106 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER 



June 



force will be applied to honey gathering 

 upon a return of the harvest season and 

 we should not be at all surprised if some 

 of Dr. Viete's future reports will pale 

 the 7(50,000 pounds which, as his season's 

 crop, created so much comment in the 

 past. 



We have never met Senor Sanz, and 

 regret that our information concerning 

 his bee-keeping career ends with the 

 fact that he is associated with Col.Viete 

 in the business. The engraving of the 

 Colonel is from an amateur photo, 

 though a good likeness. 



That these gentlemen are successful 

 and enterprising bee-keepers need not 

 be said; it is self-evident. 



THE MAY BEE-KEEPER. 



Emphasizing the Good Things in the 

 Last Number. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



PERHAPS our heading will not be 

 fully appropriate this time, for I 

 wish to touch on a few things 

 found in the May Bee-keeper which 

 I cannot think of as entirely good. 

 But as I shall also touch on some 

 of the good things, we'll let the head- 

 ing stand without change. 



SELLING THROUGH THE COMMISSION MAX. 



On page 83 Bro. Marks "sails into" 

 the commission men in rather a whole- 

 sale and most unmerciful way — that is, 

 from my standpoint he does so. I liave 

 shipped my honey on commission ever 

 isince 1877, and his assertion that "our 

 products, through the prevailing method 

 of sale, is at the mercy of the most 

 unscrupulous commission man," is not 

 the truth, by any means, according to 

 my experience. To be sure, I have run 

 across unscrupulous commission men 

 during that time, and I now know ot 

 some who will drop off honey, or any 

 other products at a lower price, by 2:> 

 per cent, than the goods are really 

 worth, or quoted at. But I cannot 

 allow that these unscrupulous ones 



"who sell the lowest, establish the price," 

 for all of my experience, covering a 

 period of 33 years, tells me that there 

 are many commission men in the cities 

 of Boston, New York and Philadelphia 

 who do not even so much as "wink" at 

 the prices made by these unscrupu- 

 lous ones. Therefore, Bro. Marks" 

 assertion that "the honest commission 

 man; the one who would get full value, 

 is not in it," is very far from the truth. 

 I could name parties handling honey in 

 each of the cities above mentioned who 

 have sold my honey each year for the 

 past twelve years, at from one to three 

 cents per pound above the prices quoted 

 in the Producers' Price Cun^eiit, and from 

 the same price to one and two cents 

 above the prices quoted in our bee- 

 papers for those same cities. Brother 

 Marks must have had in mind the poor- 

 est specimen of a commission man and 

 compared him with the best dealer when 

 he penned those words, very much as 

 the world takes the poorest specimen of 

 a Christian and holds him up beside the 

 best worldling, when Christianity is to 

 be scoffed at. Don't do it, Bro. Marks ; 

 it isn"t nice. 



COMMISSION MEN UNDER STATE AND 

 NATIONAL SUPERVISION. 



But, looking at the commission men 

 in the light in which Bro. Marks did, I 

 cannot, "for the life of me," see how he 

 came to pen these words, found near 

 the close of his address: "But there is 

 one thing can and should be done, at 

 once. Commission houses, handling as 

 they do. millions of dollars of other 

 people's money, should be put under 

 state and national supervision, the same 

 as banking."' Following out that idea, the 

 commission men would rule the state 

 and nation to the same extent that the 

 banks do. which is very nearly to hav- 

 ing their wants all supplied through the 

 sweat and toil of the masses, by the 

 unjust laws they are enabled to secure 

 through our (?) bought representatives. 

 I have not time, nor is this the place to 

 discuss "our banking system," but any 



