Oct. 30, 1902. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



693 



I Convention Proceedings. | 



THE DENVER CONVENTION. 



Report of the Proceeding's of the 33d Annual 

 Convention of the National Bee-Keepers' As- 

 sociation, held in Denver, Col., on Wed- 

 nesday, Thursday and Friday, 

 Sept. 3, 4 and 5, 1902. 



(Continued from pag'e (mO.) 



THE GOVERNMENT AND THE ASSOCIATION. 



Dr. Miller — Prof. Benton said he was ready to receive 

 su(:fg'estions. I want to sii{jf,'^est one thing. I believe he 

 can do not a little towards increasing- the membership of 

 this Association. I believe that in his letter-heads that he 

 sends out if there were possibly a hint that there is such an 

 Association, that would go to many a one who otherwise 

 might never dream that there was such an Association. I 

 merely throw out the hint for him to think about. 



Prof. Benton — That calls to mind that particular point. 

 You must understand, so far as the Department is con- 

 cerned, nothing of the kind could appear in a letter-head ; 

 there are ways that it could be brought to the attention of 

 the public, but in all of this work I think there is some mis- 

 understanding on the part of people regarding a certain 

 feature of it : There can be no special legislation ; we can 

 not secure special legislation. Many have wanted the Na- 

 tional Congress, for instance, to establish a law for stop- 

 ping adulteration. There can not be anything of that kind. 

 Again, they have wanted an appropriation of money for a 

 National society. There can be nothing of that sort ; legis- 

 lation of that kind must be general ; and in the case, for in- 

 stance, of a pure-food law. Senate and Congress would be 

 glad to establish a law regulating interstate commerce and 

 commerce within territories, directly under the National 

 Congress : the appropriation of money should be made for 

 the industry through those channels that are regularly 

 appointed as a part of the Government, but not through 

 any society which, so far as the National Government is 

 concerned, is like an individual; that is, this society is 

 looked upon by the Government in this way. There could 

 be no appropriation by the National Government of money 

 directly for this society, but the aims of this society can be 

 forwarded through the Department of Agriculture, through 

 a special appropriation which has been asked for, and which 

 has sometimes been granted, it seems to me, in a niggardly 

 manner. Why ? Because the people in the States did not 

 ask their members of Congress for it ; and for that reason 

 you will have to ask the people to write to their members 

 and tell them they want so and so. 



" Well, my letter doesn't amount to anything;" but if 

 he gets 20 such letters he sees his constituents are thinking 

 about it, and other members in Congress get similar letters 

 and they begin to think about it. Any one member would 

 not like to stand up and broach the subject all alone, but if 

 every member in Congress found there were 20 behind him 

 pressing for it, it would positively come. If you only ask 

 on every hand, and every member, then there won't be any 

 one there to back down, and they have to go ahead and 

 speak for their constituents, and they are going to do what 

 their people want them to do ; and if they thought there 

 was anything in this industry, or any considerable number 

 of people interestad in it, or that it had any real, vital in- 

 fluence over the agricultural interests of the country, they 

 wouldn't turn it down, that is all. 



Now, there was a little thing overlooked that I want to 

 go back to, and that was when I spoke of adulteration. Just 

 as soon as these honey canards appear where there is some 

 man that thinks. Now, there is a bee-keeper on the one 

 hand who says this thing is not possible, and here is a 

 newspaper reporter that has written it up in great style that 

 they are manufacturing combs and filling them with glu- 

 cose, sealing it over and sending it out ; and he doesn't be- 

 lieve one or the other exactly, but he wants an impartial 

 statement of it, and he writes to the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture. That letter is referred to the Division of Entomology, 

 and lands on my desk. I answer that, stating the facts as 



they are known to me, and that letter is received aH the 

 statement of the Department of Agriculture ; it carries 

 weight with it, and he believes that statement, and he is 

 willing to publish it. There have been numerous requests 

 of that kind for real information which I have taken pains 

 to answer at length, and I think they have had some influ- 

 ence in counteracting views expressed by those who thought 

 they saw a great thing in adulteration. 



E. T. Abbott— I am going to ask a cjucstion of Prof. 

 Benton. He says there can't be any special legislation for 

 the good of this society. Now, just a short time ago, if my 

 memory serves me right. Congress appropriated $.^00,000 to 

 help some people that do not even belong to the United 

 States. They gave them 5500,000 down there in that Island. 

 I used to tell my wife I was afraid to live on any of those 

 islands, I was afraid they would sink. I guess I was about 

 right. One sunk down there, and Congress appropriated 

 $500,000 and sent a vessel down there, and they did it be- 

 cause they wanted to. I rather guess if we want it real bad 

 they would put up a little money forthe bee-keepers, or any- 

 thing they took a notion to. They appropriate some S20,- 



000 or $30,000 to bury some dead Senator, or some man that 

 gets on a booze. Those are special appropriations. The 

 truth of the matter is, the people of the country have not 

 awakened up to these things; they don't seem to know 

 about these things. If they just let Congress know that if 

 there is any appropriating along those lines they would 

 like to have a slice, I believe they would change their mind 

 about special appropriations. [Applause.] 



E. R. Root — I wish to testify to the good work done by 

 Prof. Benton in answering those canards. I had a good 

 deal of work in connection with it, and they wouldn't take 

 my statements, as I was interested in a paper ; but all I had 

 to say to them was, " Please write to the Department of 

 Agriculture, and they will tell you the true facts of the 

 case." They did so ; and some of the worst papers that 

 had been publishing stories about bee-keepers, and what 

 they would do, have retracted handsomely : but only after 

 they wrote to the Department of Agriculture. 



Dr. Miller — Prof. Benton refers to one thing, in regard 

 to getting an expression from this National Bee-Keepers' 

 Association as to what we would like from the National 

 Government, or the Department of Agriculture. I don't 

 know, but I think it would be proper to have a committee to 

 draft such resolutions to get an expression from this Asso- 

 ciation showing what we would want. I don't know that 

 that is a wise thing, but if this matter of negotiation could 

 go on record and give help to the Government in its work, 

 and help us, we ought to have something of that kind. 



O, L. Hershiser — Here is a query : Why would it not 

 be the best way to have formulated a form of petition ask- 

 ing Congress for any reasonable and proper aid through the 

 Department of Agriculture, to be placed in the hands of the 

 National Association and your State Association, to be 

 signed by the members thereof, and transmitted through 

 the proper channels to Congress. That would bring the 

 matter before Congress from all parts of the country for 

 this National Association, and would give it such character 

 as to induce Congress to act favorably upon it. 



Mr. Harris — I move you that a committee of five be 

 appointed by the chair to take these matters under consid- 

 eration, and report later to this convention. 



Dr. Mason — I second the motion. 



Mr. York — I would like to amend that, and suggest that 

 the Board of Directors prepare a list of requirements to be 

 presented to the Department of Agriculture. The Board 

 members are our representatives, and there is a great deal 

 of wisdom collected there. I think they ought to be able to 

 form a good list of requirements, and if we back them up 



1 think it may amount to something. 



Mr. Harris— We will embody Mr. York's idea and let it 

 go at that. 



Dr. Miller — There is this advantage in the motion as 

 first ofi^ered. A committee could be chosen of the directors 

 who are here ; they are all here, and you can promptly have 

 the matter acted upon if j'ou call the directors aside. 



Mr. Taylor — It seems to me the amendment should pre- 

 vail. If a committee is appointed we will have no report 

 for a year, or have a report made hastily, a report of a com- 

 paratively few number of members. Now, if this is referred 

 to the Board of Directors, under the amendment, they are 

 men who are supposed to have an interest in all these 

 things, and to have spent a great deal of thought upon 

 them, and they will have time to consider it, and they can 

 all consider it, though they are not here. It is not necessary 

 that this body, as a body, should act upon it if it is referred 

 to the Board of Directors ; the directors may take a month 



