252 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Conversations Avith Doolittle 



At Borodino, New York. 



WEALTH-PRODUCERS. 



" Mr. Doolittle, I came over to have a 

 little chat with you about the middleman as 

 a wealth-producer. We are hearing much 

 at the present time about the high cost of 

 living. Does not every one of the dealers 

 add to the cost of living without producing 

 any wealth? This question was brought up 

 to my mind when I was thinking of buying 

 my bee supplies for the coming honey har- 

 vest. I find that, as a rule, I can get these 

 goods no cheaper of the dealer than of the 

 manufacturer; but the dealer must have 

 quite a large slice out of the pockets of some 

 one in order that he can be allowed to live 

 in idleness. Why I say idleness is because 

 a prominent political economist told me the 

 other day that a trader or dealer adds noth- 

 ing to the real wealth of society." 



" Suppose we ask the question. What is 

 production? and who are the jDroducers of 

 wealth? Take, for instance, the section 

 material we need for use when we are en- 

 gaged in the production of section honey. 

 The man who takes a plank of wood and 

 cuts section material from it is not the only 

 producer who has brought human energy 

 to bear upon it. The man who cut the tree 

 up in the north woods of Michigan or Can- 

 ada helped to produce that section. The 

 man who drew the log to the mill, and the 

 sawyer at the mill who sawed the log into 

 plank, and the transportation company who 

 transported it to the manufacturer of sec- 

 tions; the party who took the finished sec- 

 tions and put them down Avhere they were 

 to be used, and the man who received them 

 and held them in his storehouse until the 

 beekeeper was ready to exchange the fruits 

 of liis labors for them, all had a hand in 

 the production of those sections. 



" Let us go a little further : Every one 

 who put forth any energy in getting the 

 section to the place of consumption was a 

 producer of sections so far as that section 

 and the individual consumer were con- 

 cerned ; for to leave any of them out would 

 deprive the consumer of his sections at the 

 proper time and place. You live in central 

 New York, and the section was made at 

 Medina, Ohio, we will say. That section 

 would be of no use to you until it found its 

 way to central New York. And it seems 

 almost ridiculous for me to say to a man of 

 your intelligence that this section could 

 come through the regular channels of trade 

 cheaper for you than in any other way. It 

 is true that you might stop work and walk 

 out to Medina and bring the section back 



in your pocket; but I will not insult you 

 by saying that such a method would prove 

 more expensive than to have it carried by 

 a ' soulless railroad corporation ' at the di- 

 rection of the so-called * useless middleman.' 

 No : the dealer is not an idler by any means. 



" Let us look at the finished product of 

 our section honey for a moment. Where 

 did such production begin, and where did it 

 end? Are the bees the producers, or is the 

 man who manipulates the bees the chief 

 and only factor in the production of honey 

 in sections? When is this production com- 

 pleted? and when does the act of produc- 

 tion cease and that of consumption begin? 

 Is it not plain that production ceases when 

 the honey is in the iiands of the consumer, 

 and not before? If this is so, then every 

 man or woman who had any part in getting 

 the honey in the hands of the consumer is a 

 real producer. 



" Then there is a point as regards the 

 dealer in honey, which is almost always 

 overlooked. The dealer, as a rule, helps 

 create a desire for our finished product, 

 and, therefore, has much to do with the 

 production of section honey. Whatever sat- 

 isfies human desire can properly be called 

 wealth; and if there were none desiring our 

 honey it would, to say the least, be a use- 

 less production which we should be in. 

 There must be a desire for our finished 

 section honey before it can be called wealth ; 

 therefore the dealer or ' drummer ' who cre- 

 ates a desire for our product must of ne- 

 cessity be called a producer. 



" It is apparent from this that the dealer 

 is valuable in more ways than one. He not 

 only helps to sell our product by creating 

 a want for it, but he brings goods to the 

 jDoint of consumption at less cost than they 

 could be brought by the consumer, and at 

 a saving of time. He keeps on hand ready 

 for the consumer such goods as he may 

 want, and at the time he wants them. Tliis 

 relieves the consumer of all anxiety and 

 responsibility, and he has the use of the 

 money up to the very time when he is ready 

 for the article he needs. The nearer the 

 article is to him when he is ready for it, the 

 longer he can wait before he gets it. The 

 dealer has to assume all the risk; and any 

 man who knows any thing about the honey 

 business knows that this is no small item. 

 There is a possibility that we may have too 

 many dealers — that some of these dealers 

 are over-reaching and unwise. But it is 

 sometimes well to ask ourselves these ques- 

 tions, else we become uncharitable." 



