ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION, 



81 



biggest part of the work is addres^^ing your 

 envelopes, folding the ijetters and getting 

 them ready to mail. 



In making up that index of names, the 

 list of names, there is a lot of work to that, 

 too. You have got to have all that suff 

 indexed, look up each name and see if 

 you have got it, and you have got to send 

 out letters to get those names. I have six 

 hundred names now. If you send out a 

 letter, I would say we ought to send out 

 one letter with three-cent postage on it, 

 to each of those six hundred names. When 

 we do that, we know whether they get it 

 or not. If they do not get it. we will take 

 that name off the list; we will not waste 

 any more postage on it. We have got to 

 make our list a large one. At the same 

 time we send out a blank to be filled in 

 with the name and address of all the bee- 

 keepers around there. From that six 

 hundred names you will soon build it up 

 to six thousand. But what good will it 

 do to build it up if you haven't got the 

 money to carry it through. I took a 

 chance on guessing how much money we 

 would get in, and guessing how much it 

 would cost. That is the reason I only 

 got up a list of six hundred names. I 

 don't know how^ many bee-keepers there 

 are in the four states around, representa- 

 tive of this Association, but I should say 

 there are a thousand of them and then a 

 good many more, and when I say that I am 

 referring to the bee-keepers who have ten 

 colonies or more. If we had tried to make 

 the list from one up, they say there are 

 thirty-five thousand in the State of Illinois 

 alone. If we can send a letter to each bee- 

 keeper who has ten colonies or more, we 

 should worry about those who have less 

 than ten. What little honey they have 

 won't amount to very much. We want 

 the other follows. 



I might mention a little instance that 

 occurred right in our own town. Most of 

 you heard what our report was for honey, 

 and yet about a week and a half ago an 

 advertisement came out in our local paper, 

 "Country honey, twenty cents per cake, 

 delivered." Did that party get one of 

 these price letters? No, she didn't. I 

 immediately got busy on the phone. I 

 told her what her honey was worth. I 

 said, "If you don't want to put the price 

 uj), if you still insist on selling it at twenty 

 cents, bring me up what you have left 

 and I will take it." She didn't bring it 

 up, but she didn't advertise any more 

 honey at twenty cents. She probably 

 would have wanted twenty-fi.ve if I had 

 bought it. 



Mr. Stewart — You can get all the comb 

 honey you want in this town at fifteen 

 cents a pound. 



Mr. Bull — I will take all you can get 

 at that price. 



Mr. Coleman — Right down on State 

 Street, you can see Airline, two pounds 

 and four ounces, seventy-five cent?. 



The Secretary — The standard^ price on 

 Airline is thirty-five cents in cartons. 



Mr. Stewart — This is a reliable firm; 

 put that down. 



The Secretary — You all know that honey 

 cannot be bought for that. If there is 

 anybody in Chicago that wants to sell 

 honey for less than what it is bought at, 

 it is up to them. I don't think you will 

 find that generally. 



The President — We uruierstand that the 

 purpose of this committee is not to put an 

 exorbitant price on our product, but it is 

 to enlighten those people who are selling 

 away down below what they should. 

 Hundreds of bee-keepers are so afraid they ' 

 will not dispose of their crop, that thej^ sell ' 

 it for less than it is worth. The purpose 

 of this committee is to enlighten people as 

 to what honey is actually worth on the 

 market. The result in my locality has 

 been to raise the price. I believe the 

 work of this committee should be con- 

 tinued, and not only continued but should 

 be extended. If we are not ready to con- 

 sider the means of doing so at present , 

 perhaps we would better let this question 

 go over until tomorrow, till some of the 

 gentlemen have a chance to work out some 

 practical scheme to present for our con- 

 sideration. 



Mr. Kanneberg — Mr. President, why not 

 ask tlje other Association, for instance, 

 the Wisconsin Association, and all these 

 other Associations, to help us in that? 

 Wouldn't they combine with us, so that 

 we could extend these things in _ good 

 shape? 



The President — It might be a good thing, 

 but it would be difficult to get together 

 with them. A committee will have to be 

 appointed, and it must not be a very large 

 committee, or else much will not be done. 

 We are not acquaninted with those people, 

 and they are not acquainted with us verj^ 

 well. It might work out all right. I do 

 not see that it would, just at present. 



The Secretary — 1 think this is a scheme 

 a little bit too young. We have got to 

 get it going a little bit stronger. When 

 anything is going, everybody else wants 

 to get in. We don't want to ask people 

 to get in, we want them to come and want 

 to get in. After you get this thing to going 



— 6 B A 



