76 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



March, 



Association label is given an official 

 number, which, with the producer's 

 name and address, appears thereon, 

 and complaint, as to the contents of 

 package, in case of dissatisfaction, is 

 to be made to the general manager of 

 the Association. Black, red, yellow 

 and gold on white ground constitutes 

 the color combination, which is a 

 great improvement on the first ef- 

 fort. (H.) 



Mr. W. W. McNeal, Wheelersburg, 

 Ohio, writes that his bees, in" winter 

 quarters, were seriously menaced by 

 the recent floods, but that he succeed- 

 ed in saving all but two colonies. 



A JAP'S ESSAY ON ANTS. 



Mr. Geo. W. Adams in a recent let- 

 • ter refers to Lafcadio Hearn's essay 

 on "Ants" as follows: "It is written 

 from his Japanese standpoint and I 

 found it not only amusing but pro- 

 vocative of serious thought through- 

 out all its humor. He calls attention 

 to the fact of their (alleged) absolute 

 moral rectitude and that the name in 

 Japanese is "Avi," which most curi- 

 ously is written in the ideograph by 

 combining the sign for "insect" with 

 that of "moral rectitude," so the writ- 

 ten name translates literally "propri- 

 ety insect," or. as our aboriginal fore- 

 runners would say, "creature that al- 

 ways does right!" Close observers 

 those old people of the East. 



We commend a perusal of the essay 

 to oiir readers. (M.) 



POWER OF INSPECTORS. 



The following extracts from a let- 

 ter recently received well describe 

 the present attitude of no small num- 

 ber of bee-keepers on the subject of 

 laws for the suppression of bee dis- 

 eases: 



"It seems as if the average bee- 

 keeper who is interested in the ques- 

 tion of foul brood law looks at the 

 whole thing from the standpoint of 



the inspector only. The law must 

 give the inspector power, must make 

 the work as easy as possible for him 

 — the bee-keeper may go to — Helena, 

 Mont. I must confess that I was 

 rather indifferent at first, but now 

 that I have made the matter a study 

 I think that such a law is wrong. 

 I think that a law of this nature 

 should be wholly one to regulate, not 

 one to enforce, I mean rather that the 

 law should serve rather than pena- 

 lize. * * * 'pjjg interesting fact of 

 all is this, every mother's son of 

 them don't care a rap about the con- 

 stitution. Gosh, they ought to move 

 to Russia." 



The reasons for prevailing condi- 

 tions are obscure, but certainly the 

 attitude of such persons does not be- 

 speak farsightedness nor that hard- 

 headed common sense with which we 

 as a people consider ourselves endow- 

 ed. Because the inajor number of 

 present inspectors are men of integri- 

 ty and tact it does not follow that 

 such always will be the case. Be- 

 cause the inspectors must have pow- 

 er to enter and examine it does not 

 follow that they will never abuse 

 that power. Because as yet the in- 

 spectors rarely do harm it does not 

 follow that they or their successors 

 will never err or be malicious or venal. 

 It is the height of folly to grant tlie 

 needed powers and then not hold the 

 inspectors responsible for malprac- 

 tice. 



The powers given inspectors arc 

 "police powers" but regular police arc 

 accountable to higher authorities and 

 their acts are subject to review and 

 such should be the case with inspec- 

 tors. Probably they could be reached 

 through civil suits but the bee owner 

 should have some more ready and 

 less expensive way of redress. Re- 

 sponsibility will not hinder the hgn- 

 est and conscientious men in the dis- 

 charge of their duties, but it will be 

 a restraint on the careless or dishon- 



