660 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



Oct. 19. 1899. 



awake man who manipulates the bee has been gathered in 

 and is a member of this Association. 



AMALGAMATION AND COMMENDATION. 



There has perhaps never been room for more than one 

 national association of bee-keepers, and this Association 

 was organized at Lincoln, Nebr., with a view of uniting the 

 whole in one strong association. But for reasons not neces- 

 sary to state, there were differences which grew wider apart 

 for a time, and the object for which this organization was 

 formed in part has failed. I am happy to state that these 

 differences are fast being dissolved, and that we are look- 

 ing forward to the time when the two great organizations 

 will be able to unite for the general good of both, and on a 

 more elevated plan for bee-keepers, and the punishraeiit of 

 adulterators secured under such laws as have been past in 

 the different States and such laws as may hereafter be past. 



I take great pleasure in commending to your considera- 

 tion the zeal and fidelity with which General Manager 

 Secor has filled his office in this Association, not only dur- 

 ing previous years, but during the present one. Secretary 

 Mason, by his careful painstaking, and general courtesy. 

 ever alert for the best interests of this Association, is en- 

 titled to a liberal share of your commendation, and I assure 

 j'ou that there is little else to be gotton out of the labors 

 which have been performed by them, as well as the differ- 

 ent members of the Board of Directors, who are likewise 

 entitled to your commendation. 



During the year Rev. E. T. Abbott has taken great in- 

 terest in the National Pure-Food Congress, and has spent 

 much time in attendance on the sessions of that organiza- 

 tion, and with little expense to this Association. I doubt not 

 but thru his efi^orts this Association has a standing among 

 the advocates of pure food second to none in the United 

 States. Our thanks are due the different members of the 

 Board of Directors whose universal courtesy has been ever 

 foremost in advancing the best interests of this Associa- 

 tion. E. Whitcomb. 



The president's address was followed by the following 

 paper by Rev. E. T. Abbott, of Missouri, entitled, 



Necessity of Pure-Food Legislation from a Bee-Keeper's 

 Point of View. 



I come to you this morning all the way from the Oueen 

 City of the West to talk to you about a subject in which I 

 am vitally interested, and I trust I find you in a receptive 

 frame of mind, to say the least, if not fully aroused to the 

 importance of the subject. 



Perhaps it is not just the thing to discuss the manner 

 of stating a subject when it is given you by another, but I 

 want to enter a protest against discussing pure food from 

 the " stand-point " of any class. There may be special rea- 

 sons why we, as bee-keepers, should throw our influence in 

 favor of all such legislation, but all pure-food legislation 

 should have in view the interests of the masses, and not the 

 lowering or raising of prices for the benefit of special 

 classes. It is the interests of the consumers that are to be 

 lookt after, and not those of the producers. 



What we need is one national pure-food law which will 

 cover all articles of human consumption for food and medi- 

 cine. Perhaps it would be just as well to say human and 

 animal consumption. The trouble with pure-food legisla- 

 tion in this country has generally been that those engaged 

 in special industries have sought to have laws past for their 

 personal benefit, and the reason urged, in many cases, for 

 the passage of such laws has been that it would protect and 

 raise the price of the product in which they are most inter- 

 ested. It is probably not necessary for me to say that I am 

 opposed to all such legislation. It is vicious and contrary 

 to the principles of a free government. Fairchild, in his 

 Moral Philosophy, says: "A tyranny is a government 

 which is administered for the pleasure or advantage of a 

 class or of a few in opposition to the interests of the many." 

 This is true of any law, whether it help a rich corporation 

 or the so-called "granger." 



The tendency to take narrow views of such legislation 

 is so great that many find it hard to resist it. Two elements 

 make themselves prominent. Our selfish interests so press 

 themselves on our brain fiber that we find it hard to resist 

 the temptation to ask that the legislation be so framed as 

 to help our industry. Then, again, egotism is so prominent 

 in our natures that we are apt to think that nothing is just 

 as it should be until we have had a hand in making it. The 

 result is we can see no good in a Bill framed by others, 

 first, because it does not help " our folks," and second, be- 

 cause we had no hand in making it. As John Stuart Mill 



suggests, we are apt to want men to act as we think they 

 should, because of our personal feelings in the matter, and 

 not because it will promote the public good. 



The necessity for pure-food legislation is hardly a mat- 

 ter for discussion. Every man of ordinary intelligence, 

 who has given the subject a moment's thought, knows that 

 adulteration and false branding is rampant everj-where. 

 Butter is adulterated, flour is adulterated, sugar is adulter- 

 ated, tea and coffee are adulterated, honey, thrown out of 

 the comb, is adulterated, spices are adulterated, syrups are 

 adulterated, drugs and medicines are adulterated. In fact, 

 almost everything- we eat and drink is adulterated. Some- 

 times even the adulterant is adulterated. Chicory is a good 

 illustration of this, for the man who buvs it to adulterate 

 coffee is not certain that he himself is not being woefully 

 imposed upon by having some adulterant of the adulterant 

 foisted upon him. In this case he gets beaten at his own 

 game. Here is a list of the articles which are said to be 

 used to adulterate chicory. (Before I give the list let me 

 remark that this Government has laid a duty on chicory so 

 the people of Nebraska can afford to raise chicory) : 

 " Roasted beans, peas, carrots, parsnips, acorns, horse- 

 chestnuts, tan-bark, logwood, and even the livers of ani- 

 mals." And so it comes to pass, 



" Larger fleas have lesser fleas upon their backs to bite 'em. 

 And these, again, have smaller fleas, and so ad infinitum." 



Adulteration is open, flagrant, bold, and often defiant. 

 It is the crowning crime and shame of the 19th century, 

 and a matter beside which in importance all others pale into 

 insignificance. It is more than expansion or anti-expan- 

 sion ; it is more than free silver or the gold standard ; nay, 

 it is more than anj' other question which confronts the 

 American people to-day, for it is sapping the moral founda- 

 tions of justice and equity, and teaching men and women, 

 who are otherwise disposed to be fair, to wink at deception 

 and dishonest}-. Surely, it is time to call a halt. 



I am a firm believer in the rights of the individual, and 

 insist that none of his natural rights be curtailed or arbi- 

 trarily taken away in the supposed interest of society, but I 

 am equalU- firm in the conviction that no man has a right 

 to defraud and deceive his fellow men in the name of liberty. 

 Coole)' said, " It was the peculiar excellency of the common 

 law of England that it recognized the worth, and sought 

 especially to protect the rights and privileges, of the indi- 

 vidual man. Arbitrary power and uncontrolled authority 

 were not recognized in its principles." Legislators should 

 ever have these foundation principles in mind, and should 

 see to it that no individual right is infringed upon by the 

 laws which they enact. So long as an article is not injuri- 

 ous to human health and happiness, the laws of the land 

 should in no way interfere with its manufacture. The sim- 

 ple fact that the production of an article lowers the price of 

 or cheapens another article is not a sufficient reason for 

 throwing legislative restrictions about it. We were told a 

 few years ago that a " cheap coat " made a " cheap man," 

 but surely this is not true of food products. The masses 

 are interested in cheap foods, and the only thing that I in- 

 sist upon is that they be sold for what they are, and be not 

 branded with a He. 



Much of the so-called pure-food legislation of the past 

 has simply been a little "pap " thrown by the cheap-John 

 politicians to the so-called "grangers" to catch votes, and 

 the result has been that in many of the States some verj' 

 foolish laws have been enacted, professedly in the interest 

 of pure food, but actually in the interest of the party who 

 introduced the Bill. Tlie farmers were blandly told that 

 they were entitled to higher prices, and that the so-called 

 pure-food law would enable them to get them, and they were 

 thus deluded into shouting and voting for the fellow who 

 threw them this very thin "pap." Jefferson wrote in 1789, 

 "The tyranny of the legislatures is the most formidable 

 dread at present, and will be for many years." In the light 

 of the acts of this, the year of 1899, we can see that he was 

 clearly correct. 



Take the pure-food law of Illinois as an illustration, 

 and some of these incongruities will make themselves ap- 

 parent. The Food Commissioner, a creation of the last 

 legislature, is to have for his duty the enforcement of the 

 laws now existing, or that may hereafter be enacted, re- 

 garding the production, manufacture and sale of dairy pro- 

 ducts or the adulteration of any article of food. Are not 

 dairy products "articles of food ?" If so, why place them 

 in contrast with all other articles of food? Self interest ! 

 Here is the hand of some one who has more interest in one 

 class of producers than in all other producers and consumers 

 combined. 



A similar so-called pure-food law was past in the State 



