AMERICAN BEE JOURNA^. 



15 



Topics o[ Interest. 



Bee-Keepers anil tlifi Illinois Legislature, 



J. M. HAMBAUGH. 



When I left Springfield, I fully re- 

 solved to send a statement to the Bee 

 Journal, immediately, giving to its 

 many readers an account of the final 

 disposition of the bills before the 

 Legislature relative to bee-culture, but 

 when I arrived at home, I found so much 

 to do to get my affairs in shape, that it 

 has seemed impossible to find time to 

 write. 



I am very well satisfied, all things 

 considered, with the result of our 

 efforts in behalf of the bee-keeping 

 industry. We have succeeded in obtain- 

 ing an appropriation of $500 yearly for 

 the purpose of publishing our report. 

 This I look upon as quite an achieve- 

 ment, and it will certainly give apicul- 

 ture a prominence among the industries, 

 and advance the pursuit to the position 

 it justly deserves. 



When this bill was called up on second 

 reading, Hon. Reid Green, of Cairo, 

 moved that the enacting clause be 

 stricken out, and before I could realize 

 the situation, he had carried his point, 

 and the bill was killed by a viva voce 

 vote. I moved to reconsider the vote by 

 which the enacting clause was stricken 

 from the bill, and called for the ayes 

 and noes, and with the kind assistance 

 of many friends, we got the bill rein- 

 stated, and ordered to a third reading. 

 When called up for final consideration in 

 the House, it met with some opposition, 

 but finally passed by a creditable 

 majority. 



About the same time the spraying bill. 

 No. 607, was reached in its regular 

 order upon the calendar, and we had a 

 lively tussel to pull it through, the 

 objection being sprung on the spot, that 

 it w^as antagonistic to the interests of 

 the fruit growers, and notwithstanding 

 I had the testimony of the leading horti- 

 culturists and entomologists at hand, 

 which was proof of their bejng in 

 harmony with the bill, and read them, 

 yet there were some skeptics, and they 

 plied their arguments wherever they 

 could make them effective, and it was 

 only by herculean efforts on the part of 

 the friends of the bill that we success- 

 fully carried it through. 



I think I can safely say that, should 

 the bill never become a law, it has done 



a world of good toward the education of 

 the people as to the proper time for 

 spraying, and I am sure that should bee- 

 keepers become damaged from spraying 

 trees while in bloom, between now and 

 the sitting of the next Legislature, there 

 will be no trouble in having the bill 



When both these measures reached 

 the Senate, I was extremely solicitous 

 for their welfare, and immediately wrote 

 to some of our representative bee-keepers 

 to come to the rescue, and do a little 

 missionary work in behalf of the cause, 

 and while they did what they could by 

 correspondence, it seems that they were 

 all too busy to come in person, and as I 

 was a new man, I naturally had but 

 little confidence in my own efforts 

 towards convincing the Senators of the 

 merits of the bills. Well, the appropria- 

 tion bill, as before stated, passed in good 

 shape, but the spraying bill encountered 



Illinois State Building at World's Fair. 



no obstacles, until it was called up on 

 third reading, and it was called at a 

 time when many of the Senators were 

 over in the House. 



The House was engaged in the consid- 

 eration of Senate bills on third reading, 

 and most of the Senators were interested 

 in bills that seemed to require their 

 personal attention ; hence, were absent 

 from their posts of duty at the time. 

 House bill 607 was called up, and it 

 received but 21 votes. 



I am sure that, had all of the Senators 

 been in their seats, it would have 

 passed that body and become a law, but 

 it encountered some opposition in the 

 Senate, the same as in the House, and I 

 must say here, that the thanks of the 

 fraternity are especially due to Senator 

 Highbee, for his valuable efforts in 

 championing the cause of the bee-keep- 

 ers in the Senate, as well as to Hon. 

 Frank Jones and Dr. Shirley in the 

 House. 



