346 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



October 



LEGAL SERVICE 

 « DEPARTMENT ft 



What Can Be Done Through Or- 

 ganization 

 In order to introduce the subject 

 which we have in mind, we will 

 quote from two letters which have 

 recently come to this office: 



"There are places in the Da- 

 kota* where the rate — 4th class — 

 is higher than from here to New 

 York City. There are points east 

 where honey from California by 

 car lots can be shipped in far be- 

 low what it costs from ben 

 That these rates are unjustly in- 

 jurious to honey producers in 

 this section any fair minded man 

 will admit." MONTANA. 



"Two years ago a town in 

 Northwestern Ohio considered 

 prohibiting the keeping of bees, 

 but a fight was put up and the or- 

 dinance fell through. At the pres- 

 ent time another town is consid- 

 ering the same thing. I appeared 

 before the council a few nights 

 back, but have not the least idea 

 what they will do. It is usually 

 too expensive for the individual 

 beekeeper to fight, but I believe 

 that thousands of beekeepers 

 would join' an organization 

 formed to combat unjust legisla- 

 tion. I will gladly pay $10 per 

 vear for this sort of protection." 

 OHIO. 



Since the above letters were not 

 written for publication, no names are 

 given, but they show the kind of le- 

 gal problems that are constantly 

 arising. For more than a year past 

 the legal service department lias had 

 under consideration a plan of or- 

 ganization that would meet the 

 nr, ds of the beeki epei s. After de- 

 voting considerable time to investi- 

 gation it has been found that to be 

 oi real service, such an organization 

 must be prepared to undertake legal 

 nice along broad lines. 



Not only must n I" prepared to 

 tight unjust legislation, but the grow 

 ing importance oi thi business 

 i try to give much at- 

 tention to freight rates. When dis- 

 crimination is apparent it is neces- 

 sary that the matter be 



ith the proper classify at ii in 

 committer- and evidence be col- 

 lected io in-! n v .i i.nM i rati 

 Further, it must be prepared to han 

 dli claims for losses in shipment bj 

 freight and exp its mi mbi i i 



In short, if i In i e is anj m it iin.ii ion 

 this kind, it 

 must be prepared to loi 

 kmd- of legal mattei - for its mem- 

 bers, i >ne member will be thn at 

 ened by an ordinan i ' tempts 



to make beekeeping illegal within the 

 city limits; another will be unable to 

 collect a small loss from an i 

 shipment which is too small •■, justi 

 fy litigation. In another locality the 



beekeepers will be -crioii-lv ham- 

 pered by a freight rate which is too 



high, but individuals cannot under- 

 take t" -peml two or three hundred 

 dollar- in taking it up. In another 

 State there may be urgent need of 

 legislation for the control of foul- 

 brood or other disease. 



In this big country of ours there 

 are many problems, any one of which 

 represents hundreds of dollar- oi 

 loss to the beekeepers a- a whole, 

 bill w bich can only be inn ( i illei 



tively. Whether honey be given a 

 third or fourth class rating m tin- 

 freight classification will amount to 

 many thousands of dollars everj yeai 

 to the beekeepers of a single State 



The only practical solution of these 

 matters is the employment of a firm 

 of competent attorneys by the year. 

 They should be located as near to the 

 center of the country as possible. 

 Kansas City would be a logical loca- 

 tion, since the beekeepers of New 

 York, California or Texas would be 

 within about equal reach. Every 

 member of the organization should 

 be entitled to turn over legal matter 

 except actual litigation, without fur- 

 ther expense than his membership 

 fee. Shippers of package bees who 

 have losses from express shipments 

 could turn in their claims to the at- 

 torneys for collection; beekeepers 

 threatened by unjust legislation could 

 notify the organization and the mat- 

 ter would be looked after. At the 

 start the business would not require 

 the entire time of the attorneys, but 

 there would be enough business 

 from the first to require competent 

 service of a high order, and this 

 would of necessity be expensive. If 

 the beekeepers generally will support 

 such an organization all lln- service 

 ran fir secured at a probable CO I oi 

 from $.i to $5 per year per member. 

 Willi a -mall organization the cost 

 per member would be much highei 

 With a membership of 3,000 to 000 

 it would be easily possible to save in 

 freight rates, losses recovered and 

 other eli.n ges, -e\ eral - I be mem- 

 bership tee- even 



It would be the idea to attend to 



e\ ' i j lui'l oi i, gal -ei vice i elating to 

 ieekeeping tor it - members entirely 

 without cost except when it became 

 necessary to go into court for trial. 

 In this event the association 

 furnish the attoi rvices foi 



trial of the cases, leaving the litigant 

 In- own courl CO 

 I )ur i ilder reader- w ill ren 

 that in 1885 a Wisci insin beel 

 was sued by a neighbor who bad lost 

 lieep and win ' claimed that tin- 



i i In bees in tlie whiti clo 



his pasture v. as i esponsible. 



The claim seems very ridiculous now. 



but it was a serious matter to the 



i-d At that 



time there was very little in the way 



of legal decisions for the beekeeper 

 to stand on. and it became necessary 

 to spend a good deal of money in 

 fighting the case. Out of this litiga- 

 tion there grew an organization 

 known as the National Beekeepers' 



Union. The membership fee w a- 2^ 



cents, and in addition each member 



contributed one dollar toward the de- 

 fense fund. I r or a number of years 

 this organization fought the legal 

 battles of its members, and through 

 i' activities favorable decisii ins i >f 



legal questions were secured in a 

 number of instances. It was later 

 joined P i the Natii mal Beekei pel -' 

 Association, and the legal protection 

 was finally dropped when the Na- 

 tional was reorganized. Thus the 

 value of such an organization to its 

 members has already been fully dem- 

 onstrated. 



We will be glad to use the space 

 available for this department in a 

 discussion of this subject by our 

 nadir- If enough beekeepers are 

 interested it should be an easy mat- 

 ter to effect an organization, and The 

 American Bee Journal will be glad 

 to be of service. Tell us what you 

 think of it. 



Advocates Heavy Packing 



I THINK there is too much red 

 tape about the question of win- 

 ter protection, as some things 

 ought to be very plain. The time to 

 pack .night to be no later than Octo- 

 ber II), for this latitude, and enough 

 packing should be used to give the 

 required amount of protection, which 

 would be 111 inches on sides and 12 

 inches on top. 



JUDSON A. JONES, 

 Continental, Ohio. 



Double Stories for Winter 



For the second winter 1 am experi- 

 menting with a full body of honey 

 over the usual brood-nest. The re- 

 sult last year satisfied me that I got 

 splendid interest on the money rep- 

 resented in the extra hoifej hit on 

 the hives, I am coming to believe 

 thai winter losses are more largelj 

 i\u<- to scarcitj oi stores of good 

 In iney and ti ■ spring flying on , dd 

 than io other causes 



II K SMI l II 



Houghton, N. Y. 



Good Crops in Quebec. — We are 



sorry to bear of your small crop in 



Illinois. Here, after selling 35 colo- 

 nies at $15, I have hai \ < -t i d 2,925 



pounds ol honej from 89 colonies, 

 spring count, and increased to 152 

 Coll one-. These we reduced since to 



H_! and iii.n rnlin e them dov> n to 135 

 for winter. They are in excellent 



condition. Honey is selling at 25 



wholesale, but we canm 



CUl i much more at retail. 



I \i QUES VERRET, 

 i Inn lesbourg, Quebec 



Evei ) heekeepi r should plan to at- 

 tend at bit "' tvention this 



winter. 



