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AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Duty on Imported Queens. 



It seems that we are again in trouble 

 concerning the importation of queen-bees. 

 The new " McKinley Tariff " has sad- 

 dled upon us an import duty of 20 per 

 cent, ad valorem, and from this there 

 now seems to be no escape except by 

 special legislation of Congress, which 

 will require time, and considerable labor 

 and expense. 



The person who drafted the bill prob- 

 ably never thought about bees being in 

 law classed as "live animals," but they 

 are so classed at the Custom House, and 

 a duty of 20 per cent, is to be demanded 

 on them when imported into this 

 country. 



It is true that we might have them 

 exempted under the provision for " the 

 importation of animals for breeding 

 purposes," but that matter is so hedged 

 about with "regulations" with which 

 apiarists cannot comply (such as "giving 

 their pedigree," etc.) that it would be 

 useless to attempt it. 



Again, the Deputy Collector at New 

 York claims that "the importation of 

 bees through the mails is prohibited." 



We would like to ask, " Since when ?" 

 For years past they have been allowed 

 to be received from Italy, and we have 

 not seen any new regulation or law pro- 

 hibiting their reception. The Deputy 

 Collector no doubt erred in making that 

 statement, and we expect it to be 

 promptly corrected at headquarters. 



That our readers may be posted on 

 the whole subject, we append the follow- 

 ing correspondence which appeared in 

 Gleanings for this month : 



Mr. W. C. Frazier, of Atlantic, Iowa, 

 recently wrote us, asking whether there 

 was a duty on imported queens. We 

 replied to the effect that there was none, 

 because queen-bees were used for breed- 

 ing purposes, and therefore exempt. It 

 seems that Mr. Frazier was not entirely 

 satisfied, and so he wrote to the Deputy 

 Collector of Customs, in New York, in 

 regard to the matter. His reply is as 

 follows : 



Custom House, New York, 

 Collector's Office, April 2, 1891. 

 W. C. Frazier, Esq., Atlantic, Iowa: 



Sir : — In reply to your letter of the 

 30th ult., I have to say that " bees " 

 would be classified as "live animals" 

 upon importation, dutiable at 20 per 

 cent, ad valorem, under N. T., 251. 

 Animals imported specially for breeding 

 purposes are exempt from duty under 

 N. T., 482, upon compliance with the 

 requirements of the law and treasury 

 regulations — to-wit, production of a duly 

 authenticated invoice — certificate of 

 identification sworn to by the importer — 

 certificate or score and pedigree, authen- 

 ticated by the proper custodian of the 

 book of record established for the breed 

 in question, and report of the apiarian 

 after examination. The importation of 

 "bees" through the mails from Italy 

 is prohibited by law, and, if so imported, 

 they would be liable to fine and seizure. 

 Respectfully yours, 



H. D. Stanwood, 

 Deputy Collector. 



W^e thought there must be some mis- 

 take, and, if so. Prof. Cook was just the 

 man to see that the matter were set 

 right, as he had, in years gone by, 

 handled successfully the transmission of 

 queens through the mails. He wrote to 

 his friend and former co-worker of the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, Edwin 

 Willits, now Acting Secretary of the 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, 

 D. C. ; and his reply, which Prof. Cook 

 has very kindly forwarded on to us, is as 

 below : 



Department of Agriculture, 

 Office of the Secretary, 

 Washington, D. C. 



Prof. A. J. Cook .-—Yours of the 6th 

 inst. is at hand, relative to the bee-ques- 

 tion and the importation of queen-bees 

 from Italy, upon which, under the new- 

 tariff, they charge 20 per cent. duty. 

 I have written to the Secretary of the 

 Treasury this day, inclosing a copy of 

 the correspondence, and asking him if it 

 is possible for him to make a ruling that 

 shall let bees come in free of duty. 



There is no question but that bees 

 should be classified under the new Tariff 

 Act, as animals ; and the general law is, 

 that the duty on imported animals shall 

 be 20 per cent., under Section 251 of 

 the Tariff Act ; but in the free list, un- 

 der Section 482, any animal imported 

 specially for breeding purposes shall be 

 let in free ; and then comes the proviso, 

 which is, in substance, that, in order to 

 relieve the importation from the duty, 

 it shall conform to the requirement 



