ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



145 



there are too many leeches between 

 the producer and the consumer. Under- 

 stand me, I do not mean to say that 

 all middle-men are leeches or para- 

 sites, but some of them are. A more 

 direct marketing scheme or plan will 

 have to be originated. The producer 

 is not getting his rightful share of the 

 consumer's dollar. Far too much of it 

 is going for transportation charges, 

 and for handling the products between 

 producer and consumer. This applies 

 also to honey and its producers. 



One trouble in the past has been 

 that large producers of honey have 

 seemed to think that Chicago and New 

 York were the only cities or markets 

 to which to ship their honey. The re- 

 sult was that so much honey came into 

 those cities that the price was lowered, 

 and the honey prices of those two 

 markets seemed almost to govern 

 everywhere else. ^ 



There are many smaller markets 

 that have been passed by, which, no 

 doubt, would have taken a fair supply 

 of honey, and at a fairly profitable 

 price. Now, what the National asso- 

 ciation proposes to do is to put its 

 affiliated branches in touch with those 

 neglected markets, and thus keep all 

 more evenly supplied with honey. This 

 must be a wise thing to do, and when 

 once in operation should go far toward 

 equalizing the honey crop among the 

 places that will take it at fairly re- 

 munerative prices. 



Another thing that should be done 

 is to advertise honey. The amount of 

 general ignorance regarding the health- 

 ful qualities of honey Is indeed most 

 surprising. I dare say not one person 

 in ten knows anything at all about the 

 value of honey as an article of food. 

 Other things have been successfully 

 advertised, hence their sale is greatly 

 increased. 



One would naturally suppose that 

 butter would need no general publicity 

 in order to sell it, but I have seen cer- 

 tain brands of butter advertised ex- 

 tensively during the past few years. If 

 butter needs advertising, then how 

 much more does honey require it? 



But of course it takes money to ad- 

 vertise. Still, if every commercial 

 honey producer would contribute only 

 a little to a general advertising fund, 

 you would be surprised how soon it 

 would amount to a respectable fund. 

 Say one-eighth cent per pound for ex- 

 tracted and one-fourth cent for comb, 

 —10 



that would be $2.50 for every ton of ex- 

 tracted, and $5.00 for every ton of 

 comb honey. The producer of 10 tons 

 of extracted honey would pay only 

 $25.00 as his share of the annual ad- 

 vertising fund. 



The important question of "brand" 

 always appears when it comes to ad- 

 vertising any product. But the Na- 

 tional association will likely be able to 

 take care of that matter whenever it 

 comes to it. 



I wish I could induce every bee- 

 keepers' organization to become a 

 branch of the National, and send its 

 delegates to the annual meetings, for 

 then I believe that in a few years the 

 JSTational would be in a position to 

 prove to its membership its real value. 

 "In union there is strength." The more 

 local branches the National has, the 

 stronger it will be, and the more it 

 can do for all. It will then be only a 

 question of time until it can be a 

 power in the marketing of honey, in 

 finding new markets, in advertising 

 honey as a health food, and in doing 

 numberless things for the benefit of 

 honey producers which it cannot do 

 now because of its small resources and 

 limited membership. 



The present Board of Directors are 

 doing all they can to place the National 

 on a firm basis, but they need all the 

 help they can possibly get. They are 

 working on big problems, and must 

 have the combined wisdom and ex- 

 perience of as many live, progressive 

 honey producers as they can enlist in 

 behalf of the success of the associa- 

 tion. 



I hope the Cincinnati convention will 

 mark an epoch in the history of the 

 National association, and that in the 

 very near future will be seen just how 

 great things it can do for the upbuild- 

 ing and extension of bee-keeping and 

 honey production in America. 



"With high hopes for a larger success 

 and development in the business of 

 honey production, on account of the 

 efforts of the National Bee -Keepers' 

 Association, and with a deep apprecia- 

 tion of the honor it has conferred upon 

 me as its president for five years in 

 all, I bid you Godspeed in your worthy 

 efforts, and have only hearty good 

 wLshes for a most harmonious and 

 successful meeting in Cincinnati. 

 Fraternally yours, 

 GEORGE W. YORK, President. 

 Sandpoint, Idaho, January 31, 1913. 



