624 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



out a lot of that expense and make a saving to the consumer, but does 

 he do so? If he is a normal man the time spent in preparing and mar- 

 keting his honey is worth as much as the time of any other normal man 

 and he has an investment in the honey and depreciation on his buildings 

 and equipment which are equal to storage and interest, and why should he 

 not have pay for them. 



Do not understand that I am advocating that all producers shall send 

 their honey to some of the large markets instead of selling it at home, 

 for that is not what I mean, but I do wish to be understood in this. If 

 the producer wants a higher wholesale price for his honey he must inform 

 himself as to what it costs to do business and be willing to establish a 

 retail price for his product that will allow his servant, the honey mer- 

 chant, a reasonable compensation for his services in preparing this 

 honey for market and finding a market for it. For the merchant is the 

 servant of the producer and the servant is worthy of his hire. 



We of the rural class feel that it is an injustice that we must sell our 

 product in the lowest market and buy our supplies in the highest mar- 

 ket, but while the mind is taken up with this seeming injustice we do 

 not realize that we have the key to the great treasure house of the 

 Creator and can draw on His resources each season and that one dollar 

 in the rural life is equal to two in the city, because so much of the 

 family living comes from the soil and is fresh and nutritious. 



The business world has learned that it must co-operate and that much 

 must be in common. To all outward appearance the keenest kind of 

 competition exists in the business world, and competition is keen, but that 

 competition consists in better service, not in price cutting, for they have 

 learned that that thing means ruin. 



We of the honey industry are business men, or should be, and should 

 understand that we cannot build up a business by selling our product 

 cheap; we must give service in the way of good quality and attractive 

 package and publicity, thereby increasing the consumption of honey. 



As an illustration I will use the cases of Jones and Thompson. .lones 

 is getting a price for his honey that makes the production reasonably 

 profitable and worth while marketing it. Thompson is producing a little 

 honey and disposes of it at a lower price. Mrs. Consumer has bought of 

 Thompson, but he is sold out and she goes to Jones who is asking a 

 higher price, but she will not buy because his price is too high according 

 to her estimate and consequently two persons are injured. Mrs. Con- 

 sumer wanted honey but did not get it, and Jones lost a sale. 



We need to get together in the matter of prices for our honey and we 

 need to understand the work of the other fellow if we are depending on 

 selling honey to a merchant, for under the present system the prices of 

 honey must go lower and production diminish, for men are not going to 

 invest in honey unless they can sell it at a profit and consequently must 

 buy it considerably below the local retail market, and it is the necessity 

 for this cheap honey that is flooding our markets with the cheap Cuban 

 and Hawaiian honey that the wholesale grocers and large packers must 

 buy in order to put out a honey that will compete in price with the 



