72 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



fore the organization gets into perfect 

 running order; but it seems to me 

 that Mr Hyde has gone out of his 

 way to And some of these obstacles. 

 He thinlvs bee-keepers will be slow 

 to join the organization, and I have 

 no doubt of it if we have enough 

 writers who are looking for obstacles 

 in the way, and showing up the dark 

 side of the subject. No doubt, as he . 

 says, there will be those who will not 

 tote fair; will grade dislionestly, etc. 

 In short, will be chronic kickers. The 

 remedy for such will be to kick tliem 

 out. I tliink all organizations, fra- 

 ternal and others, meet Avitli sucli 

 men; but that does not cause the or- 

 ganizations to abandon their pur- 

 poses. 



NO NEED OF COSTI,Y OFFICE-FIXTURES. 



As to Iiigh salaried officers and ex- 

 pensive offices and fixtures, we must 

 choose wisely in this matter, and try 

 to strilve tlie happy medium. The of- 

 fice should be neat, tidy and conven- 

 ient, but need not necessarily he elab- 

 orate or extravagant. The General 

 Manager and his assistants need not 

 receive a salary tliat will outdo the 

 President of a great railway systeni 

 or a steel trust; but, at the same time, 

 we must remember tliat a man cap- 

 able of managing the affairs of the 

 association economically and satisfac- 

 torily to the members will lie one who 

 can command a good salary else- 

 where, therefore, we must not expect 

 to secure a capable man at a meagre 

 salary. 



Mr. Hyde says we must consider 

 the great cost of operation. In reply 

 to this let me draw a comparison, 

 which, at present, is only an imagin- 

 ary one. 



A GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION. 



We will clioose a large city having 

 a warehouse and office with a man- 

 ager and his assistants. The ware- 



house is clean and tidy, conveniently 

 arranged and kept at the proper tem- 

 perature to improve rather than in- 

 jure the quality of the honey stored 

 therein. 



The helpers here are men who 

 know what honey is and understand 

 handling it. The producers who ship 

 their honey to tliis wareliouse are 

 practical, well-read, intelligent bee- 

 keepers, Avho put up tlieir lioney in 

 niarketiible shape. The manager con- 

 tiols, Avo will say, ninety per cent, 

 of the honey coming to the city. 

 A retr.il merchant in this city goes to 

 this manager to purchase a few cases 

 of honey. The manager, or one of his 

 assistants, sliows him through the 

 warehouse where the honey is# stor- 

 ed so as to show to the best advantage. 

 The merchant selects his lioney and 

 pays the prices asked by the man- 

 ager, as he has no access to a hundred 

 and one commission liouses. 



Now let us draw another picture. 

 We ha^e another large city where or- 

 ganization is unknown. rrolsa))ly one 

 hundred commission houses are doing 

 Inisiness there. Should you write to 

 any one of these, he will reply that 

 they have excellent facilit'e-! for 

 handling honey, and can secure a 

 good price fo'* it, while the real fact 

 is tliat tliey probably get only a fev/ 

 cases each year. 



Tlie farmer-bee-keeper, who puts 

 up his honey most any old way. ships 

 to sucli houses, or has his home-inei"- 

 chant ship it for him. The commis- 

 sion man receives such consignments, 

 and. as likely as not. stores it in a 

 cold, damp, dark room that is none 

 too clean, along with butter, eggs, 

 hides, feathers, old I'ags. tallow, etc. 



Probably I am overdrawing tliis a 

 little, but I have been in just such 

 coniniission liouses. 



A retail merchant in this city 

 wishes to purchase a few cases of 



