ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KHEPER'S' AjSSOCIATIQN 



37 



legrislation with reference to the ques- 

 tion of foul brood. Are you. ready for 

 the question? 



Mr. Stone — ^l don't see why i* is that 

 we have not got onto this way of get- 

 ting a foul brood law before. "We have 

 never struck an idea that is equal to 

 that. 



When it comes to a man like Prof. 

 Forbes, there is not a better man in 

 the United States, or there is not a 

 man that could be relied on more than 

 he. 



I got very well acquainted with Prof. 

 Forbes when my son went to college. 

 My son thought there were no better 

 men anywhere than Prof. Forbes and 

 Dr. Biirrell, the latter was president of 

 the University when he went there. 



I have learned that when Prof. Forbes 

 is on a Committee that goes before the 

 legislature, they take in every word he 

 says. If we can get his consent and 

 his help I am sure we are to meet with 

 success, and get the kind of a Bill we 

 want. 



I would suggest that this Bill be put 

 in the hands of the Legislative Com- 

 mittee along with Dr. Bohrer's, and let 

 our Legislative Committee, that is 

 elected here now, be the Executive 

 Committee or not, just as the Associa- 

 tion sees fit to do, and then they will 

 have the handling of the legislative 

 Bill, whatever it is. 



If they fail to make an agreement 

 with the University on this line, they 

 will still be at liberty to go ahead on 

 something else, more like what we 

 have signed the petition for. The 

 Legislative Committee might say: 

 there is the bill that all these peti- 

 tioners have signed, and it is not the 

 Bill you are asking for; perhaps if this 

 Bill you are asking for was placed be- 

 fore these signers, they would not 

 have affixed their signatures to it, and 

 so they would raake those signatures 

 out as null and void. Whether they 

 would do that or not is a question. I 

 am in favor of this Legislative Com- 

 mittee. 



Mr. Kildow — Dr. Phillips said that 

 Prof. Forbes is a good man, but that 

 he has more than he can do now. If 

 that is the case it seems that is a 

 drawback. Then he has said that four 

 or six students could go out to do the 

 work. I am sure that lots of these 

 students don't know a bee from a 

 house-fly, and I would not want them 

 to come into any apiary of mine in- 



fected with foul brood, fooling around 

 my bees. I would prefer to have some 

 one who has had experience. We don't 

 want to trust too much to him, and I 

 don't think we want to throw too much 

 out of the State Associa4;ion into the 

 hands of some man employed by the 

 State. I think this Association wants 

 to keep this in its own hands yet 

 awhile. 



Mr. Becker — iE ani in favor of part of 

 that Bill, but I am opposed to that part 

 of the Bill turning the matter over to 

 the State ofiicer. 



Now, then, that officer of the State 

 may know all about bees, and may be 

 all right, but he is not going to leave 

 his office and travel over the State of 

 Illinois inspecting foul brood. 



He appoints two or three students 

 of the University that do not know the 

 first thing, not the first principle about 

 bees, and don't know foul brood, and 

 we old bee-keepers who have from 75 

 to 100 colonies — we are to take their 

 judgment and their decision. I am op- 

 posed to it. It takes away our power. 

 It takes it altogether from the bee- 

 keepers, for whose benefit this law 

 v,rould be passed, and turns it over to 

 a lot of fellows that don't know any- 

 thing about it. This is a question we 

 all want to study. 



I have been out inspecting. It Is the 

 naan who has 75 and 80 colonies that 

 takes care of his bees, and if he has 

 diseased bees he knows about it; but 

 it is the man with 15, 20 and 25 

 colonies who don't look after his bees 

 as he should. He is the one that never 

 makes an effort, nor don't know much 

 about it. He doesn't ask you but one 

 question, but he asks from 50 to 75, all 

 about bee-keeping, and he doesn't 

 seem to know anything about the sub- 

 ject. He wants to get all the informa- 

 tion he can from you — ^I think the Bill 

 that we have got up here, and that we 

 have had before the legislature three 

 cr four years, is the one to use. 



I think the Inspectors we have had 

 so far have been honorable and 

 straight-forward men, and have done 

 their duty, and I don't believe they 

 over-charge for anything that they 

 have done, and I believe they have 

 done good work. 



If these men who have been doing 

 the work have no law to back them, to 

 compel persons to clean up, they have 

 made them to understand that there 

 would be one. I find nine out of ten 



