Published Monthly by the W. T. Falconer Manfg Oo. 



Vol. vin. 



JUNE, J898. 



No. 6. 



PROBI^KM OF MARKETING. 



Written for the American Bee-Kerpcr. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



§T was with more than usual inter- 

 est that I read the article by 

 friend Jolley under the above 

 caption, in the March American Bee- 

 Keeper. 



I was so interested that I read the arti- 

 cle the second and the third time. Then 

 I fell to wondering if that sentence, 

 which is the underlying principle of 

 the whole argument, "That the produc- 

 ers have worked their own ruin, is es- 

 pecially true of the honey producer," 

 was true or not. This led me to ask 

 some questions. Has the massing of 

 our honey in the large cities, or "great 

 emporiums where the market price is 

 made," been the means of bringing the 

 price down from 25 to 30 cents in the 

 early seventies, to from 10 to 12 cents 

 now? Is it true that "the cause that 

 has been pre-eminent in lowering the 

 price of honey has been the compe- 

 tition among the commission men and 

 dealers" in our " great emporiums?" 

 Did friend Jolley stop to fully analyze 

 his thoughts when he committed him- 

 self to such statements? Will these 

 reasons solve the mystery why butter, 

 beans, barley, wheat, oats, etc., bring a 

 like less average price with honey? If 

 it will, should not the same logic ap- 



ply, to horses, farms, bees, etc., which 

 have fallen in like proportion? "Will 

 friend -Jolley attempt to say that the 

 reason why 1 caviuot now sell my placo 

 of thirty acres with good buildings on 

 it for $50 an acre, while I had to pay 

 $100 an acre for it in 1874, is because 

 there has been competition among the 

 commission men and dealers, on small 

 farms massed in the "great empori- 

 ums?" In answering that question he 

 will see the falacy of his arguments, 

 for everything on which no trust or 

 combine has been formed, have gone 

 down in about the same proportion as 

 honey. Let me try my hand at the 

 thing for a moment or two, and then if 

 I make a blunder I hope the editor will 

 permit my friend Jolley and others to 

 set me right. Bro. J. started out with 

 some statement relative to "supplv 

 and demand," and had he stuck to that 

 thread of the matter I think he could 

 have come to a more logical conclusion 

 than he did by casting the whole thing 

 over to "great emporiums." Unde:' 

 normal conditions, demand and supply 

 are equal, and production is the caus-^ 

 of demand. Demand implies the wisn 

 for an article and the ability to pur- 

 chase it. The production of the equiva - 

 lent of the article desired, or the taking 

 of that equivalent from him who has 

 produced it, is the only means by 

 which the second condition of effective 

 demand can be fulfilled. When a toiler 



