ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION 



45 



propriations he said, '"Are you fellows 

 going to insist on that Bill? Better let 

 it go awhile or you will lose your ap- 

 propriation." And I understand the 

 Gk»vernor will be very close with ap- 

 propriations this time. I would be glad 

 to hear what members have to say 



Mr. Stone — I want to say that I 

 have been on that same committee ev- 

 ery time, and I made it a business to 

 be at the State House twice a week. 

 I have seen members of the legislature 

 who have influence, and think they will 

 get this Bill through for us. It has 

 been recommended that when we get a 

 Bill passed that will go on the statute 

 books it will have become a law and 

 will not have to be passed each session, 

 as the Appropriation Bill has to be. They 

 object to our appointing the Inspector, 

 but we need not make a point of that. 

 Let the Governor have the appointing 

 power. If he does not appoint a man 

 who is qualified for the work it will 

 make so much opposition and trouble 

 that he will be obliged to select for 

 the position some one capable of filling 

 it. I believe that we will get a Bill 

 through just as we ask for it, and sug- 

 gest that we dictate it just as we want 

 it. 



Pres. Smith — I will say that the Sen- 

 ate has always been favorable; we will 

 need some influence in getting it through 

 the House. 



Mr. Johnson — I would like to ask just 

 what was the opposition to the Bill pre- 

 sented to the last legislature? 



Mr. Stone — There was no opposition. 

 It just failed to pass. In the same way 

 other Bills were killed, it was among 

 those that had not yet been passed when 

 the close of the session was reached, 

 and was simply shut out. 



Mr. Johnson — According to this, then, 

 there was no opposition. 



Pres. Smith — Mr. Stone and I called 

 on the Governor, who referred us to 

 the Attorney General. The Governor ex- 

 pressed neither approval or disapproval, 

 but said it should be passed upon by the 

 Attorney General, that whatever he re- 

 commended as to its requirements 

 would be right. I was advised to drop 

 that Bill. Get the appropriation and 

 let the balance go. 



Mr. Kildow — We all have read what 

 our committee have done, and I think 

 they have done all they possibly could. 

 It seems to me we might get at it in 

 another way. Ask for no appropriation, 



but ask for an Inspector and let the 

 bees pay the expense. 



Mr. Dadant — I have had some ex- 

 perience in these matters — have helped 

 to get Bills through, and would like 

 to suggest that while it is a good idea 

 to tax the bees, I don't believe that it 

 need be done. If you can get your Bills 

 into the proper hands they will go 

 through. There are certain of the mem- 

 . bers of the legislature who get things 

 done. Put your Bills in the hands of 

 the right men and they will go through. 



Pres. Smith — You might write letters 

 to members of the legislature every day 

 and it would not amount to anything. 



Mr. Baxter — I do not agree with you 

 at all. I believe we can get what we 

 ask, and should make our wants known 

 to the members. You put it into the 

 hands of Senators Berry and Dunlap, 

 and such men as they are in the House. 

 Another thing that we want is a law in 

 regard to spraying, and we ought to 

 have a similar law for the inspection of 

 importations of queens into the State. 



Mr. Johnson — It was mentioned yes- 

 terday, that we have this inspection of 

 queens. And a spraying law ought to 

 be had. Spraying trees in bloom should 

 not be allowed. 



Mr. Black — In the Hne of Mr. Bax- 

 ter's remarks, there are wheels within 

 wheels. The big thing, it seems to me, 

 in this is to have our legislators un- 

 derstand the need of these things. It 

 is well to be wise in the selection of 

 the men who are to present the mat- 

 ter to the committee. We want to be 

 sure to have this Bill pass through 

 the hands of some one who will see 

 that it doesn't conflict with other in- 

 terests, and do not get it in such shape 

 that it cannot be enforced. I think 

 there should be a law prohibiting spray- 

 ing in time of bloom. Though from 

 experiences personally known to me, it 

 has been proven that a limited amount 

 of spraying in time of bloom may be 

 beneficial, and result in producing bet- 

 ter fruit. 



Mr. Johnson — It has been said that 

 writing letters will not do much good. 

 In that regard I would refer to the 

 Ladies' Home Journal which asked 

 its readers to write letters to help 

 create pubHc sentiment. 



Mr. Holekamp — I have had some ex- 

 perience in the work of getting Bills 

 through, and will say that I had 3,000 

 bee-keepers write to members, and then 



