those peaches were heard, the learned 

 judge decided against the bee-keeper and assest him $25 

 and costs. While there was a lack of coinpctenl evidence 

 that the bees were guilty as charged, it seems that the fruit- 

 growers had the sympathy of the court. 



The case was sensationally written up by reporters and 

 the matter was given wide circulation thru many papers. 

 The coloring given to it was generally against the bee- 

 keepers. 



The Rural New Yorker, however, used its influence to 

 show that bees are not guilty of injuring sound fruit. But 

 aletterfrom its editor, besides communication from many 

 bee-keepers, convinced me of the alarm that was felt if this 

 decision were left unchallenged. If that case could be 

 quoted in the future it was feared that other bee-keepers 

 might suffer. The general manager, therefore, with the 

 concurrent judgment of a majority of the board of direc- 

 tors, ordered the case appealed to the county court, and it is 



proposed there to try the case over again on its merits, with 

 enough expert witnesses to get the facts before the jury. 



As the brother who was the defendant in this case is a 

 poor man, and, as in the judgment of the general mana- 

 ger, the matter was one which had to be fought out sooner 

 or later in the interest of truth and justice, he pledged $100 

 toward a favorable verdict. The Association will be obliged 

 also to pay the expenses of several expert witnesses while 

 attending the trial. The results can not be ascertained in 

 time to go into this report. 



BEES AND HORTICULTURE. 



During the past year the general manager has compiled 

 and publisht a twelve-page pamphlet showing the value of 

 bees as poUenizers and fruit-producers. This was thought 

 to be necessary because there is so muchignorance on the 

 part of orchardists relating to the work done by insects in 

 their interests. Spraying is becoming more and more com- 

 mon. When to spraj- and what preparations to use are 

 shown, quoting competent authorities. Laws of several of 

 the States in relation to spraying are also quoted. 



This pamphlet has been forwarded to several members 

 who feared trouble from neighbors who threatened to spray 

 with poisonous substances while trees were in full bloom, 

 and it is hoped and believed that this timely publication has 

 had some educating influence, because no reports have come 

 to this office of damage done to bees by spraying where it 

 was distributed. It has always been my policy to try to 

 prevent law suits rather than to win them. If by educa- 

 ting the people we can make good neighbors — neighbors 

 who respect each other's rights — it is better than winning 

 victories at the end of bitter legal battles. 



The above pamphlet was sent to several agricultural 

 and horticultural journals and in every instance was favor- 

 a'oly noticed. 



THE FIGHT FOR PURE HONEY IN 1899. 



It will be remembered that the Association put up a 

 fight against adulterated honey in Chicago last year. A 

 statement of this matter was in my last annual report. 

 While the outcome of the suit was not satisfactory to us at 

 the time, later developments seem to point to the fact that 

 it had a wholesome influence. The following extracts 

 trom Gleanings of Sept. IS, 1900, may be of sufficient inter- 

 est to warrant copying here. It is as follows: 



"At the Chicago convention we had the pleasure of 

 hearing Prof. E. N. Eaton, chemist, and Commissioner A. 

 H. Jones, of the Illinois State Pure-Food Commission. 

 Both of the gentlemen exprest themselves as being highly 

 pleased to meet so representative a body of bee-keepers as- 

 sembled for the purpose of discussing ways and means for 

 putting down the adulteration of honey. They told of the 

 work they had already begun ; how they had compelled the 

 dealers thruout Chicago (the very hotbed of adulteration 

 only a few months ago) to sell all food products under their 

 legitimate and real names. Samples of honey mixtures 

 were brought in, showing in some cases the word 'pure' ? had 

 been crost out by the dealer, and the word 'imitation' in 

 plain letters had been written in its place to conform to a 

 recent law enacted at a session of their last legislature. All 

 kinds of honey mixtures, imitation honey, glucosed honeys, 

 if they are sold at all, have either been relabeled or else the 

 word 'pure' has been scratcht out and the word 'imitation' in 

 bold letters put in its stead. 



"It will be remembered that the United States Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association, under the direction of General Manager 

 Secor, and thru the personal efforts of George W. York and 

 Herman F. Moore, (a well-known honey-man and an at- 

 torney I, gathered up, a year or so ago, a number of samples 

 of bogus honey. These were placed before the city prose- 

 cutor, and certain suits were begun against the vendors of 

 the samples. It created quite a furore among the dealers, 

 for the Chicago papers were full of the matter for the time 

 being ; and altho the first suit resulted in a verdict of "not 

 guilty" for one of the parties on a queer sort of technicality 

 before the justice, the result of this prosecution, while ap- 

 parently a failure, was a far greater success than the Asso- 

 ciation could have hoped for in twenty years. How ? Both 

 Prof. Eaton and Commissioner Jones stated before the con- 

 vention that the suits begun by the United States Bee- 

 keepers' Association made such a stir in the city that it 

 helpt in no small degree toward the enactment of the new 

 law now in force atid being enforced." 



I wish to acknowledge the hearty co-operation of the 

 Division of Entomology, Department of Agriculture. Mr. 

 Frank Benton, assistant in the Division, has rendered valu- 

 able service by replying ably to enquiries directed to the 



