Sept. 14, 190S 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURl>iAL 



649 



can be, and should be, and would be if it were propeily 

 presented to all people. It involves an extensive system of 

 advertising, and that has been told over and over again by 

 Mr. Abbott and others, and yourself, Mr. President, and I 

 believe that it is in the right direction. I can't think of 

 anything better to get the world to know it is good, and 

 use it. I propose to try a little scheme of niv own of honey 

 and buckwheat cakes, simply because they are tw'o com- 

 modities in which I feel interested. I believe the two will 

 work well together, and the consumption of one will help 

 the consumption of the other, for anything that will tend 

 to increase the consumption of one will help the other. 



Pres. York — I think the price of honey is lowered by 

 some bee-keepers not knowing wdiat honev is worth starting 

 out with the price too low. 



Mr. Wilcox — The remedy for that, so far as my <- an 

 locality is concerned, has been by some one who does know 

 the value of honey, or can learn it, in the season buying 

 up all the cheaper lots and putting them upon the market 

 at the proper price. 



Mr. Whitney — It seems to me that the way to furnish 

 a good market for honey is to produce the very best article 

 you can, and make people believe it. I have known honey 

 to be sold at 15, 16, 18 and 20 cents a section right in a 

 community where much honey was selling for 10 cents, 

 simply because they knew that the honey they were paying 

 the higher price for was all righl. I think every bee-keeper 

 ought to do the very best he can, not be slipshod, not have 

 dirty-looking sections, not have one full of holes all around, 

 or perhaps not filled at the bottom of the section at all. 

 Produce the best article you can, and make people believe 

 it is all right, and set your own price. 



Dr. Miller — I suppose that nearly all here have been 

 taught to believe by the newspapers that tliey need a biscuit. 

 Pick up any newspaper and "Uneeda biscuit" will stare you 

 in the face. Thousands and thousands of dollars are evi- 

 dently spent in advertising that one style of biscuit. Those 

 men are not spending money for fun; they are not wasting 

 money, either : they are level-headed men, with a standard 

 article that needs money spent in advertising it. Is tliere 

 any question that a proper amount of advertising of honey 

 would bring in returns? Is Mr. France here? I was just 

 w-ondering whether he would agree with my statement or not. 

 Yes, there he is. Mr. France, I want to see if you will ap.rce 

 with me. If the money that has been spent by the National 

 .Association helping to settle quarrels were spent in adver- 

 tising honey in the public press, somewhat in the same way 

 that "Uneeda Biscuit" is being advertised, I believe it would 

 do more good, just a little more, at least, towards raisins the 

 standard of honey all over the comitry. Now if you don't 

 believe that, Mr. France, say so. 

 Mr. France — I endorse it. 



Dr. Miller — Good for you. I believe that is a point in 

 the right direction. You ask what can this Association do? 

 If this Association could get enough money into its treasury 

 to help in that same direction that would be a good thing. 

 For at least this Association is helping to make the National 

 what it ought to be, and I am speaking for one only when 

 I say that I believe there is a great work for the National 

 before it to advertise honey, to put a lot of money in It 

 will take a lot of money. But if the thousands upon thou- 

 sands of bee-keepers in the country could be got into it there 

 would be money enough to do some good. I know very well 

 some of you will say it will take so much money you need 

 not try it at all. If you can suggest something better I will 

 take that back. 



Mr. Moore — There is a thought that occurs to me, dif- 

 ferent from anything that has been expressed by anybody 

 else. I was one of those who went to the Illinois Legislature 

 and helped them to get a law two years ago for bee-keepers 

 — and an appropriation. In the midst of other things this im- 

 pressed itself upon my mind: The faith and confidence that 

 the Legislature and the public at large have in associalions. 

 There is so much crookedness in the world at large that 

 people are skeptical about anything they don't know anything 

 about. For instance, take this question of manufactured 

 comb honey: The public at large do not know any ; ore 

 about comb honey or foundation than a week-old baby does 

 about arithmetic or the dictionary, imtil they are tau'ulit by 

 the specialist, and they decide the worst possible thinu out 

 of their absolute ignorance on the subject. But the\ liok 

 upon our associations, the bee-associations, the dairymcir- as- 

 sociations, the fruit men's associations, and anything r. ni- 

 ing from those associations, and put forth in a formal niaii icr, 

 as the act of those associations, and give full cred 'ce. 

 Witness the Dairymen's Association got through the law 



establishing a pure food commission. I think I am correct 

 in saying there would be no such law on the statute book to- 

 dav unless the dairymen had talked it and worked for it. 

 Another thing, three or four associations were given appro- 

 priations by the Legislature two years ago. They give the 

 Illinois State Bee-Keeper's Association $2,000. "They did 

 that because the association asked for it, and they took at 

 one hundred percent all the statements made by the asso- 

 ciation. Now, let us, along with the National, advertise in 

 such papers as seems best, "Buy your honey of members of 

 the National Bee Keepers' Association," or other associa- 

 tions, according to your judgment, and continue that year 

 after year, not at large perhaps, but somewhere every month 

 in the year for five years. After a while everybody who 

 reads the English language will know that there is honey 

 sold that is guaranteed by the name of the National Bee 

 Keepers' .Association, and people will come to inquire for 

 honey under the brand and guarantee of the bee-keepers' 

 association. That has been done for ten years now in Ver- 

 mont. The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association issues 

 a very fine report every year, and I have had the pleasure 

 of reading two or three of them, and one of their methods 

 was to go to the Legislature and get as stringent a law as 

 they could. Then they have adopted a brand which is issued 

 to all members of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Asso- 

 ciation. It is a general brand which is copyrighted or trade- 

 marked, which ever it is, and there is a blank for each mem- 

 ber to put in his own individual name and address, and there is 

 a penalty against any one using this except authorized parties. 

 It seems to me that is perfectly feasible, when you take into 

 consideration the public minds, and advertising would be a 

 way to spend some of our money. 



Mr. Becker — Those bee-keepers that are taking the bee- 

 papers and are paying annual fees here, claim to get a fair 

 price for their honey. Now, suppose we advertise, you have a 

 certain clement to contend with that almost give their honey 

 away. You go through the country, and even in my section 

 of country. I can cite you 25 or 35 that have from 5 to 50 

 colonies of bees, and one of our own members of the Illinois' 

 Bee-Keepers' Association a few years ago sold her honey at 

 10 cents a pound, as fine white clover honey as ever was 

 put on the market. The storekeepers themselves said, "'We 

 would just as soon give her 12'/< cents as 10 cents." The past 

 summer I knew of one case where a man sold 1,000 pounds 

 of honey at S cents a pound — tine wdiite clover honey. I was 

 after the honey myself, but happened to be just one day too 

 late, and he wouldn't sell any quantity, but he wanted to sell 

 the entire lot at 8 cents a pound. Last year I bought 1,000 

 pounds of honey at 9 cents a pound in the same locality. 

 I could have bought 5,000 pounds more at S cents. What 

 are you going to do with those that know the price, and 

 hold the better honey at simply a fair price? The past 

 summer, when I wanted to sell my honey, I had to run 

 up against honey sold at 12J4 cents a pound and I bought 

 12 cases myself and gave Vi'A for it to the storekeeper. 

 The storekeepers are just about as smart as we are. You 

 come into the city with a thousand pounds of honey on i^our 

 wagon and you want to sell it. You bring it to a store and 

 they say, "Well, we will give you so much money for it." 

 If you are a stranger in that city you probably can drive all 

 over it and you can't get any more money for it, and you 

 might as well have taken the first bid in order to get rid 

 of your honey. These grocery keepers have an organization 

 that is called the Retail Grocery Association. When a fellow 

 comes in, the first man he strikes makes an offer. If you 

 could stay around you would probably see him go to his 

 telephone and watch the honey man, to see which direction 

 he is going, and then telephone to his next friend, "There 

 is a man in town with so much honey; I made an ofi'er of 

 so much money :" that is when there is an abundance of 

 honey. If the article is scarce then they buy it. But you 

 will always have to contend with the bee-keepers who do not 

 know the prices and do not care. They bring their honey in- 

 to market early, and you men that have honey and are try- 

 ing to make a living have to hold on until that honey is 

 out of the way, and is consumed, before you get better prices. 

 You have to contend with tin se parties that do not take a 

 bee-paper, and don't know the price of honey nor how much 

 honey there is in the country. They sell it for whatever they 

 can get. They go to the store and take it out in other 

 commodities, while you want to get the cash for it ; and they 

 alwavs sell it for less money than we can. 



The balance of the evening session was in the hands of 

 Ernest R. Root, who delivered a very interesting lecture, 

 copiously illustrated with stereopticon views, also with mov- 

 ing pictures. (Continued next week) 



