ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



109 



mission man sells it to tho grocer. He 

 says that distance is a great obstacle. 

 We are selling honey lOO and' 120 miles 

 from our home, and meeting people on 

 their own ground and taking the honey 

 to them. We are seling 15 times the 

 honey in different territories that ever 

 was sold.' iby commission men and tha 

 grocer. If everybody was doing like we 

 are, there would not be bee-keepers 

 enough to supply the honey market. 



Teach the people to eat honey; give 

 them a sample; that is the way to get 

 away from the middleman. After you 

 have the demand created, then you can 

 do it if you want to; boost your honey 

 every day; that is our motto. 



Mr. Dadant — As they both have said, 

 Mr. Pyles and Mr. Bull — they work 

 from different standpoints; and from 

 what Mr. Bull says — it opens my eyes. 



We get 121/^ cents a pound in 10 

 pound cans. 



Mr. Bull told me he was getting 

 $1.60, and I suppose he is getting more 

 now. 



Mr. Bull — $1.75 for 10' pound can of 

 honey. 



Mr. Dadant' — After he told me how 

 they did it, I was not surprised at all. 

 I think they have the key to the situa- 

 tion; get next to the consumer and let 

 him know what you have; let him know 

 that you produce the honey yourself, 

 and what an article you have, make 

 a man believe you, and he will not fail 

 to buy. 



Mr. Cavanagh — ^I have gone in a house 

 where there were three women and a 

 iman who jumped on -me for coming 

 there with syrup to sell; I waited until 

 they got through, and then waded in, 

 and with the result that before I left 

 I had an order for three pails of honey; 

 I sold a pail to each of the three women, 

 while the man stood and licked his 

 chops and wishing he could have the 

 honey "tomorrow' instead of having to 

 wait ten 'days. 



About the price of honey: There is 

 no sense in a man starting out to sell 

 honey to the consumer at the same 

 price he would ask of the jobber or the 

 commission man or the grocer; it is 

 an imposition on a legitimate dealer 

 to do that, and en himself and his fam- 

 ily; it is worth some money to start 

 out and deliver the honey, to make the 

 sale o£ it in the first instance; it takes 

 your time to talk to this customer and 

 give him a itaste of your honey, and 

 to deliver it later. They are willing to 



pay something to know they are getting 

 good honey; no one should start out 

 to sell honey and try to give it away. 

 I know the line of talk; it is a mistake 

 to talk honey at low prices; we have 

 demonstrated it; I am not talking from 

 a theory; we have had actual practice. 

 If bee-keepers will go out for the ar- 

 ticle right, and ask a reasonable price, 

 and give the people something fine; 

 something rich, an article of good color 

 and fiavor — go to the customer's house 

 with such an article, and ask a reason- 

 able price — in time the people will look 

 for your coming and they will be willing 

 to pay what the thing is worth and it is 

 worth more than the net price to the 

 bee-keeper from the wholesale market. 

 It costs us to get the order; it costs 

 to deliver the honey; and then there 

 are overhead' expenses; when we get 

 through we have a cent or two profit 

 on it; and it is right we shiuld 'have a 

 legitimate profit. 



These middlemen are in a legitimate 

 husiness. They are doing for us, as Mr, 

 Pyles admits, what he cannot do for 

 himeslf. He does not stop to consider 

 what good work those people are doing 

 for him, by turning his crop into ready 

 cash; and they should not do the work 

 for nothing; they are entitled to a prof- 

 it. 



We want to ask a good price for our 

 honey — what it is worth; we are giving 

 the people a superior article; "Is not 

 the laborer worthy of his hire?' 



Mr. Pyles — We are getting back to 

 the same old question; now this has 

 been talked perhaps too much. But 

 Mr. Cavanagh thinks he is the con- 

 sistent fellow and that I am not; I am 

 doing, under the circumstances, what I 

 am practically compelled to. Mr. Cavan- 

 agh is advocating holding up the price 

 so that he can slip around and out- 

 talk the other fellow; he is in the honey 

 business himself; I am not trying to 

 take advantage of the "other" man. I 

 deal honorably with Peoria or Chicago 

 as I would ask them to do with me; 

 I don't try to leave a single case with 

 the grocer; yet I condemn the princi- 

 ple that a pound of honey will double 

 in price from the time it leaves my 

 hands until it gets to the consumer; 

 it is wrong; there is no reason why a 

 section of honey that will not weig'h 

 over 13 or 14 ounces should retail for 

 twenty or twenty-five cents; that is 

 too much of a profit. The comimission 

 m^en have rushed me all fall to get 



