\M 



84 



SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL KEPOKT OF THE 



or another, and don't use it again for a 

 number of yeare. These things have all 

 got to be taken into consideration to find 

 your proportion. 



I didn't intend to make a speech when I 

 started out on this subject, and probably 

 it is a little out of keeping with what has 

 been said. HoweVer, I am willing to 

 answer any questions I can on this m atter. 



The President — I see we have with us 

 this afternoon Mr. Woodman of Grand 

 Rapids, Michigan. We will be glad to 

 hear from him on whatever subject he is 

 prepared to talk. 



Mr. Woodman — That is something I 

 never do, talk; excuse me. 



The President — We will be glad to hear 

 from you, Mr. Woodman. 



Mr. Woodman — I guess you will have to 

 excuse me. Thank you very much for 

 your invitation. 



Mr. Wheeler — Mr. President, before we 

 leave that subject, that is a nice little point 

 of Mr. Barnett's about the talking of a 

 poor crop helping or hindering the sale of 

 it. I have wondered a good deal about 

 that, whether it would do it or not. It 

 is a very nice thing, when you have sold 

 honey at a certain price for years back, 

 and have had to raise it, to say that there 

 is one-tenth of a crop. People are quite 

 inclined just now to accuse everj'body of 

 being in a trust and boosting the price, 

 because everything else is high. It is a 

 nice point there, as to whether to tell the 

 customers that it is due to a short crop, 

 or "We are going up in price because other 

 foodstuff is going up in price." I would 

 like to hear from some of the other folks 

 about it. It is a question in my mind 

 whether it is a good thing or not. 



The Secretary — In regard to that short 

 crop proposition, I find pretty near every- 

 body I come up against, if T tell them 

 there is a short crop, they knew it before 

 hand. I wonder where they get their 

 information? That is what kind of per- 

 plexes me. They all expect to pay more 

 for honey. They all understand that there ■ 

 is a short crop. Where do they get their 

 information? I would like for somebody 

 to answer that. 



Mr. C. 0. Smith — I don't believe that is 

 very hard to answer. The crop is short. 

 That is the truth, people usually know 

 the truth. 



The Secretary — Not always. 



Mr. Smith — Not alwaj's',' but they usu- 

 ally do. 



The Secretary — Not in regard to honey. 



Mr. Smith— The man who doesn't read 

 knows his locality, and then most of them 

 knew from that source that the crop was 



short. The man who reads and gets the 

 reports from all over the Unit^ ; States 

 knows the crop is short. 



The Secretary-I am not talking about 

 bee-keepers, but I am talking about the 

 consumers. For instance, here in Chicago 

 the consumers never read any of the bee 

 journals; all they get is the ordinary news- 

 paper. 



Mrs. J. G. Reichert — :The newspapers 

 gave the information this year, that the 

 crop was short. 



Mr. Wheeler — I know one way that peo- 

 ple know it, the automobile has helped 

 them out. I have known people to go out 

 in the country and take a ride of ten, fifteen . 

 and twenty-five miles in automobiles, and, 

 buy some honey. They buy it cheap. " 

 They buy of you folks that have sold your 

 honey cheap. This year they got their 

 automobile ride and no honey. That is 

 one way thev found there was no honev. 

 They go back to the same people they 

 bought from last year and the year before, 

 for a cheap price, and they have come 

 back without any honey. It is surprising 

 how many, many people this winter, more 

 than ever before, have been in the habit of 

 going out and getting honey of the pro- 

 ducers and buying it for about half what 

 it was selling for on the market. I think 

 that is one way they find out about it. 



Mr. Burnett — What Mr. Wheeler sayS 

 about it is quite true, and locally that 

 explains to Mr. Bull, T hope, why the 

 information has been spread as it has 

 been, and generally, through the country. 

 And now, if no one is going to ask any 

 questions, I will go on with my story. As 

 a matter of fact, your committee on prices 

 of honey would have been in the soup, so 

 to speak, but for one fact, and I see Mr. 

 Dadant knows what I am going to saj*. 

 There was a demand this year for honey 

 from sources that we never had before. 

 That's why the committee has won out. 

 Our prices would have been a big hind- 

 rance, in a way, to people who had honey, 

 if it had not been for what we term a 

 foreign demand. The foreif^n demand 

 came early. It came before the crop of 

 honey was made in this part of the world, 

 and it came from Europe. It came in 

 quantities that required a whole steamer 

 at a time to take it. That took off of thi"* 

 market honeys that before have never been 

 sold, in my experience in the last twenty- 

 five years, at over five and six cents a 

 pound, and seven cents, and they paid as 

 high as fifteen cents for it. We recently 

 have sold here a few carloads of honey 

 that was simplj'^ unmarketable, so far 

 as being able to use it was concerned, for 



