Jan. 1. 



SUPPLEMENT TO Ci LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1893. 



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THE bee-keepers' UNION; A FEASIBLE METH- 

 OD PRESENTED FOR THROTTLING THE EVILS 

 RESU1,TING FROM THE ADULTERATION 

 OF HONEY. 



The following, from the General Manager of 

 the Bee-Keepers' Union, will explain it^eIf: 



For several iiidiitlis tlicrc lias been imu'li disciissioM 

 in tlie lii'i'-iit'iiiKlicaLs, about the Union assiiininji' 

 new functions. As no one is al)le to say wbetlu-r it 

 shall ()!• sliali not do so, it is now pioposed to submit 

 it to a vote. 



In order to act in a legitimate manner, here comes 

 a motion from one of the Vice-Presidents. It explains 

 itself: 

 •' Mk. Thos. G. Newman, 



General Manafii-r of the Bee-keev)ei's' Union: 



" I mo^■e j'oii that the scojietif tiie National Bei'- 

 keepers' Union be eidarjivd, so as to include prose- 

 cutions, lot)king- to tlie prevention of tlie adultera- 

 tion of honey. 



" Yours truly. A. J. Cook." 



This lias been seconded by Mr. Ernest K. Koot, 

 and supported by a numtier of other membeis. 



In order to submit it to the members, I have pre- 

 pared an amended Constitution, sulticiently bn)ad 

 lo allow of the proposed new functions and any 

 others which may Ik reafter come up. lt\estsin 

 the Advisory Board tlie power to act on any matter 

 in the interest of tlie pursuit of bee cultuie, pre- 

 sented to the Union for its action. In this way im- 

 mediate work can be done without waiting' lor a. 

 full vt)te of the membership. Of course, care must 

 be taken to put into ufiictt its best and most reliable 

 niembeis la good selection can be made from the 

 list of names attached \o this Report, and such only 

 aie eligible to oflice). 



I desire that this matter should receive due con- 

 sideration and would ask every member to vote. 

 Let there be no spaces unfilled when you return 

 the " Voting-Blank," to be exchanged for aMember- 

 ship Certiticate. 



The only changes in the Constitution submitted 

 are in Articles IV. and VI Pleaire road these care- 

 fully, and then vote FOR or AGAINST, as you deem 

 for the best interests of the Union, 



If the amended Constitution is adopted (it t ikes a 

 majority vole to do so), then the duties if liie 

 General Manager will l)e greatlj- enlaigod, and it is 

 nothing but j((.st that he should have a salary. 1 

 %NOuld suggest thatit be decidedto make that salary 

 :iu per cent of the gioss income of the Union for 

 each year — whatever that may be. 



Some have stated that it was a mi-stake not to 

 liave done this at the start, and perhaps it was. 

 This matter can, however, be adjusted now, audit 

 is therefore submitted to :i vote (r/icyi such salaiy 

 should commence. 



A little further on, the General .Manager 

 very modestly writes this: 



Now comes the most difficult part of my reiiort. T 

 have repeatedly stated that I ought to reiire, and 

 give place to a younger man, but the appeal comes 

 to me from .so many members not to think of such 

 a thing, at least for the present, that I ha\e called 

 a halt, — to let "feelings " consult with "judgment" 

 as to my duty in the matter. 



In order that the reader may act intelligent- 

 ly, we will review the situation: 



On page (UO of our issue for Aug. 1.5, Mr. J. F. 

 Mclntyre, having in view the extent to which 

 honey is now adulterated, expressed a wish that 

 bee-keepers, when they met in Washington, 

 would organize another union, for the express 

 purpose of lighting the evil. He believed that 

 sucn a union would have ten times the strength 

 of the ol'l one, becau.se they would all be inter- 

 ested in a matter that seemed to threaten the 

 very foundations of the honey industry. At the 

 time, it seemed to us it would be more feasible 

 and economical to modify the constitution of the 

 eristhif) Hee-keepers' Union, and this view was 



later shared by Prof. Cook, in the American 

 Bee Journal. The old Union has been a mag- 

 nificent success, and, under the old leadership 

 of Mr. Newman, we felt sure that, by enlarging 

 its scope a little, it would be able to do a ten- 

 fold greater and more important work. Bee- 

 keepers are vastly more interested in the anni- 

 hilation of the evils resulting from the adulter- 

 ation of honey, on account of which the price 

 of the honest product has gone down, so that 

 ten times the number would come foi'ward with 

 their dollars and sustain such a union. 



The old (or existing) LTnion. with its present 

 constitution protects its members only against 

 neighbors who force them into court by claim- 

 ing that their bees are a nuisance; and while it 

 has done a grand work in establishing valuable 

 precedents in law, its scope is so narrow that 

 very few bee-keepers, comparatively, think 

 they can aRoid to become members; for most 

 of them have such good neighbors of whom 

 they have no fears. VVhile there are a hundred 

 bee keepers who feel the need of protection 

 under the old constitution, there will be a 

 thousand who will come to the support of the 

 Union with its new constitution. 



WHY THE UNION WITH NEW FUNCTIONS IS 

 NECESSARY. 



.V few years ago adulteration was not prac- 

 ticed enough to make any special action on the 

 pait of bee-keepers necessary; but now that we 

 have had a series of four or five bad seasons, 

 the pure article has become very scarce, and 

 dishonest dealers have begun to piece it out, by 

 adding a certain per cent of glucose. In the 

 light of some facts that have come to our 

 knowledge, and which we are not at present in 

 position to set before the bee-keeping world, we 

 must admit that the evil is growing under our 

 inaction and silence, and will continue to grow, 

 unless bee-keepers wake up and take some defi- 

 nite and decisive action at once. The fact that 

 the price of honey fails to go up, in obedience 

 to the law of supply and demand, is significant; 

 and it seems to us that it is the duty of every 

 hce-keepcr, who depends largely upon the sale 

 or honey for his bread and butter, to enroll him- 

 self at once by the payment of a dollar, voting 

 "yes," and filling out the blank on the otlier 

 side; fold this sheet up and inclose it in an en- 

 velope and send it to Thos. (L Newman, 147 

 South Western Avenue. Chicago, HI. 



We have done in the past what we could to 

 warn those, whom we suspected of adulterating, 

 to be a little careful; but it was impossible to 

 do the effective work that a bee-keepers' union, 

 armed wiih a good salaried officer, and two or 

 three thousand dollars in its treasury, could do. 

 The mere fact that such a union was existing, 

 and that bee keepei'S would everywhere report 

 suspected cases to this union, would make the 

 business of adulterating exceedingly risky. 



With regard to the General Manager, we 

 would say that Thomas G. Newman is emphat- 

 ically the right man, and in view of the bril- 

 liant succe.ss of the old Union— and Mr. New- 

 man was its backbone and sinew — no one, we 

 feel sure, would think of voting for any one 

 eL>ie. 



Without wishing to disparage the capacity of 

 Mr. James Heddon, the President, we would 

 suggest that, as he is not of the legal fraternity, 

 the Hon. R. L. Taylor, a good lawyer and bee- 

 keeper, be elected in his place. While Mr. 

 Newman is possessed of good legal knowledge, 

 it will be of great advantage to him to be in 

 direct consultation with the next chief officer 

 of the Union. 



As to a salary of 20 per cent of the gross in- 

 come to the General Manager, it seems to us 

 there is nothing unreasonable in that. Good 

 men. to do good work, must be remunerated. 



