Vol. XVII. 



FEBRUARY, 1Q07 



No. 2. 



FOR LOWER FREIGHT RATES. 



Inadequate Packages and Bee-Keepers* Carelessness Held Responsible 



for Present Extortion. 



I-Rr.n W. MUTH. 



AT THE annual convention of the 

 National Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion, held at San Antonio, Tex- 

 as, in November, there w^as a commit- 

 tee appointed to secure, if possible, 

 lower freight rates on honey. Being 

 one of the committee in question, I 

 wish to make an explanation in be- 

 half of the recognized high freight 

 rates, and then point out to each and 

 every bee-keeper the steps that must 

 be taken in order that the committee 

 appointed may be successful. 



We are dealers in both comb and 

 extracted honey, and in the course of 

 a year receive many car-loads as well 

 as innumerable small shipments. In 

 one year's time we are obliged to 

 enter many, many claims with the rail- 

 road companies, and are subjected to 

 experiences which enable me to write 

 intelligently upon this subject. 



Am informed by a railroad official 

 that the classification committee de- 

 termine their classitications on -an av- 

 erage, bas'ed upon the number of 

 claims and the amount of money ex- 



pended for damages incurred enroute 

 in the course of one year. Therefore, 

 it may plainly be seen that the ship- 

 pers are responsible for the exorbi- 

 tant freight charges imposed upon 

 them, and lower rates need not be 

 expected until the losses paid by the 

 transportation companies have reach- 

 ed the very minimum. Consequently, 

 we must help ourselves, by learning 

 how to ship our honey. Other in- 

 dustries have done it; why not we? 

 Take, for example, the packages used 

 by the sugar refineries; they are per- 

 fect, as well as are those of the cof- 

 fee importers, cereal manufacturers, 

 and countless others that I could men- 

 tion. They were compelled to work, 

 and work hard in order to bring their 

 losses down to the minimum, and 

 soon discovered that it was ab- 

 solutely necessary to use perfect 

 packages and nothing else. They now 

 have the advantage of lower freight 

 rates than the honey slnipper. 



In order to accomplish our aim to 

 secure lower rates, we must, without 



