8 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



No Duty on Queens. 



The National Bee-Keepers' Union has 

 again triumphed ! Queen-bees may now 

 be imported either by mail or express, 

 free of duty ! 



The General Manager and Vice-Presi- 

 dent Cook promptly took the matter in 

 hand, and made it lively at the Treasury 

 Department at Washington. 



Prof. Cook's personal friend, Edwin 

 Willits, Esq., who has so often aided 

 bee-keepers to obtain concessions at 

 Governmental headquarters, again vig- 

 orously championed our cause (as will 

 be seen by the correspondence published 

 on page 632). 



As a result, the following letter was 

 duly received by the Manager of the 

 Union, as briefly mentioned last week on 

 page 824 : 



Tkeasury Department, 



Washington, D. C, June 15, 1891. 



To Thomas G. Newman, 



Manager Bee-Keepers' Union, 

 Chicago, Ills. 

 Sir : — You are hereby referred to the 

 Collector of Customs at New York, for 

 the Department's decision of the 12th 

 inst., on the case mentioned in your 

 letter dated 11th ult., relative to entry 

 of queen-bees. A copy of the decision 

 is herewith enclosed. 



Eespectfully yours, 



Andrew Johnson, 

 Acting Cidef of Divisio7i of Customs. 



The decision of the Treasury Depart- 

 ment on this subject reads as follows : 



Collector of CtTstoms, New York. 



Sir : — The Department is in receipt of 

 a letter from Mr. A. J. Cook, Professor 

 in the Zoological Department of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, dated the 

 15th ult., in which he encloses a copy 

 of a letter addressed by you to Mr. W. 

 C. Frazier, Atlantic, Iowa, in relation to 

 the admission to free entry of queen- 

 bees, under the provision of paragraph 

 482 of the act of October 1, 1891, 

 which exempts from payment of duty 

 " any animal imported specially for 

 breeding purposes," but prescribes that 

 "no such animal shall be admitted free 

 unless pure bred of a recognized breed, 

 and duly registered in the book of record 

 established for that breed," and that 

 "certificate of such record and of the 



pedigree of such animal shall be pro- 

 duced and submitted to the customs 

 ofiQcer, duly authenticated by the proper 

 custodian of such book of record, to- 

 gether with the affidavit of the owner, 

 agent or importer that such animal is 

 the identical animal described in said 

 certificate of record and pedigree." 



It has been represented to the Depart- 

 ment, and it is doubtless true, that 

 queen-bees, which are classified for duty 

 as animals, are never imported for any 

 purpose other than breeding; that they 

 are always of superior breed and adapted 

 to improve the stock in this country, but 

 that from the nature of the case the 

 keeping of books of record of the recog- 

 nized breeds, and the furnishing of 

 certificates of registry as required by 

 said provision of law is impracticable. 



Queen-bees were admitted to free 

 entry under the provisions for animals 

 specially imported for breeding purposes 

 contained in Title 33 of the Revised 

 Statutes, and the act of March 3, 1883, 

 and the regulations applicable to other 

 animals were modified as to bees, so as 

 to dispense with certain requirements on 

 their importation as to inspection. 



In other cases where the production 

 of statutory evidence was impracticable, 

 and the importation came clearly within 

 the spirit of the law, such evidence has 

 been waived, as in the case of works of 

 American artists, imported after their 

 decease, on the ground that the law 

 does not require impossibilities. 



The Department is therefore of opin- 

 ion that it was not the intention of 

 Congress to change the practice in the 

 matter of the free entry of queen-bees 

 imported for breeding purposes, and that 

 queen-bees of recognized breeds inay 'prop- 

 erly be admitted to free entry under the 

 provisions of paragraph 482, without 

 requiring the certificate of record and 

 pedigree specified therein. 



You will, therefore, be governed ac- 

 cordingly. Respectfully yours, 



O. L. Spaulding, 

 Assistant Secretai^. 



After receiving the above, the follow- 

 ing came from Prof. Cook, who has 

 interested himself in the matter very 

 heartily : 



Dear Mr. Newman: — I am very 

 happy to inform you that the Assistant 

 Secretary of the Treasury, O. L. Spauld- 

 ing, informs me that queens are 

 exempted from duty. 



I consulted an official high in Govern- 

 ment service, who was a fine lawyer. 

 He said that he saw no hope for us 



