l.tiJ!J BEE-KEEFERS' REVIEW. 



41 



which can easily be done by one, we pro- 

 pose a consolidation of our two Societies, 

 for the purpose of creating a closer ' bond 

 of union ' between apiarists, and saving 

 them the extra expense of membership in 

 two bodies in order to yain the benefits and 

 advantages one can bestow, " etc. 



The above, with the added intention of 

 prosecuting the adulterators of honey and 

 dishonest honey commission men, was the 

 aim of those engaged in formulating, and 

 adopting the constitution at Lincoln, and 

 to me, and to scores of other bee-keepers, it 

 seems to be very much more complete and 

 congruous than does the constitution of the 

 N. B. K. U. Provision is made for a special 

 line of work that the N. U. has failed to 

 attempt. It has done splendid service in a 

 certain line, and the General Manager and 

 Advisory Board are to be, and are, most 

 heartily commended for the efficient work 

 they have done. 



But we begun at the wrong end of the 

 matter. The work done by the N. U. is 

 insignifficant to what it is proposed to do in 

 working under the constitution of the 

 United States Bee Keepers' Union. Had 

 the thousands of dollars that have been 

 spent in protecting a few bee-keepers in 

 their right to keep bees in cities and villa- 

 ges, and in helping to prevent a man from 

 getting damages from a neighbor whose 

 bees he claimed caused his sheep to starve 

 to death, had this money been used in the 

 line of preventing the adulteration of hon- 

 ey, as the United States' Union proposes to 

 do. every bee-keeper on this continent would 

 have been benefited, and the cry of adulter- 

 ated honey would, long ago, have ceased, 

 and many thousands of dollars would have 

 been saved to the producers of honey. 



In to day's American Bee .Tournal, Dr. 

 Millard of California, says " I expect to be- 

 come a member of the United States Bee- 

 Keepers' Union, amalgamation or not, be- 

 cause we need that especial Hue of work 

 looked after, and I feel, with the able 

 hands at the head, good work can and will 

 be done, and not require any great amount 

 of money, either. But work for a law 

 against adulteration * * * then make 

 use of it, by collecting evidence and letting 

 the public prosecufurs do the work. The 

 Union should 'stand to' antZ see that it is 

 done, and a few cases will 'settle their 

 bash. ' ( Italics mine. ) 



The doctor hits the nail on the head. 

 Some of the states have laws against adulter- 

 ation, Ohio among them, and the state offi- 

 cers will gladly do the prosecuting, and "foot 

 the bills, " but the Union proposes to, and 

 will, help them. 



To protect a bee-keeper in his right to 

 keep bees in one city or villiage in a thous- 

 and, is a good thing, but to protect thous- 

 ands of honey producers, and hundreds of 

 thousands, and perhaps millions of people 

 in the same territory, against the adnltera- 

 tion of Nature's most precious sweet, hon- 

 ey, is a much gooder thing, and as 10(j of the 

 282 members of the N. U, have voted not to 

 attempt this commendable work, the United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Union, I doubt not, will 

 proceed to occupy the field that has been so 

 long neglected. 



If all who think as Dr. Millard does, and 

 who really have an interest in the work, 

 would send their membership fee to the U. 

 S. B. K. Union., there would be no lack of 

 funds with which to prosecute honey adul- 

 terators, and dishonest honey commission 

 men, and soon make the cry of "adulter- 

 ated honey " a thing of the past. 



Every one who produces honey to sell is 

 directly interested in the success of of this 

 undertaking. 



Sta. B., Toledo, O. Feb. 19, 1897. 



[ It is true, as friend Mason says, that I 

 have worked long, and faithfully, unselfish- 

 ly, and hopefully, for the amalgamation of 

 these two societies, and now, after two years 

 of work, when the matter had finally been 

 put in good shape for a union of the two 

 organizations under a new constitution, the 

 measure has been defeated : but I still be- 

 lieve that we will eventually have only one 

 National Society of bee-keepers in this coun- 

 try, and I still furthur believe that had the 

 members of the National Union fully un- 

 derstood everything connected with this 

 matter, and it had been properly submitted 

 to them, we should now have had only one 

 Society. 



Although 1 have said it before, it may do 

 no harm to repeat it, that the old Union has 

 done good work, but its work in that spe- 

 cial line is practically finished, and instead 

 of taking up the new line of work for which 

 the constitution was specially changed five 

 years ago. not the first stroke has been done 

 in that direction. It is true, as Bro. Mason 

 says, that the honey adulterators and die- 



