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again; consequently, and particularly as South Trimble's time expires with this Congress and I believe he will not be returned, we need not fear him again.

Mr. C. F. Wood: He is not running.

Mr. A. McCullough: He is not running, and the law that he introduced is not in force.

Mr. C. F. Wood: He introduced that law that is at present in force; that was his bill.

Mr. A. McCullough: His bill now is in the Committee on Agriculture, has never been reported to the House-and never will be.

Mr. C. F. Wood: The Present bill that is in force was introduced by South Trimble.

Mr. McCullough: All right, then, I had reference to the new bill that he has introduced; but we are under the law in the hands of the Secretary of Agriculture; that is where we are. It is within the province of the Secretary of Agriculture to say-and he does not have to ask anybody else, either-what shall and what shall not be designated as adulterated seedwhat percentage. It is wholly within his power; and that is a law which he must execute, if he undertakes to execute the laws; it requires him to publish the names. Furthermore, he has a right to obtain the samples on the market by purchase or otherwise; he secures those samples. He can secure a dozen samples from any one man, and he can submit them to test, submit them for examination and test as to purity, and if eleven samples out of a dozen are pure and the other one, in his opinion, is adulterated, he publishes that man as handling adulterated seeds and never gives him any benefit whatever due to the other eleven samples that are pure. Neither does he have to give him credit for the fact that he is only guaranteeing the purity of the eleven, and is telling his customers not to buy the other twelfth sample. He will publish him on account of that one sample, nevertheless. That is injustice. That is the law as it exists today.

Now I know that the Secretary has under him today some very competent men: they pass upon these matters that come before them; but it is not their judgment that obtains; yet the Secretary is today trying his best to get information. He is sending men all over the country to secure the information that will enable him, when he has it, to decide what is and what is not true; and he wants to know whether or not it is possible for two varieties to grow in the same field. If they do, do their seeds ripen about the same time? If such was the

case, and it is probably on record with department today, then that could not properly be considered an adulteration. If such things do exist-and such things have existed, such things will exist-then we want to help the Department; we want to help the people who are in power, who are there to execute the laws, and we can be of great assistance to them; and in our assisting them they will assist us.

Mr. Green: I am very strongly in favor of Mr. McCullough's original suggestion. I think a properly constituted committee could be very valuable to this Association if they would do the work that might be expected of them; if they were men of personal honesty, selected because of fitness. It is natural to suppose they would do the work, because it is certainly a very important part of the outlook in a business of this line.

Now it occurs to me that this Committee should particularly keep themselves informed as to the probable course of legis, lation in this country, not only national legislation, but in the states; and that they should hold themselves in readiness to furnish practical information from practical men's standpoint to the people that have this legislation in charge, whether committees or individuals.

I further believe that one of the especial objects of this committee should be to so shape the course of legislation that the penalty of evil doing, as we may say-the penalty for selling and mixing adulterated seeds-should fall only on the people who, by all natural evidence, are proven to be guilty of unlawful adulteration for profit.

I think the people in charge of this adulteration legislation should be informed as to the percentage of seeds that may naturally be expected, what percentage of seeds of a foreign character may naturally be expected in certain seeds that are procured in ordinary commercial channels; and I believe that their especial aim should be to hold legislation to such channels that the innocent would not suffer with the guilty.

President Grenell: Gentlemen, I would suggest that a resolution be passed that this Committee and the remarks that we have just heard be referred to the new President and his Committee on Seed Adulteration, to report to him. I will entertain such motion. We have a good committee, and supposed to be equal to all demands, Mr. J. Chas. McCullough, S. G. Courteen, D. I. Bushnell, A. D. Heffron and J. G. Peppard. That Committee ought to be interested as much as any of us. Mr. May: Would not it be a good idea for our Commit

tee to formulate a resolution and send it to the Department of Agriculture, stating that the American Seed Trade Association fully co-operate with and endorse all they have been doing in the matter of perfecting the purity of seeds, and that we desire to work in harmony with the government? I think that the government's ideal and intention is all right in every respect; they are trying to do good work. We should help them all we possibly can. Two years ago I happened to be one of the unfortunate ones who were listed as selling adulterated seed. I know that from this on we shall be more careful as to where we buy our seeds. We have tests sent on for examination before a purchase is made. I say the government is doing right work: it will, if continued, result in the selling of less impure seed, and seed will not be full of worthless weeds; it will stop the adulterating of seed and selling of cheap seed. Seeds will be sold on their merit. I feel that the government is doing right. If some of us are posted, I feel that this has not been the case except when we were the victim of circumstances. We bought from parties in whom we had confidence; but, we have had our eves opened, and all of us, particularly those who have grass seed, will be benefited by the government's action.

President Grenell: I did not get it through my head that this Association was aggrieved with the government's policy, but I thought there were some things that the grass seed men did not like.

Mr. May: Let them conform to the idea or rule of the government. When we buy seeds from a wholesale man we want to know that they are right. We do not handle grass seeds in a wholesale way. Nine-tenths of the grass seed men rely upon the merchants who deal in the seeds for the purity of the grass seeds that they buy of them.

Mr. C. F. Wood: I do not want to go on record as not approving of the work that the government is doing in protecting the interests of the buyers of seeds from adulteration. I simply wanted to bring up the point that the law as at present construed, is doing a gross injustice to a very large lot of innocent dealers. I said to Mr. Pieters in another conversation that I had with him, "Your appraisers and inspectors there, Customs Board, are required to draw samples from all foreign importations, especially of agricultural seeds; you get those samples at Washington.' He said, "Yes, we do.” said, "Do you ever publish those samples at all?" He said, "No." I said, "Why?" He said, "That would not do any

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good." I said, "It seems to me that that is the very foundation of the mixing. If John Smith, of New York, imports a lot of trefoil clover or clover mixed with trefoil, you may be certain Mr. John Smith knows what he is doing; he intends to sell that clover at a lower price and make more money than the man who is selling a pure article of clover." He said, "If Mr. John Smith is published, what is to prevent his getting it through a commission man?" I said, "You can readily trace it then, and you can publish the commission man. If he is getting it for a principal who is undisclosed, you can probably find the principal." I think if they would publish all the big purchases that come into the custom-house, especially of trefoil, it would do a great deal of good, much more so than to publish each of the twenty men that John Smith sold to. It would do more good to warn those men that John Smith was the man that imported this stuff. Mr. Pieters did not seem to view it that way; but I think if the law was construed in that way it would be much more beneficial than at present. I acknowledge that the Department of Agriculture is doing a good work; they are doing it right, but in their circulars they are doing a lot of innocent men a great injustice.

Mr. May: In regard to that I would say that the action of the Department of Agriculture has done more for us in that one last publication than anything else for years. I would like to see them go down the whole category of seed, peas, beans, corn, and everything else, and get our wares and our products as near perfect as we possibly can.

President Grenell: How about nursery stock?

Mr. May: Same on nursery stock.

Mr. C. N. Page: There is one phase of this question which has not been touched upon. They succeeded in getting the name of the Jowa Seed Co. through a ruling this year on Orchard Grass. That is an item of which we handle a very small quantity, indeed, of, and we had only one lot of it in our house this year-I think only a five-bag lot. At the time we purchased it we sent samples to the department and they reported it back as all right; gave it a good report. We keep our main stock of seed in warehouse, but at the store we have open bins where farmers gather and examine the seed. I think that possibly some customer took a handful of Meadow Fescue, examined it, and threw it back in the Orchard Grass bin. The department got a small sample by mail of the Orchard Grass from us through someone, and based their report on that small sample without purchasing any seed from us at all. That is unfair, unjust.

Secretary Kendel: I talked a short time with Prof. Tracy yesterday on the line of the communication that the Committee on Seed Adulteration sent to the Association. You remember that their recommendation in the report was that a high tariff be placed on trefoil. Of course that will only reach trefoil; but that seems to be the most harmful of the seed adulterants. He said that he thought that that would be a way to get at it, but that such a law would have to be enacted through congress. The Department of Agriculture has nothing to do with the tariff.

The Chair called for the report of the Committee on Resolutions respecting government free seed distribution, which was submitted by Mr. H. W. Wood, as follows:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT FREE SEED DISTRIBUTION.

RESOLVED: That we endorse heartily the action taken by the Agricultural Committee of the House and also the Agricultural Committee of the Senate in opposition to the continnance of the distribution by the U. S. Department of Agriculture of the common varieties of garden and flower seeds.

We consider it beneath the dignity of the representatives of the U. S. Government to distribute packets of seeds that can be bought at any village store.

We are thoroughly in sympathy with the action of the National Grange and the other organizations representing the agricultural and horticultural interest of the country in condemning the Congressional free seed distribution as now conducted. Respectfully submitted,

Henry W. Wood, Chairman. On motion of Mr. Albert McCullough the foregoing was unanimously adopted.

President Greneil: Gentlemen, so far as I know, our business is concluded. I would entertain a motion to proceed to election of officers.

Mr. Willard:

President.

I move that we take an informal ballot for

Mr. Burpee (addressing Mr. Grenell): Did you announce that you would not stand for re-election, as President Roosevelt has done?

President Grenell: That is not necessary.

Mr. Burpee: You are so popular that no one else would have a chance if you were standing for re-election.

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