Dec. 29, 1904. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



887 



haps it would not be out of place to nienuon a few con- 

 ditions which call for this united action on the part of 

 producers of honey to market their product collectively. 



The Good Rook tells us, in II Timothy 3:2, "For men 

 shall be lovers of their own selves," and we find that the 

 buyers of honey, and the manipulators of the honey 

 market, are quite apt to be included in the class mentioned 

 in this statement. Another one of these conditions is, 

 that the large consumers of honey, those that use quanti- 

 ties of from fifty carloads upward per annum, have united 

 their energies with the buyers and commisison brokers. 

 This has brought about an effect that the price of our 

 product, as individuals, is largelj- left to what they are 

 inclined to quote us. For instance, one who offers a car- 

 load of honey to the market at San Francisco, which 

 market is based upon the Eastern market, after being 

 quoted his price, the firm who makes its quotation, is not 

 satistied to allow the seller the privilege of trying to 

 secure a better price in the East, but will immediately 

 wire Iiis offer, with other information; to all the other 

 links in this great chain of compulsion, located through- 

 out the honey centers of the United States. And vice 

 versa. The offers and quotations of the East are wired 

 to the West, and all are agreed to stand firm on one 

 common price, until competition, which is the "life of 

 trade." is totally obliterated. 



Really, the onljf competition that exists today in the 

 honey market, is created by producers who individually 

 market their honey. I think perhaps this phase of the 

 question is so well imderstood by us. it needs no further 

 comment here, and we will now turn our attention to- 

 ward the subject of this paper. 



It is quite evident that the bee-keepers of this twen- 

 tieth century are looking forward to some escape from 

 this Juggernaut, which is crushing the life out of trade. 

 And it is quite apparent that a spirit of co-operation does 

 already exist, which is the only thing that can bring about 

 this change from individuality to collectively marketing 

 our product. 



It is a fact, however, that among us there is a ten- 

 dency to wait to see the plan developed before we 

 venture into the project ourselves. This is the most dan- 

 gerous ground we can stand upon. One can readily see 

 that after he has produced a crop of honey that can be 

 sold upon the general market for, say $1,000, and can get 

 his money without delay, that he will hesitate to turn the 

 selling of this to new and perhaps untried channels; and 

 in order to succeed, we must develop a channel in which 

 every producer among us will have full and complete 

 confidence. It must be made up of those who have made 

 a success of this very kind of work, and who have experi- 

 ence and talent. They must be people who are renowned 

 in this line, and of whose standing everybodj' has a gen- 

 eral knowledge. Also they tiiust have a standing in busi- 

 ness which they cannot afford to jeopardize for the paltry 

 sum of a few dollars which they could make by being 

 placed in this position of trust. 



Let there be a board of directors made up of this 

 class. Let the number be five. Allow them a salary to 

 pay them for the time which they will spend in oversee- 

 ing their employed managers. Give them power to open 

 a central office, in which their manager will receive from 

 local, organizations, crop reports, samples of honey, 

 amounts ready for shipment, and correspondence of every 

 nature that will be directed to a business of this sort. 

 Then let the smaller, or local organizations, with which 

 the country is already well covered, use this general or 

 National Honey Producers' Association for their market. 

 This will make a gigantic brokerage system within our 

 own ranks, one in which one and all can trust. Then it 

 will come to pass that we will be the market, we will be 

 the head and not the tail. We will be able to quote a liv- 

 ing price for our product and realize as much. 



The points mentioned so far in this paper are readily 

 admitted by all, but the question as to how we shall arrive 

 at this point of success, is the one that now confronts 

 us. The only way is to launch out. There was never a 

 boat that floated until it had an opportunity. The time 

 is now ripe and the opportunity is ours. Let this con- 

 vention appoint a committee who will name the first five 

 directors who will dr.iw up the by-laws and report before 

 th^s meeting adjourns. Let the glad news be sounded 

 from this center, and the birth of the baby, which should 

 be received in every quarter with much joy. Then every 

 locality where honey is produced should be encouraged 



t.> ..r.i;:iuize. with the view before them that they arc to 

 patronize the National Honey Producers' Association 

 for their market; and once in the stream we will move 

 out in the breeze and lift our sails one by one as the 

 occasion demands. 



The organization should be a stock company, place 

 the capital stock at $50,000, and sell only to organized 

 companies and associations. Limit each such company 

 or association to one share for the company or associa- 

 tion, and an additional share for every 25 members there- 

 after. Place the par value at $100 per share, and the 

 voting will be done by these associations or companies 

 governed bj' a vote to each share. In this way we can 

 always keep the management within our own control. 

 No one person, or for that matter a few, can buy up the 

 controlling interest in the association; dividends to be 

 declared upon net profits, derived from the commissions 

 made in the business, funds for sale of stock to be used 

 as capital in which to establish the business. 



In conclusion, allow me to add, that we should lose 

 no time in starting off this important work. We are 

 losing far too much money each year to remain silent 

 and appear to be satisfied when, as a mater of fact, we are 

 not. The buyers and wholesale merchants have organized 

 against us, and our only chance of escape now is through 

 the same channel — organization. Let us be wise, and use 

 our freedom while we find a disposition within our rank 

 to do so. F. E. Brown. 



Mr. Diebold moved, seconded by Mr. Atidrews, that 

 the chair appoint a committee of five to devise methods 

 for co-operation in the marketing of honey. 



Mr. Andrews — We have found in California from one 

 year's trial that we could save the price it cost us to 

 organize. We paid five cents per pound membership, 

 and w-e found we got back all we paid into it the first 

 year. We found we could buy our supplies through this 

 organization enough cheaper to pay all our expenses. 

 We found another thing in marketing our crop, the 

 great majority do not know when they are offered all 

 their honey is worth. When we were ready to place our 

 honey on the market the association had orders for some- 

 thing like eight carloads. The members would not turn 

 their honey over at the price the association had fixed, 

 and consequently they had to pass those orders by. Manj' 

 of them held their honey over a year and took consider- 

 ably less than we had been offered at that time. Many of 

 the men need money right at the time the crop is har- 

 vested, and we need to provide some means whereby 

 those men can draw on that honey and get money at a 

 low rate of interest. 



Mr. Abbott — I am greatly interested in this matter. 

 The query comes to me why this association should stand 

 bv at the birth of a lion cub to eat up her own chil- 

 dren. It is strange to me we should take the time of 

 this organization to organize a financial institution that 

 could not possibly be a part or parcel of this Association. 

 A great deal of this seems to sound verj' nice. For in- 

 stance, we were told that oranges were the same price in 

 California as in Missouri. I stand here to say as a stu- 

 dent of political economy that transportation is a part of 

 production, and that declaration is incontrovertible. Every 

 man that brings an article to the place of consumption 

 enters into the production of the article, and if trans- 

 portation is a part of production it is all fallacy to talk 

 about oranges being worth the same price in California 

 that they are in the State of Missouri; and that is the 

 complaint that is made about machinery in the United 

 States and in foreign countries; even sewing machines 

 are sold for less money in foreign countries than they 

 are sold for here, and it is unjust and unfair. The paper 

 further tells us that these buyers have combined, and 

 these supply dealers have combined, and they have 

 all combined, and there is a great octopus with its mouth 

 wide open sweeping over the countrj' endeavoring to 

 consume everybody and everything it comes in contact 

 with. I ask you to point out the man that has made these 

 combines? Show me where the men are that represent 

 the honey combine in the United States. There is not 

 any such thing in existence. I believe we can drift on 

 towards socialism and make a social business institution, 

 but so far as I am concerned individually, I want to say 

 the National Bee-Keepers' Association stands for the in- 

 dividual bee-keeper and not for a financial combine. I 

 see no reason why we should organize another society to 

 destroy our society. Let this Association alone as it is, 



