84 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



Feb. 6, 1902. 



Coiiiiuissioner Jones Explains.— In 



the^Modern Farmer we find the following let- 

 ter from Mr. Alfred H. .Jones, the Illinois 

 Pure Food Commissioner, explaining the Chi- 

 cago Tribune's reported interview with him: 



Editor Moherx Farmer : — 



Your letter of the 16th ult., has been for- 

 warded to me and I hasten to answer same, and 

 in reply will state that I was not correctly re- 

 ported in regard to the question of adultera- 

 ting honey in the comb, and have corrected all 

 mistaken notions that may have become cir- 

 culated on account of the article in the Trib- 

 une in my Annual Report as the State Food 

 Commissioner, just tiled with the Governor, 

 which will be published in the next few 

 weeks. 



i I never thought of stating that honej'-combs 

 are manufactured out of paralfin and then 

 filled out with glucose. On the contrary. Dr. 

 E. N. Eaton, our State Analyst, as well as my- 

 self, have taken the position that the honey- 

 cells made by the bees could not be success- 

 fully imitated so as to escape detection. In 

 other words, that all the honey, or nearly so, 

 that we have have found to be adulterated in 

 this Slate was strained honey, or honey in the 

 comb, in which the walls of the comb had 

 been broken by being thrown into some 

 vessel, and then glucose mixed with the honey 

 that had oozed out from the comb. 



Thanking you for your kind letter. I am, 

 Very sincerely yours. 



Alfred H. Jones. 

 ,Staie J^'ood Vomtiiisnioner. 



Commenting on the above. Editor Emerson 

 T. Abbott, of the Modern Farmer, has this to 

 say: 



As soon as- our attention was called to the 

 articles which were being published claiming 

 that Mr. Jones had made the statement that 

 comb honey was manufactured by the use of 

 paraffin and glucose, we wrote him to learn 

 just what he did say, and received the above 

 reply. It will be seen that his statements are 

 a long ways from those which the Chicago 

 daily press put into his mouth. His explana- 

 tion as to how the adulterated honey is pro- 

 duced is not as clear as we could wish, and in 

 further elucidation of the matter we will say 

 that the method of procedure is to take a 

 good quality of honey-comb and cut it up into 

 strips. A few of these strips are placed in a 

 jar and glucose poured around them until the 

 jar is full. This mixture is labeled, as a gen- 

 eral thing, "Pure Honey,'' "Pure Clover 

 Honey." or something of that kind. We 

 have some on our desk now which is labeled, 

 " Kellogg's Pure White Clover Honey, Medina, 

 Ohio.'' We had one of these samples exam- 

 ined by an expert in Philadelphia, and he re- 

 ported that it contained only 2.5 percent of 

 honey. This fraud was perpetrated on the 

 consumers by a firm in the State of Missouri 

 who claim to be in a reputable business. We 

 leave the reader to draw his own conclusions 

 as to the honesty of such a mixture so labeled. 

 If we could have our way every man who per- 

 sists in placing such goods on the market 

 would find himself in the pen with other 

 frauds. 



The other method of adulterating honey is 

 by mixing glucose with pure liquid extracted 

 honey. This covers all of the cases of adul- 

 teration which are found on the market, and 

 the man who pretends to say in print that 

 combs are manufactured out of parafHn, and 

 then filled with glucose, and sold for pure 

 honey, writes himself down as an ass or an 

 ignoramus on this subject. He can take 

 whichever horn of the dilemma he prefers. 



To give this matter more weight, we desire 

 to say that we are authorized by a majority 

 of the Board of Directors of the National Bee- 

 Keepers" Association to offer a reward of 

 $1,000 for a single pound of comb honey 

 which has been so manufactured and does not 

 appear as a fraud on its face. 



Now. if some of these smart reporters want 

 to secure a "scoop," here is their chance. 

 Official announcement of this offer of a reward 

 will be made in due time. 



Emeksos Taylor Abbott. 



We are exceedingly sorry that Commissioner 

 Jones did not hasten to get a good, strong 



denial over his own signature in the Chicago 

 Tribune at the time the libelous matter ap- 

 peared. He could very easily have compelled 

 that paper to publish his correction, or stand 

 a lawsuit on the matter, as, according to his 

 letter in the Modern Farmer, The Tribune 

 simply published a falsehood. In all proba- 

 bility the forthcoming report of the Pure 

 Food Commissioner will have little attention 

 from the daily newspaper press; and, besides, 

 it is so long after the damage is done that it 

 can beof little use in the way of counteract- 

 ing the evil effects of the slander published by 

 The Tribune. 



i 



Weekly Budget. 



Mr. a. F. Foote, of Mitchell Co., Iowa, 

 wrote us Jan. 13, in the following exceedingly 

 kindly strain: 



Editor American Bee Journal: — 



I have just read J. P. Blunk's item on pages 

 '28 and 'J!1. I am glad you let it "go in." I, 

 too, say, "Let's have it" — the type-setting 

 machine. I always try to keep a one-dollar 

 bill on hand to send off in a letter when I 

 wish. I have one now in the warm corner of 

 my purse, that I would like to invest in, or 

 towards, a type-setting machine for the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal office in some way. Pay an- 

 other year in advance, or better still, pay 

 double price for the present year. It wouldn't 

 be anv more than the paper is worth to do 

 that. ' 



Anyhow, fix it up some wa.v so we can have 

 that type setting machine. Net that I object 

 to the " girls " — especially the " cook " — work- 

 ing in the office occasionally, for it adds both 

 dignity and refinement to the place to have 

 them there — offices in general, I mean, of 

 course. 



Pass it along. My dollar is ready any time. 

 A. F. Foote. 



We hardly know what to say to such a gen- 

 erous letter as the above. " It's so sudden,'' 

 as the maiden said when her admirer popped 

 the long-awailed-for and important question. 



But, really, dear friends, if nil who are now 

 owing on their bncl,- subscription would just 

 pay up and also pay for the year 1902, the 

 type-setting machine could be bought and 

 paid for at once. There would then be no 

 need of the kind suggestion that all pay 

 double-price, even if the American Bee Jour- 

 nal should be thought well worth ?2.00ayear. 



It is a very hard matter to know just what 

 to do about subscription credits. So many— 

 surely the great majority — don't want their 

 copies of the American Bee Journal discon- 

 tinued at the end of the time paid for if not 

 renewed on the minute. And we are glad to 

 favor such by continuing to send it right 

 along, believing them to be honest people who 

 will not only appreciate the courtesy we have 

 extended to them, but will soon pay up and in 

 advance again. 



Then, there are some who are willing to re- 

 ceive the Bee .Journal right along after the 

 time paid for expires, and when asked to pay 

 for copies they have received, say they " didn't 

 order it;" or •' didn't want it;" or " you're a 

 fool for sending it, without pay in advance;" 

 or " when we want a paper continued we will 

 say so " — and many other similar expressions. 

 Certainly, after getting a copy or two beyond 

 the time paid for, and not desiring it, any one 

 could afford to be kind enough to spend one 



cent for a postal card to ask us to discontinue 

 sending the Journal. The copy or two re- 

 ceived would be well worth the postal card 

 used to send the notice. 



We did not think to say so much on this 

 subject when starting out, but perhaps it is 

 just as well to place the matter fairly and 

 squarely before our subscribers at this time. 

 We want to please all our reatlers so far as 

 we possibly can do so. We also want to feel 

 that they will do the right thing by us. There 

 should be a mutual feeling of honor and re- 

 gard in this matter. From the many expres- 

 sions of appreciation of the American Bee 

 Journal received at this office, we know it is 

 worth every cent of the dollar asked for a 

 year's subscription — at least to the person 

 who desires to make anything out of his bees 

 and honey. If we did not believe that, we 

 would be dishonest in accepting a dollar a 

 year for it. Of course, if any one thinks it is 

 not worth the dollar, it is his privilege to 

 take some other bee-paper, or not any — just 

 as he may choose. We would never wish to 

 send the Bee Journal to any one who did not 

 want it. But we do not know it is not wanted 

 until we are so notified. 



Now, we trust that all who are in arrears on 

 their subscription will, the very day they read 

 this, if possible, send the amount that is past 

 due, and, if they can, add a dollar for 1902. 

 We would be willing to work every night as 

 well as every day for awhile, attending to such 

 letters. We know we want to help you all 

 by sending you a good bee-paper; and we be- 

 lieve you want to help us by paying for such 

 paper. We have never yet run out of plans 

 for improving the Bee Journal. The only 

 trouble has been to get the necessary funds to 

 carry out such plans. But we do not believe 

 in begging in this matter. It is a clear-cut, 

 business proposition. The American Bee 

 Journal is worth one dollar a year to you or it 

 is not. If it is not, we don't want you to keep 

 on taking it. If it is worth the dollar a year 

 to you, then why not pay it { 



Let us be co-workers along the bee-keeping 

 line, as well as friends and brothers. 



Mr. Warner Mills and Apiart. — Mr. 

 Mills, whose little apiary is pictured on the 

 first page, wrote as follows when sending the 

 photograph : 



While you are publishing so much about 

 bees, and showing up so many large apiaries 

 from all parts of the country, I will send you 

 a picture of a very small affair. I live in the 

 center of a city of 140,000 inhabitants. I use 

 Langstroth hives, make them myself, and 

 love to work with the busy bee. 



In my former home, Muskingum County, 

 Ohio, I had more colonies than I can have in 

 the city. I bought a colony of Italian bees 

 from Adam Grimm, of Wisconsin, and 

 changed my stock to good hybrids. 



I had all the experience that a novice would 

 have, that is at all ambitious. I am going 

 slower now. 



I read " The Bee-Keeper's Guide " and the 

 American Bee .Journal, and get enough honey 

 for my family use, and a little for my friends. 



I am a veteran of the Civil War, and do not 

 have much to do but work with the bees. 



Warner Mills. 



Prof. A. J. Cook, writing us from Los 

 Angeles Co., Calif., Jan. 22, said: 



" We are having a very dry winter. It is 

 very discouraging. We hope yet that rain 

 will come in quantity." 



It would be too bad if the honey crop should 

 be short the coming season, just when Cali- 

 fornia bee-keepers are ready to use their new 

 honey-exchange organization. 



