178 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Mar. 25, 



Amalgamatiou, Adulteration of Honey, Etc. 



BY REV. EMERSON TAYLOR ABBOTT. 



"Amalgamation " having failed, what next? The proper 

 course to pursue seems very plain to me. In fact, I was iu 

 favor of this course at Lincoln, for, as soon as I heard Mr. 

 Newman's paper on the subject, I felt sure that under present 

 circumstances, a " union " was not possible. X am in favor, as 

 I was then, of the United States Bee-Keepers' Union going on 

 with its work just the same as though there, were no other so- 

 ciety in existence. 



We claim all the time that there are 300,000 bee-keepers 

 in the United States. Only a very few of these belong to the 

 old Union, and it would seem that there is abundant room and 

 work for the new society. I know that the old society claim 

 that they have some money, and that that is what we are 

 after. It seems to me that it will not take the new society 

 very long to have as much, or more, money, if they will go at 

 it the right way. The rest of the 300,000 bee-keepers who 

 do not belong to the old Union have the cash on hand, which 

 they have not paid in for membprship, and all that is necessary 

 is for them to hand over a dollar each to Dr. Mason, and then 

 they will belong to a society that has more money than the 

 old Union. 



But, says someone, " You people have no right to use the 

 name 'Union,' as it belongs to the oW society, and you may 

 get an injunction suit on your hands, if you persist in using 

 It." Well, I am not so sure that we have no right to use the 

 word Union, but as we used it only because it was thought it 

 might prove an aid in amalgamating the two socities, I now 

 move you, Mr. President, that we drop the word "Union" 

 from our name, and use in its stead the word " Alliance." If 

 I can get a second to this motion, I hope, Mr. President, you 

 will put the question at once. 



Just try that name and see how it sounds — The United 

 States Bee-Keepers' Alliance. Not bad, is it? This would 

 give us a clear field and no cause for hard feelings, or the writ- 

 ing of harsh things. If our friends of the old Union do not 

 want to come with us, that we may do them good, then we will 

 just go quietly but earnestly on our way, and try to do our- 

 selves and the rest of the fraternity some good. What have 

 the 76 members of the Uuited States Bee-Keepers' Union to 

 say to this ? Let us have an expression on the subject. 



Now a word about the 



AIM OF THE NEW UNION. 



I very much fear some of our friends are getting a little 

 rash in their talk about lawsuits, etc. Of course it sounds 

 well and appeals to the masses in these days when everybody 

 is wanting a law past to aid and abet his pet hobby. It is said 

 sometimes that the way to prevent war is to keep a strong 

 navy and a big standing army. This is my idea of a well-or- 

 ganized bee-keepers' society. It would soon become a power 

 in our body politic which would command respectful attention, 

 and I apprehend that we would not then have to meet with 

 some other society in order to get reduced rates ! It seems to 

 me that there are enough of us to command some attention on 

 our own account, if we can only get together. However, while 

 we are doing this, in order to prevent other unlawful combines 

 from injuring us, let us be a little careful that wc do not try to 

 form an unlKwful combine. The iiirtsscs always have rights 

 which are above those of the classes. Someone says that we 

 want a powerful society so that we can imprison the adultera- 

 tors, aTid rai.sc the price of lioney. Now, what has the law to 

 do with "raising the price of honey"? For whose benefit 

 should the price of honey be raised ? for the benefit of 300,- 

 000 beekeepers who are producers, or the benefit of the rest 

 of seventy million people who are consumers, or should bo ? 



It seems to me that the man who sets this up as a motive 

 for the prosecution of those who adulterate honey, takes a nar- 

 row and altogether selfish view of the subject. If this is the 

 only reason why the adulteration of honey should be stopt, 

 then it would better go on, for the masses are Interested In 

 getting honey as cheaply as they can. 



Another man proposes that wo besiege the balls of con- 



gress and have a law past making it unlawful to manufacture 

 glucose. Why? "Because," he says, "it is used only for 

 adulterating purposes." If that same man has watcht the 

 papers very closely, he has no doubt learned that the commit- 

 tee at Washington who have been working on a revised tariff 

 law, in the interest of all the dear people, decided to put a 

 protective tariff on chicory to protect (?) the farmers who are 

 engaged in this industry. Now, what is chicory used for? 

 Adulteration only, as every one knows. Funny country this, 

 a law to suppress one adulterant and one to protect another ! 



But, says some one, chicory might be used as a substitute 

 for coffee. So might glucose be used as a substitute for cane 

 syrup, and it is not a bad substitute, either. 



Another says, " Are you in favor of adulteration?" No, 

 sir, I am not ! but I do not think Congress or any State legisla- 

 ture has a right to pass a law to suppress any harmless indus- 

 try simply because that by so doing those who are engaged in 

 some other industry will get more for their product. This is 

 what I call class lerjislatlon, pure and simple, and twist it any 

 way you will, it is contrary to the spirit, if not the letter, of 

 the Constitution of the United States. 



Why, then, should the adulterators be punisht ? Because 

 adulteration is a /?'(iud on sociefy. If any man wants to sell 

 glucose he has a perfect right to do it, if it does cut down the 

 profits on my product. If he wants to sell gluscose and honey 

 mixt, he has the right to do it, but should be compelled to label 

 it what it is. To sell it for anything else is a fraud, and 

 should be recognized as such by society, and by the statutes of 

 the United States, and of every State in the Union. Do we 

 want to unite, then, to have laws past making it a crime to put 

 false labels on honey alone ? No, sir, we do not. Here the 

 idea of self comes in, and the interest of a class only is thought 

 of. We want to unite that we may join forces with other in- 

 dustries to have only one law past, to make it a criminal of- 

 fense to put a false label on any kind of food or medicine. 

 Such a law would be in the interest of all the people, and not 

 simply in the interest of a class engaged in some special indus- 

 try. This State is spending a great deal of money with the 

 avowed purpose of helping the dairy industry ; but notwith- 

 standing there is a law on our statute books making it a mis- 

 demeanor to adulterate any kind of food or medicine, those 

 who have the matter of the enforcement of the laws in hand 

 pay no attention to the people who are openly and boldly mix- 

 ing glucose and honey, labelling it "Honey," "Fine Clover 

 Honey," or some other name, which they think will strike the 

 fancy of the consumer. 



The agents of the State Board of Agriculture can scent 

 oleoa long ways off, but they would not know glucose from honey 

 if it was stuck square under their noses. It is about time, I 

 think, that we begin to spend the money raised by taxation in 

 the interest of all the people, and stop passing laws in the in- 

 terest of special industries. Buchanan Co., Mo. 



[See editorial remarks on the foregoing article, on page 

 184.— Editor.1 



Close Spacing to Get Bees Into the Supers. 



BY .1. E. POND. 



The following questions have been referred to me for 

 reply : 



" Referring to page 22, Vol. XXXII, will Mr. Pond kindly 

 tell us how he does it ? For 12 years he claims to have used 

 with success a means of getting the bees into the supers, 

 termed " close spacing," and I am anxious for more minute 

 details. If it be really as good a device as Mr. P. claims it to 

 be, it would be as well were the Hoffman frame rendered in 

 future suitable for closer spacing. To that end the top-bar 

 needs to be just so much shorter as to allow of the frames 

 telescoping a little into each other, as it were ; shifting them 

 to the right and left alternately. When returned to their 

 normal position, a thin strip (equal in width to the bit sawn 

 off, to allow of telescoping) has merely to be laid in the tin 

 rabbet. 



"Who else among our experts has tried this close-spacing 

 idea? Does it always succeed with them? What say the 

 great experts, the oracles, hereanent ? S. A. Deacon." 



Some years ago, while experimenting in another direction, 

 I found that spacing frames in the brood-chamber Just bee- 

 space apart, did cause the bees to work at once in the surplus 

 chamber. To get "just bee-space apart," I put a J^-lnch 

 dummy in one side of a 10-frame Langstroth hive, and 

 spaced the 10 frames evenly apart in the space left. The 



