1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



271 



Harmonizing Sectional Interests 



Can the interests of Colorado and 

 California, the interests of Michigan 

 and Wisconsin, all producers of high 

 grade honeys and all seeking a mar- 

 ket, be harmonized? 



Emphatically, these interests can- 

 not be consolidated or harmonized on 

 the present business status. The 

 League is larger than any state or 

 group of states. It can see the con- 

 sumers' world as a whole. It can see 

 that if all the honey of these states 

 is rushed to some marketing center, 

 price cutting, market stagnation and 

 strife will continue. If the yield of 

 honey is great or the number of bee- 

 keepers increase the inevitable result 

 is the lowering of prices. What is the 

 result? The beekeeper is starved out; 

 gives up and quits. If he were the 

 only one affected, it would be a mat- 

 ter easily remedied, but he is not, he 

 is a cog in the transmission gear, a 

 broken cog, and the whole machine is 

 out of order. The manufacturer of 

 bee supplies loses a buyer; the bee 

 paper, a subscriber; the can maker, a 

 sale; the railroad, some freight, and 

 so on through a long line of others de- 

 pendent on bees for a livelihood. 



The League cannot press any 

 magic button and quiet the troubled 

 business sea, but it can by the ma- 

 chinery of the beekeepers' association 

 now extant, so change the marketing 

 situation that complete harmony can 

 be foreseen in complete organization. 

 How is the League to do this? By 

 its organization to hold the honey and 

 force the price? No, that would be a 

 trust, would make the beekeeper a 

 profiteer of the first water. The so- 

 lution offered by the League is to 

 create a demand for the honey. To 

 create a demand that will absorb all 

 the honey offered, to have this de- 

 mand throughout the States and then 

 so distribute the offerings of honey 

 that there will be no clash of regional 

 interests in some restricted market. 



When the demand is created, the 

 supply will determine the price. It 

 must be remembered, however, that 

 the price of honey will always be 

 governed to a greater or less degree 

 by the price and availability of sugar 

 and syrups. To create this demand, 

 the League must advertise and adver- 

 tise heavily. It must reach the most 

 remote village of the continent. It 

 must place before the housewife all 

 the virtues of honey. It must do this 

 in a way pleasing, convincing and at- 

 tractive, yet not lavish. But how can 

 the League advertise? Printers' ink, 

 printers' paper, magazine space and 

 billboards cost money, and lots of it. 

 Men capable of carrying out such a 

 campaign are high-priced men, and 

 are worthy of their hire. The League 

 has no money? Its officers are gen- 

 erous, but are not millionaires. The 

 League is not the officers. The League 

 is not the representative of the State 

 associations. The League is the 

 united force and power of every 

 member of every interest or body in- 

 cluded in the League. The officers, 

 in handling demands for money, act 

 just as they do in the distribution of 

 honey. Now, there are ten of the 

 most important co-operative honey- 



marketing associations and several 

 private firms ready to stand behind 

 this movement. Each has its own 

 way to raise funds. Each is ready 

 to raise its fair share. Just as soon 

 as these large associations make the 

 start, the smaller ones will be glad to 

 join. Should all these not be able 

 to finance the movement, an organiza- 

 tion campaig^n will be of greatest 

 value. Let each association decide 

 how to raise its quota, whether by 

 voluntary subscription, assessment 

 per member, per colony, or other- 

 wise. 



That extensive advertising will 

 create a wide demand has been 

 proven so many times that it needs no 

 discussion. With this demand comes 

 the greatest problem of the League; 

 one that will require the greatest 

 changes in our present system. To 

 create a demand and not be able to 

 fill it is a triple loss, the loss of the 

 initial sale, the loss of a permanent 

 buyer and, gi'eatest of all, the loss of 

 the buyer's confidence in the firm ad- 

 vertising. 



Better Distribution 

 Distribution is our greatest prob- 

 lem. Solve that and the clash of 

 States and of regions is solved. But 

 to solve it, vast and radical changes 

 must occur. Our present system of 

 supply and demand reports must be 

 converted. Instead of wholesalers 

 and commission firms reports, which 

 no one pretends to belie\?e, we must 

 have the managers of the separate as- 

 sociations get a report on honey pro- 

 duced and sold by each member of 

 his association. As such reports are 

 all in the family, as it were, a very 

 true estimate of the supply can be 

 compiled. To get the demand, a new 

 system will have to be devised. The 

 reports will have to come from the 

 stores selling directly to the con- 

 sumer. This can be done, but re- 

 mains the big job of the League Sec- 

 retary. With these two systems per- 

 fected, a traffic system can be effected 

 that will give adequate and accessible 

 nation-wide supply. 



The League has two sets of prob- 

 lems to solve — internal and external. 

 We have, in a way, touched the high 

 points of our internal troubles. 



Outside we have two that demand 

 immediate attention. The first is so 

 close that while it is small, it is an 

 aggravation. Can we give the com- 

 petitive beginner or novice the bene- 

 fit of our experience and of our grad- 

 ing and sales system? Our business 

 depends not only on what the buyers 

 think about League packed honey, 

 but about all honey. Let one such 

 novice put a lot of poorly packed, in- 

 fei'ior honey on the market, and not 

 only the novice, but we, will be the 

 losers. We can, and must, adopt or 

 regulate these beginners. 



Of the minor problems little need 

 be said. They disappear with the so- 

 lution of the big ones. The question 

 of gi-ading and standardizing honey 

 is one that troubles many. Can the 

 many flavors and colors be marketed 

 on a standard pack system? They 

 can, just as many grades and sizes of 

 peaches or apricots are sold. So can 

 the honey from localities v/hich have 



lai'ge supplies of a certain flavor. This 

 honey should be packed and sold as 

 a named standard. But where there 

 is little supply, even a very choice va- 

 riety, with the exception of the local 

 market, all honey marketed should 

 be blended and sold as such. It is 

 highly probable that all honeys, in- 

 cluding our choicest flavors, should 

 be blended, and often the blend is 

 better than the pure flavor, the New 

 York Globe to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. 



The big outside problem is with 

 whom shall we join to get the best 

 service and aid. There are many men 

 of many lines of endeavor who de- 

 pend as much on the bee for a living 

 as we. The manufacturer of bee ap- 

 pliances and honey containers, of 

 tanks, of bottles and numerous other 

 articles; editors and publishers of 

 bee and farm papers, printers and 

 lithographers, transportation and 

 storage companies, and in a less man- 

 ner many other lines of business have 

 interests in common with the owner 

 of bees. With these industries allied 

 with us, we can do much more busi- 

 ness, and do it in a far more satisfac- 

 tory manner, than if we are at outs 

 with them. 



We most certainly should welcome 

 into the League any interest that has 

 common cause with us. 



Our ruling or governing body is a 

 problem in itself. Because of the na- 

 ture of the work it must perform, it 

 seems advisable to restrict this body 

 to its lowest limits, as we know from 

 sad experience that numbers in leg- 

 islative halls spell delay and perver- 

 sion of measures. Where large num- 

 bers vote, a man with a glib tongue 

 and an axe to grind often kills or de- 

 moralizes the wish of the majority. 

 Let us pick, as the members of the 

 League Council, the shrewdest busi- 

 ness men in the bee world and let us 

 keep the representation small. Let 

 each association send one man ; a man 

 in whom they trust, in whom they 

 have faith, to represent them, and 

 under the guidance of such a body of 

 chosen men the League cannot help 

 being a success. 



SUPER CLEANING 



By J. F. Dunn 



You ask for a description of the 

 Deadman super cleaner and my modi- 

 fication of the same. The ones we 

 have been using for a number of 

 years, except that they are of lighter 

 construction, are substantially the 

 same as those used by Mr. G. A. 

 Deadman, the inventor of this (to us, 

 at least), indispensable arrangement 

 for having extracting combs cleaned 

 bone dry by one colony of bees. One 

 platform will take care of all th6 

 combs from an apiary of 50 colonies. 

 The frame under the platform is of 

 1x4 inch lumber, laid flatwise. The 

 floor is of three-eighths inch stuff and 

 must be either tongued and grooved 

 or have very tight fitting joints. The 

 strips dividing the platform into six 

 sections are three-eighths of an inch 

 thick, and wide enough to admit of 

 the covers being placed on the supers 



