THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



233 



cy of the bears and speculators, and 

 in many instances, tliey have simply 

 luvn tleeced and compelled to sell their 

 liard-earned product for less tlftin the 

 cost of production. The most deplora- 

 ble filature of the business is the 

 firindinj,' down of the small producer. 

 He that is the most needy, by the na- 

 ture of circumstances, has been ground 

 the closest, while the large producer, 

 and those best able to stand financial- 

 ly, have been able to secure better 

 prices. 



HOW how PRICKS ARK KSTABI.ISHED. 



Here is one of the common methods 

 used, and one which frequently es- 

 taJ)lishes the price in a community. A 

 bee-keeper who depends largely on his 

 honey product for a livelihood, (and 

 there are many such in Southern Cali- 

 fornia), is compelled to run grocery 

 bills and other accounts, and he is 

 under obligations to his creditoi's to 

 meet the same with the proceeds of 

 his l)(>es. The harvest comes, he 

 hauls his first product to the market, 

 and offers it for sale. The honey mer- 

 chant, or commission mau, treats the 

 seller with cool indifference. His plea 

 is: "No market. Too soon I" His in- 

 difference is only equaled by his eager- 

 ness to know the lowest tigiu'es that 

 will buy the honey. The poor bee- 

 keeper, through necessity, puts the 

 price down to ruinous figures. The 

 honey merchant .becomes very i)hil- 

 anthropic; he purchases the honey, we 

 will say, for SYj t-ts. per pound. The 

 next bee-keeper who hauls his honey 

 to market is informed that they are 

 paying 8i/^ cts per pound for honey: 

 and thus the market is established in 

 that vicinity. 



THE LONG STRING OF MIDDLEMEN. 



The interior merchant frequently 

 has a mortgage upon the producer's 

 product, and he is. in a manner, com- 

 pelled to sell his honey, at said mer- 

 chant's own figures. The merchant 



sells to a San Diego merchant, the 

 San Diego merchant to a San Fran- 

 cisco merchant, the Sau Francisco 

 merchant ships his honey, by the car- 

 load, to a Chicago merchant, the Chi- 

 cago merchant ships to the jobbing 

 houses, and the retail merchant sells 

 to the consumer; herein we have an 

 aggregation of five or six middle men, 

 that are surely in the business for a 

 prolit, which must be paid by the pro- 

 ducer. 



The object of co-operation, is to 

 keep in direct touch, through our or- 

 ganization, with the consumer, as 

 near as possible, thus saving nil un- 

 necessary profits to speculators and 

 middle men. Can this be done? I 

 do not look upon this as a mooted 

 question. We certainly have many 

 precedents in the citrus fruit organiza- 

 tion, raisin growers, etc. Our product 

 is by no means perishable, and we 

 only re(iuire appropriate laws, rules 

 and regulations, to accomplish results 

 that will be in keeping with kindred 

 organizations. Can it become Nation- 

 al? Along the same line of corpora- 

 tion as similar institutions, yes. Let 

 the National Bee-keepers' Association 

 at Los Angeles, in August, bring this 

 matter up, and discuss the various 

 methods. The California National 

 Honey Producers' Association is al- 

 ready incorporated, and, from all ap- 

 pearances, will do very effective work 

 this season. Its fitness and deserved 

 confidence of the National idea re- 

 mains to be seen. Let us have light. 



San Marcos. Cal., July 0, 190."?. 



LOvSE THE SEASON BY 

 KEEPING IN VIEW THE 

 FUTURE. BY M. A. GILL. 



all the problems of life "The 

 is the opportune time, and per- 

 haps there is no better way to make 

 it best subserve our interests than in 



