April 24, 1902 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



261 



Mr. Horstiiiaiin— I l)f'll(no hiiiicy -;li(iiilil be sold by the 

 pound. I don't believe llicre is iiny fair wiiy (>xci'|it by the 

 ponnd. 'I'licrH are a ({rc^at niiiny illUVnMitslzos of sectlnns. As 

 to the o.oniinlssion man, 1 don't, care how he disposes of it— by 

 the case or pound— but I think in order to be fair all around, 

 wo nmst sell b_v the pound when we sell it wholesale. 

 I'res. York — That's the question. 



Mr. Moore — In m\ ex[)erleuee I have seen seelions wiiyh- 

 ius It) onuees. and sonn' wci;,'liinjr -" ounees. As lou^' as the 

 variation is a possible one ounee, which means considerabli> on 

 a case of 24 sections, it is too far olt to sell honey by tlii; case 

 in a jriwieral way. 



i'res. York — Ifow many are there who sell comb lioney 

 through tlio dealers ? Nine, iveferrinf;: to the market i|Uota- 

 tions, I rely upon Mr. iiurnett to ke<'p me posted f<ir the (.'lii- 

 cago market. Mr. Dunn has criticised thi^ ipiotations pub- 

 lished ill till' American Hee .lournal. I want to refer the 

 matter to Mr. iturnett to explain to us whether it is necessary 

 to correct the i|uotations every day or two, and whether we. 

 can rely upon his quotations. 



Mr. Dunn — I notice that those (|UOtations are y-enerally 

 two, three and four weeks behind. That's not a fair quota- 

 tion. 



Pros. York — What do you mean by "beliind?" 

 Mr. Dunn — In date. The market 20 days a^o is no crite- 

 rion today. I claim that reports ought to be prompt and up to 

 the publication. We should not have the reports late. Now, 

 then, those reports are what govern the whole country. We 

 find reports from New Y'ork three weeks late, and four weeks 

 late, and from Cincinnati. I claim tliey should as nearly as 

 possible be up to date of the publication. 



I'res. York — Do you mean we ought to change the dale of 

 them, or change the figures '? 



Mr. Dunn — No. sir, I want a correct report, actual, as it 

 is. I don't think, sir, with all due respect, that IMr. Kurnett 

 should have the say to fix the market, or any other commis- 

 sion merchant. I think it the duty of the editor to <jo along 

 the street and lind out what honey is selling for. He should 

 not depend on one man; there are other men selling just as 

 well as Mr. Iiurnett. I told you I am selling two cents 

 higher than others. 



Pres. Y'ork — Now, Mr. Burnett, it is " up to you," as they 

 say. 



Mr. Burnett — I wish Mr. Dunn would tell us to whom he 

 sells honey so we can get advantage of the two cents. I 

 didn't know that Mr. Y'ork relied solely upon me as to the 

 quotations. I think in a sense he meant to say that lie has 

 quotations from me, and expects to get them whenever there 

 is a change in the market, and that is our purpose. As soon 

 as there is any change in price we send in a quotation, and, as 

 a matter of fact, honey has not changed in price here in the 

 last 6U days, and there is practically no necessity for a repeti- 

 tion of those figures. So far as the question of controlling the 

 market is concerned, I don't think many people here, who 

 have any experience, have the idea that I. or any two or three, 

 control the market price of honey. Of course, I have had bee- 

 keepers come in here who sell their honey in Chicago, or as 

 much of it as they can, and sometimes leave the balance with 

 me or somebody else to sell, and they say, "Here, now ; why 

 don't you put up that price two cents a pound? Y'ou can do 

 it ; and if you can do it that helps all of us ; we can all get a 

 higher price. If you put it up then we can sell." Now, I took 

 a little pains to find out wliat the prcducers of honey in Cook 

 County, wlio asked me to do that thing, did with their honey. 

 Of course, we know that the majority of the trade of this city, 

 that buy in any of the honey, before they buy they find out 

 what can be done on the general market. I asked many if 

 they knew so and so ? "Yes.'' Have you ever bought any 

 honey of him ? " Yes, a little ; I bought some a while ago, 

 and he came in the other day and wanted to sell some more." 

 What price did he ask '.' •' He otiered to sell a cent less than 

 your price." Of course. I am willing to do my share, as I see 

 it, for a community as a whole, but I don't want to be deluded 

 to putting up a price that is really a fictitious price, and have 

 them go around and say, "'You can't buy it on South Water 

 Street. Here is the quotation of Burnett ..t Co. I will sell it 

 a cent less than they do." That isn't the market. Is what 

 he sells at going to be considered a market ? If we put it a 

 cent higher than he is selling it at, that isn't a market. A 

 market is made by two people — the buyer and seller. The 

 buyer says, " I will give so much." The seller says, " I want so 

 much." Now, then, if they cannot come together there, it is no 

 trade. There is no market. If they come together there is 

 a trade, there is a market. 



Mr. Dunn — I take it that it is a very large market, and I 

 claim that the price of honey can be advanced to a price so 

 that honev from outside cannot come in and undersell us. 



when you ask more than quotations In other cities, and what 

 tliey can bring it here for from otiier points; but you can af- 

 ford to hold tlie honey liigh enough, and I claim it'ls tlie duly 

 of the gentlemen handling honey In this country to niakr' a 

 price. If they are not getting couimlssloM enough let them 

 say so; they ought to get a reasonable commission. TliRcom- 

 mission merchants can't alVord to do business unless lliey get 

 a good commission. It Is a small linsiness and they must get 

 a good, round commission, and tlien liold the price up. I have 

 been told by men among the merchants along the line that 

 there are two houses lii-re that control tliis honey market. Mr. 

 Iiurnett Is one, and I can't lind out wlio the ollieris ; and tliese 

 two houses fix the |)rice. I don't know wlial he thinks ; if 

 honey outside is quoted at a certain rale he can afTord tofiuote 

 the Chicago price with added trans|)ortalion here, and .sell at 

 that price, because there Is a big market here. 



Mr. Burnett— It seems to me it will increase the importa- 

 tion of honey if we ([uote a very high price, or tlie highest 

 possible price. If we quote very high prices people will say, 

 '•They are getting big prices in Chicago." If we quote lower 

 prices, they will say, " We can get more here.'' It seems to 

 me it is advisable to quote rather a little lower than the high- 

 est price. Another thing, if the bee-keeper in disposing of 

 his honev comes to the market and can't get that price, lie 

 will say," Gentlemen, here are your i|uotations; now you 

 don't sell for that price. Why don't you ? " 

 Pres. Y'ork — It is a big (pu'stion. 



Mr. Dunn— Hogs and cattle are quoted daily, and why 

 should not honey follow the same course'? 



(Voice from the audience)— Is honey quoted on the ex- 

 change ■? 



Mr. Dunn— Certainly, it ought to be. We have a right to 

 see it daily quoted. 



Dr. Miller — I noticed today for the first time the quota- 

 tion of honey in the daily paper— in the Record-Herald. It is 

 the first time I have seen it quoted for years. There is, how- 

 ever, this difTerence betwe<'n the market price of honey and 

 that of other articles. For instance, in beef, cattle come in 

 every day and the papers r(^port the ruling prices at which 

 they were sold. Now if those prices did not change daily 

 there would not be the necessity for the daily report of them. 

 If the price of honey changes every day then there is the 

 necessity for a daily report, and I suppose that it doesn't mat- 

 ter, either, how we get these reports, provided we gettheiu cor- 

 rect, and as often as a change is made we should be informed 

 of it. If the American Bee Journal does not report the 

 changes from time to time they are failing of their duty, but I 

 don't know that there would be any necessity for their getting 

 a fresh report so long as there is no change in it. but I believe 

 this: \Ve should know the truth. 

 Mr. Dunn— That's it. 



Dr. Miller— The truth never hurts anybody. AVe should 

 have the whole of it, whether up or down. We should know 

 as nearly as we can the amount of honey in the country, and 

 that helps to fix the prices. I believe that one man might do 

 something towards fixing the price. I can do a great deal 

 towards fixing the price in Mare'ngo. I defy Mr. Burnett to 

 hurt my market; but if I come to fixing the price in Chicago 

 it is only a drop in the buc'Ket, and I suppose that Mr. Bur- 

 nett or any other man must be guided by the law of supply 

 and demand. If he gives a false report of the market he is 

 very much to blame for it. It is his business to tell Mr. Y'ork 

 whiit the transactions are, and not what he wants, or anybody 

 else wants. That's what'we ought to have — the market for 

 honey. Here is a (|uestion that one time came up for me: I 

 see they report so and so in Chicago : then I see at another 

 place it is two cents higher, and as nearly as I understand the 

 matter of freight it will not be two cents from one place to the 

 other; then I say. Why not ship all the honey from Chicago 

 and get that higher market : but this comes in : Any of you 

 who have done very much in shipping honey know that it is 

 not simply the question of ;imount of freight, but loss and 

 breakage, so that I would rather take a good deal less for my 

 honey in Marengo than have it shipped off. Those things 

 must be considered. I will tell you one of the things that you 

 can do : Whenever you find that the reports are not all right 

 —I said I couldn't d'o anything towards changing prices in 

 Chicago, but I did once. At one time, a good many years ago, 

 when the dailv papers were reporting the market, and any-_ 

 thing but correct, I went to the editor's room and laid before 

 him a bill of sale, and showed him just what the prices were, 

 and the commission was just about the average, and I changed 

 the prices then two cents a pound, and any of you can do that. 

 If you have sales, report the sales to the paper, and they may 

 help. 



Mr. Chapman— The Daily Trade Bulletin has all of the 

 prices on South Water Street and stock-yards, and also a 



