264 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



April 26, 1900 



PUBLISHT WEEKLY BY 



GEORGE W. York & Company, 



118 Michigan Street, Chicago, III. 



[Entered at the Post-Office at Chicago as Second-Class Mail-Matter.] 

 EDITOR: 



DEPARTMENT EDITORS: 



Dr. C. C. miller, E. E. HASTY, 



" Questions and Answers." * * '* The Afterthought." 



LEADING CONTRIBUTORS: 



G. M. DooLiTTLE, C. P. Dadant, Pbof. a. J. Cook, 



F. A. Snell, R. C. Aikin, "Old Grimes." 



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VOL 40. 



APRIL 26, 1900. 



NO. 17. 



Note— The American Bee Journal adopts the Onhogrraphy of the follow- 

 ing Rule, recommended bv the joint action of the American Philolog-- 

 ical Association and the'Philolog-ical Society of England: — Change 

 "d" or "ed" final to "t" when so pronounced, except when the "e" af- 

 fects a preceding sound. Also some other changes are used. 



The Brosius Pure.Food Bill.— Rev. Emerson T. Ab- 

 bott, we learn from the St. Joseph (Mo.) Daily Gazette, has 

 been appointed a member of the legislative committee of 

 the National Pure Food and Drug Congress. Mr. Abbott's 

 duties will consist in creating sentiment and bringing in- 

 fluence to bear on the members of the United States con- 

 gress from Missouri in favor oi the Brosius pure-food bill. 

 He was appointed by J. E. Blackburn, president of the Pure 

 Food and Drug Congress, upon the recommendation of Dr. 

 H. W. Wiley, and after consultation with the secretary and 

 assistant secretary of agriculture. Mr. Abbott has been 

 signally honored, and will undoubtedly give a good account 

 of himself, as he is an earnest advocate of pure-food legis- 

 lation. It is also a splendid thing for honey-producers to 

 have such an able representative, and one of their own 

 number, besides. We trust that Mr. Abbott will have the 

 hearty co-operation of all in his work. 



Later. — Since the foregoing was written we have re- 

 ceived a copy of a letter which Mr. Abbott has addrest to 

 the two Missouri members of the Inter-State Commerce 

 Committee, in whose hands the " Brosius Bill " is at the 

 present time : 



St. Joseph, Mo., April 16, 1900. 



Mv De.\r Sir : — I have been appointed by the Na- 

 tional Pure Food and Drug Congress a member of the Leg- 



islative Committee, whose duty it is to look after the inter- 

 ests and urge the passage of the measure which is endorst 

 by the Food Congress, and known as the " Brosius Bill." 

 This bill is now before the committee of which I believe 

 j'ou have the honor to be a member, and I desire to urge 

 upon you the importance of giving it your hearty support, 

 and also the importance of doing what you can to secure an 

 early and favorable report on the same by your committee. 

 It seems to me that the '" Brgsius Bill " should have the un- 

 qualified support of every man who believes in common 

 honesty and the right of a purchaser to get the thing for 

 which he pays his money when he makes a purchase. I do 

 not believe that any one who manufactures or deals in 

 adulterated goods will have the temerity to deny the propo- 

 sition that when a man pays his money for an article he is 

 entitled to know fully what he is getting in return for his 

 monej'. This being true, every article of commerce should 

 be plainly and clearly labeled in a manner that will fully 

 explain what it is, and the manufacturer should be held 

 responsible to society and the purchaser if any article does 

 not prove to be in every respect what it claims to be. This 

 is all that the "Brosius Bill " asks, and without any dispo- 

 sition to reflect on other bills now asking for recognition 

 at the hands of the national law-makers, I desire to say 

 that, in my opinion, this is one of its strong points. We 

 are not asking in the " Brosius Bill" that any legitimate 

 industrj' be destroyed, or even hampered, but only what 

 common honesty between man and man demands. 



You will find it necessary to contend with two adverse 

 influences in your attempt to aid this measure in becoming 

 a law, viz.: the opposition of a class of people who think 

 the " Brosius Bill " is not drastic enough, and does not pro- 

 tect " our industry " enough — a selfish motive ; and another 

 class of people who want to secure the monej- of their fel- 

 low men by dishonest methods, and therefore are opposed 

 to any kind of pure-food legislation. 



As to the first influence, I call your attention to the 

 fact that the " Brosius Bill " has the unqualified endorse- 

 ment of the National Pure Food and Drug Congress, which, 

 as you are probably aware, is composed of representative 

 men of nearly all of the productive industries of the United 

 States — men who are not influenced by any selfish motives, 

 and who only ask that the present generation, and the gen- 

 erations who are yet to come after them, be protected from 

 fraud and deceit. The bill also has the endorsement of the 

 present Secretary of Agriculture, whose good judgment 

 and disinterested enthusiasm for the peoples' interests 

 along these lines is not questioned by even his political 

 •opponents. As to the other opposition, I feel quite sure it 

 will have no influence with you, as I am convinced that you 

 recognize the fact that evil-doers should have nothing to 

 do with shaping the laws of our great nation. 



I am sanguine that this bill will have the endorsement 

 of most, if not all, of the congressmen from our State, and 

 that it will have the heartj' support of the majority of the 

 members of the House when it comes before them. There- 

 fore, I again urge upon you, in conclusion, the importance 

 of giving your influence to a favorable report by your com- 

 mittee at an early date. Trusting you will give this matter 

 the attention its importance demands, I am, sir. 

 Very truly yours, 



Emekson Taylor Abbott, 



Member Lenidalliie Cummillee. Xaliunul Pure Fuud and Druij Congress. 



It is Mr. Abbott's intention to get a copy of the fore- 

 going letter into the hands of each congressman from Mis- 

 souri. He feels very certain that if all bee-keepers in the 

 country would take the matter up at once and write a letter 

 something like the one above, Jo each of their congress- 

 men, the " Brosius Bill " would soon be a law. 



If there is any one thing above another that we as bee- 

 keepers should be deeply interested in, it is that of securing 

 and enforcing anti-adulteration laws. Let us all bring 

 every honorable effort and influence possible to bear in 

 this matter, in order that honesty and the right may prevail. 



" Bees and Horticulture : Their Relations Mutual " is 

 the title of a 12-page pamphlet just issued by the National 

 Bee-Keepers' Association, and edited by General Manager 

 Eugene Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, from whom a copy 

 may be had free on application. 



As stated, " the purpose of the pamphlet is to put into 



