June, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



367 



tur;il Coiumittee of tlio Senate. The bill as 

 orginalh' introduced is as follows: 



AN ACT TO REGULATE THE IMPORTATION 

 OF THE HONEYBEE (APIS MELLIPICA). 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Rej)- 

 resentatives of the United States of America in 

 Congress assenil)Ied, That it shall be unlawful for 

 any person to import or offer for entry into the 

 United States the honeybee (Apis mellifica) ex- 

 cept for experimental or scientific purposes by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture upon 

 such conditions and under such regulations as the 

 Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 

 'i'reasury shall prescribe. Provided: That the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the 

 Treasury may make regulations admitting honey- 

 bees from countries where no dangerous diseases 

 of honeybees exist. 



That any person who shall violate any of the 

 provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a 

 misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, 

 be punished by a fine not exceeding $500 or by 

 imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both such 

 fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the 

 court. 



The hearing on this bill before the House 

 Committee was held on May 4. The com- 

 mittee decided to amend the bill as follows: 

 In place of the proviso, read: "And pro- 

 vided further, that such adult honeybees 

 may be imported into the United States 

 from countries in which the Secretary of 

 Agriculture shall determine that no diseases 

 dangerous to adult honeybees e.x:ist, under 

 rules and regulations prescribed by the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury and the Secretary of 

 Agriculture. ' ' The committee voted uauni- 

 mously to report the bill out favorably. 



Judging from the letters coming to this 

 office the beekeepers of this country are 

 practically unanimous in favor of the en- 

 actment of such a law to protect the indus- 

 try from a possible invasion of the Isle of 

 Wight disease into this country. Not a 

 single ijrotest has been received direct at 

 this office, and many have Avrittenin favor 

 of the bill. The American Bee Journal, how- 

 ever, reports having received some letters 

 opposing the bill. 



The opposition apparently arises through 

 a misunderstanding of the provisions of the 

 bill, for we understand that those who are 

 opposing the bill are in favor of preventing 

 importations from those countries where the 

 Isle of Wight disease is known to exist but 

 permitting importation from all other coun- 

 tries. This was the first thought of the com- 

 mittee which suggested the law, for it was 

 the intention from the beginning that Cana- 

 da should be exempted; but, on investigation 

 of the legal phases involved, it was found 

 necessary to draft the law to exclude bees 

 from all countries, except those Avhich may 

 be exempted by the Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture and the Secretary of the Treasury. In 

 addition to meeting the requirements of the 

 lawmakers, this plan would permit immedi- 

 ate action to exclude bees from any country 

 from which shipments are permitted under 

 the provision of the bill if the Isle of Wight 

 disease should be found, instead of waiting 

 until Congress could take action to amend 

 the law to exclude bees. 



Since the bill clearly specifies that tlie 



Secretary of the Treasury and the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture may make rules and 

 regulations under which bees may be im- 

 ported from countries in which no disease 

 of adult bees exists, it is clear that the ob- 

 jections of those who have opposed this bill 

 have all been met. Surely, no one iu this 

 country who might wish to import a few 

 queens from some country where tlie Isle of 

 Wight disease may now exist, would be will- 

 ing to endanger the whole beekeeping in- 

 dustry in tliis country simply to secure a 

 few queens of some obscure race. Beekeep- 

 ing in tliis country has recently grown into 

 an important industry and deserves any 

 protection of this sort that can be had. 



Both Canada and Australia have taken ac- 

 tion to prevent the importation of the Isle of 

 Wight disease. In these countries immediate 

 action was possible, because previously en- 

 acted quarantine laws gave to the proper of- 

 ficials the power to issue an order prohibit- 

 ing the importation of animals likely to in- 

 troduce dangerous diseases. Such an order 

 was issued by the Governor-General of Aus- 

 tralia on January 1, 1922, prohibiting the 

 importation of "bees, used or second-hand 

 hives or hive-goods or products (excepting 

 honey and wax) from the United King- 

 dom" and by the Dominion Minister of 

 Agriculture, Dominion of Canada, effective 

 May 1, 1922, prohibiting the importation 

 into Canada of "bees, used or second-hand 

 hives, or raw hive goods or products except- 

 ing honey or wax from the Continent of 

 Europe." Not having such a law, this 

 country must wait until Congress can act to 

 prevent importation of bees from countries 

 where the Isle of Wight disease may exist. 



The exclusion of bees from the mails, com- 

 ing into the United States, by the order of 

 the Post Office Department, effective March 

 21, of course stops importation through that 

 channel, but many bees and queens are 

 shipped to this country through channels 

 other than the mails. If this bill becomes 

 a law, if the Isle of Wight disease should 

 be found at any time in a country which 

 has been exempted by the SecretaT,y of Ag- 

 riculture and the Secretary of the Treasury 

 because the disease has not previously been 

 found there, the embargo can be immediate- 

 ly restored without an act of Congress. 



Since some opijosition has developed to 

 the bill, which is now in both the Senate 

 and House of Eepresentatives, it is more 

 important than ever that beekeepers who 

 desire the protection afforded by this bill 

 write to their Senators and Eepresentatives 

 asking them to support it. A letter should 

 also be written to Senator Norris, Chair- 

 man of the Agricultural Committee of the 

 Senate, Washington, D. C, and to Eepre- 

 sentative Haugeu, Chairman of the Agricul- 

 tural Committee of the House of Eepre- 

 sentatives, Washington, D. C, in support of 

 the bill. These letters should be written im- 

 mediately on receipt of this journal and sent 

 out in the next mail. 



