136 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE 



It is our own fault because we are 

 not trying to. 



Some of us are making a fair price 

 for our product. Some of us are not 

 getting a price we should. 



The price to the retailer will be gov- 

 erned largely by competition. 



It is a question of Supply and De- 

 mand of course in most lines. 



That is a matter one has to settle 

 by trying out trade, but even there it 

 is not competition alone; it is a ques- 

 tion, as Mr. France says, of getting 

 a little better than the other man has 

 — putting your brand on it — and doing 

 a little pushing— ASKING the PRICE. 



Ask a fair price for your effort — for 

 your time — for your labor and other 

 expenses. 



Competition will prevent your asking 

 too much, but you do not have to sell 

 at the price the other fellow sells at, 

 and that has been pretty clearly 

 demonstrated by an advertising cam- 

 paign that has been put on by one of 

 the Supply Houses. 



They started to get more money for 

 honey than they thought honey could 

 be retailed at. 



Now as to the question of price: I 

 would not ask any o^ you to tell me 

 a thing you did not want to tell — but 

 here I would suggest, — I have some 

 slips of paper, and, if you are inter- 

 ested and care to do it, I would like 

 to know what the average price we 

 are selling our honey at. How much 

 we sold the last three months and the 

 price per pound at Avholesale. The 

 same where we sold to retailers — the 

 same where we sold to the consumer. 



If you do not want to put down the 

 price or quantity, all right. I think 

 if we would do that, and be a little 

 honest with each other, we would be 

 surprised at the figure we will get. 



Mr. Wheeler — I would like to hear 

 Mr. Burnett answer that one question: 

 What sets the price of honey? 

 Some time this evening I would like to 

 hear that. 



Mr. Bruner — In connection with this 

 — we have sold honey out in a whole- 

 sale way. The price to the retailer 

 would be the price where we bottled 

 goods and sold to the retailer, who 

 must sell to the consumer in smaller 

 packages. 



The price we get where we sell the 

 whole crop in one lot is distinct from 

 the price at which we sell to the re- 



tailer or direct to the consumer. Those 

 three prices ought to be emphasized 

 as they are not being emphasized, by 

 bee papers. 



When we publish in the bee papers 

 the wholesale price, we are advertis- 

 ing to 100,000 bee-keepers all over the 

 United States a price that is not the 

 price they ought to know. The papers 

 ought to print the price at which honey 

 is being actually sold to the consumer, 

 in connection with those other prices. 

 It is misleading if you do not put it 

 that way. 



I saw a forceful article in a western 

 paper — conditions might be different 

 here. 



When the crop is ready, there is al- 

 ways some fellow who has got to have 

 some money. The wholesalers have 

 got their agents out and they get in 

 touch with him; they spot a man liere 

 or there who is hard up; he has got 

 to have some money; he gets his crop 

 extracted early because he wants the 

 money; a buyer comes along and of- 

 fers him a price that is ridiculous; the 

 next day another buyer comes along 

 and offers him a lower price; about the 

 time the third buyer comes he begins 

 to think that is the market. If it is 

 neces to send four or five buyers, they 

 come and, eventually, his honey is sold 

 at a ridiculously low figure. 



That price is advertised and that 

 price establishes the market. I do not 

 believe that is true of Chicago, but 

 those things are being reported as true 

 in other territory. 



We have not had anything to say 

 about the price we get for our product, 

 and I protest. 



A member — All agricultural products 

 are sold at a price made by the buyer; 

 the buyer fixes those prices. 



Mr. Bruner — That is true; the farmer 

 is protected, and so is almost every 

 other product than honey, by the Board 

 of Trade that has the handling of that 

 particular product; eggs, chickens, 

 wheat, the prices rise and fall by the 

 Board of Trade. 



A member — I don't know whether 

 we are any worse off than going 

 through the Board of Trade and being 

 gambled on, like wheat, pork, and so 

 on. 



Mr. Wheeler — One thing about the 

 price of honey: 



A man in the country, picking up 

 eggs and butter, cheese and farm 



