136 



TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT OP THE 



Shall the National Sell Honey for its 

 Members? 



"Shall the National Association share 

 a profit above expenses of operating' on 

 honey sold for its members?" 



"Shall it sell honey for members?" 

 Mr. Dadant — I should think that 

 would come under the jurisdiction of 

 the Executive Committee, taut it will 

 not hurt to have the Convention g'ive 

 its ideas and opinions, so that Mr. Cav- 

 anagh will know which way to vote. 



Pres. Huffman — What is your pleas- 

 ure in regard to these questions? 



Mr. Kannenberg — I believe, as far as 

 the question of cans' goes: We always 

 had the cans at cost from the Ameri- 

 can Canning Company. 



Mr. Cavanagh — Looking at it from 

 a purely personal standpoint: It is no 

 help to many of us to buy cans from 

 the National because we are not in- 

 terested personally; but looking at it 

 from the standpoint of an organization 

 of the Northwestern Bee-Keeping As- 

 sociation and the National Bee-Keepers' 

 Assiociation in general, I think it w^ould 

 be a benefit in organizing, and in order 

 to get the smaller fellows in, to post 

 them and have them posted on prices 

 of honey and supplies, we will have 

 to give them some inducement, to show 

 them that if they pay $1.00 or $1.50, they . 

 are going to get $1.50 worth, with in- 

 terest. For that reason I think the selling 

 proposition could be used as an induce- 

 ment to increase our organization and 

 make it better all the way through — 

 to strengthen it — and by handling a 

 large amount of business we can do 

 it on a cheaper basis, on a less ex- 

 pensive basis I would giay than on a 

 smaller scale of doing business. Now 

 if we handle honey and supplies, and 

 can give the little fellow the benefit 

 of buying at a loVer price, direct, that 

 will be an inducement for them to 

 come in and pay their dues and push 

 the National along and the Northwest- 

 ern, and make bee-keeping a larger and 

 better proposition, and we will have 

 better meetings here and we will have 

 a stronger organization. 



On the other hand — if we try to do 

 business without adding a profit on to 

 every one alike, we will have to look 

 somewhere to be reimbursed. 



It seems to me, to have a scale of 

 prices which will be slightly below the 

 jobber's prices, and then cut out the 

 assessment proposition — is the better 

 way to do> it, unless we want to go in 



on the Mutual plan and assess. I 

 think it would be well to charge a 

 profit, and declare a dividend, and run» 

 it like a Stock Company; I think the 

 bee-keepers would be more interested 

 in such a proposition, where thej' get 

 a financial return. 



There is not one of us who come to 

 this Convention but that receives $10.00 

 in value; they may not think of it at 

 the time, but the little ideas I have re- 

 ceived here today I think will be worth 

 $100.00 to me the next season; and be- 

 sides I have had a good time. 



I think the thing to do is to get to- 

 gether on a mutual basis, in buying 

 and selling honey and selling supplies 

 which they buy at wholesale prices, 

 or whether they will charge a profit — 

 which is it, profit or assesment of 

 members? An assessment never looks 

 good; make it a busines organization 

 I would say; tell the members you ex- 

 pect them to pay for what they get, but 

 that they can buy decidedly cheaper. 

 Put it on a business basis, and then 

 if there is a reserve fund at the end of 

 the year, give it back to the people 

 where it belongs. 



Mr. Pyles — Along this line — it doesn't 

 look fair to me that we should be under 

 an assessment basis because a man who 

 buys $10.00 worth of supplies is pay- 

 ing the same under the assessment plan 

 as the man who bought $1,000 worth. 

 The business should be S'elf supporting; 

 if there is a profit made, it should be 

 divided up; the per cent should be 

 in proportion to the amount the man 

 bought; if a member only bought $10 

 worth of stuff, he should not receive 

 as much as one who buys $1,000 worth. 

 Talking about putting in $10, there 

 would be very few members who would 

 not put in $10. If the Association is 

 going to give something to its mem- 

 bers, there must be somebody who is 

 absolutely honorable to manage this, 

 and then a reasonable profit could be 

 added and a dividend declared at the 

 end of the year, and what looks to me 

 would be best would be to sell at the 

 cost of the goods and the operating ex- 

 pense only and let the members take 

 advantage of buying of the Association 

 or wherever they please. 



Mr. Cavanagh — There is a thought in 

 connection there of handling honey or 

 anything: Tou always have the credit 

 S3'stem. If we start out to sell honey 

 (from the producer's standpoint) — ■ 

 handle the members' honey — the ques- 



