ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



111 



production, but is that abominable 

 selling condition, for which the bee- 

 keeper is largely responsible. 



While it is the bee-keepers' fault, 

 it is not one of over-production, but 

 under-production. 



There are very few bee-keepers who 

 have honey on hand today. 



They have disposed of it before now. 



There are very few families that 

 will eat honey long, after January 1st, 

 possibly February 1st; and, until we 

 can get enough honey produced so 

 that we can supply the demand twelve 

 months in the year, we cannot hope 

 to develop a selling system adequate 

 to take care of the situation. 



The trouble is, there are not too 

 many bee-keepers — not too many pro- 

 ducers, but because we have not 

 enough. 



And what we need to have In the 

 United States is about ten times more 

 honey than we have today and the 

 price will most certainly increase. 



I don't think that can be questioned 

 at all. 



And here is another point: 



Bee-keepers are at fault in several 

 respects; they are selling honey, al- 

 most all of them, at too low prices. 



I know of bee-keepers who are sell- 

 ing honey which every bee-keeper 

 would think of an inferior quality, and 

 get twenty and twenty-five cents for 

 extracted honey, and the significant 

 thing is they never have a complaint 

 on account of the high prices. 



I realize that bee-keepers do meet 

 with complaints about high prices. It 

 depends where they go to sell honey. 



But what is the use? The bee- 

 keeper ought to answer. 



What is the use in trying to sell to 

 people who object to paying fifteen 

 cents, when there are people who will 

 not object to paying twenty-five cents; 

 we better go after that twenty-five- 

 cent trade. 



There is another thing that it may 

 not be well to mention: You know Of 

 large dealers in this country who are 

 selling on a larg-^ scale. I happen to 

 know the price is 25 cents, as you all 

 know, who are in competition with 

 that honey; I also happen to know 

 they expect to raise that price. If 

 they can do it, selling as widely as 

 they do, most assuredly people selling 

 at home can get better prices than 

 any firm selling nationally. 



I feel strongly on this point because 



I know of cases in which bee-keepers 

 are doing this thing. 



I know of a little group of bee- 

 keepers in this state selling a ton of 

 honey today and getting 20 cents a 

 pound, put up in tin. 



I know that these same men have 

 worked in Indiana and have gotten the 

 same price. 



It is sacrilege to put honey in tin, 

 nevertheless, they receive twenty cents 

 a pound; if it were put up in glass, 

 probably the bee-keepers would get 

 more out of it. 



But what I wanted to get at was, it 

 is only the stuff dumped out on the 

 market that determined the wholesale 

 prices; the men who sell the other 90 

 per cent at home get what they ask 

 and almost always without complaint. 



Mr. Bull— Candy sells for fifty and 

 sixty cents and more, per pound, and 

 there is more candy sold than honey. 

 There is something there that tickles 

 the palate, the same as honey. They 

 will pay the price for honey if we 

 give them a chance. 



Mr. Burnett — Doctor Phillips made 

 a statement here I can hardly let pass 

 without comment, by saying that the 

 ten per cent of the honey that is sold 

 On the market regulates the price of 

 honey; that Is not a fact so far as 

 my experience goes in 38 years in busi- 

 ness. 



Now, a member of this Association, 

 one time, brought me to task because 

 of the quotations that appeared on the 

 price of honey, and, being asked the 

 reason, he wanted a higher quotation. 



I said to him: "Why, that is all the 

 honey is selling for, why want a high- 

 er quotation?" 



"Well," he answered, "when you 

 quote honey at eight or nine cents a 

 pound, I go into the grocery stores 

 and they saj', 'Oh, well, we can buy 

 honey for so and so, for eight or nine 

 cents.' And he says: 'Well, yes, I will 

 sell to you for the same price.' 



"They say: 'We get a better assort- 

 ment and we can get what we want; 

 you have only one kind of honey; we 

 want different kinds of honey.' " 

 "Now," he sajs, "if you would quote 

 a little higher prices; I am selling my 

 honey one cent a pound cheaper than 

 your quotation." 



Then there is another reason why 

 this is not true — is not a fact: 



The Doctor and his collaborator here 



