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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



ORGANIZED MARKETING. 



How the Fruit-growers Protect their Interests. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



A few years ago there was much said about 

 "protective tariff." For awhile I scarcely 

 knew whether I was a tariff man or not ; but 

 after listening to speeches, and reading print- 

 ed matter on the subject, I concluded there 

 was something in a tariff that was contrary to 

 the golden rule. It occurred to me that all 

 men were brothers, whether divided by a coun- 

 ty, State, or national boundary, and that a 

 brother on the other side of the " great pond " 

 was as much a brother as on my own side. 



A change has taken place We have grown 

 as a people and nation, till now ordinary na- 

 tional boundaries will not hold us. Our com- 

 merce has become immense, and is handled on 

 a gigantic scale, and by great combinations. 

 There is united effort being put forth in almost 

 every line, till he who tries to do business oth- 

 er than in a wholesale way, except to live and 

 deal with his immediate neighbors, can not 

 cope with the powerful competition met every- 

 where. While it is unquestionably the busi- 

 ness of governments to manage — at least to 

 control — all the great public interests, it is not 

 so done, but is left to the management of pri- 

 vate corporations. Private interests are selfish 

 in their nature, hence oppression frequently 

 results. 



I do not say that all combinations and unions 

 of private nature are oppressive ; but their ten- 

 dency is to selfishness and discrimination ; 

 they can not be for the genei at good as if un- 

 der general control. One railroad company 

 in one or more States tries to draw and central- 

 ize business to its own territory to the detri- 

 ment of another road's interests, and this is 

 but an illustration of what is true of all com- 

 peting interests in more or less degree. A tar- 

 iff is put up against some other concerns' in- 

 terests that works a hardship on somebody. 



Fifty years ago almost every family was self- 

 supporting. Whatever we had in the way of 

 food, clothing, tools, or other necessities or 

 conveniences, was made at home or done with- 

 out. Now we live in luxury as compared with 

 those days. The great combination of capital 

 and united effort gives us comforts and con- 

 venienc?s that were not dreamed of a few years 

 ago. Combination specializes. Specalism 

 makes us more dependent one on another. 

 Transportation facilities have made it possible 

 for special farming, manufacturing, etc., where 

 these things could not exist but for the facili- 

 ties, and these very things tie us together in a 

 way that we must depend on one another or 



cease our special pursuits, and move back into 

 the woods and carve out for ourselves an old- 

 fashioned home. 



But soon there will be no place left for us to 

 make a home; and if there were such a place, we 

 would not leave the luxuries of the present 

 day to take up the ways of fifty or one hun- 

 dred years ago. I say we would not do it ; 

 and if we will not we must adapt ourselves to 

 the present and follow the tide or be driven 

 down. Organization and combination are 

 dominant to-day. There is nothing wrong in 

 this either ; it is only the abuse of it that is 

 wrong. Unquestionably, combination rightly 

 used means the most good to the greatest num- 

 ber ; were it otherwise, what would be the use 

 even of government ? Government is a com- 

 bining and organizing to bring good to many. 



I do believe that there is now altogether too 

 much divorcing of combination from its prop- 

 er channel — government, to the hands and 

 power of private corporations ; but this being 

 true only intensifies the necessity of our com- 

 bining as a protection that we may stand 

 against combination improperly used or ap- 

 plied. The greater the extent of our com- 

 merce reaching out to distant fields and peo- 

 ples, the greater the necessity of united and 

 harmonious action. To-day it is bread from 

 one State, iron from another, coal from some 

 other district, and so on through the list of 

 commodities, until we can not live except by 

 one another's help. " We are all membt-rs of 

 one body," and when one suffers all suffer. 

 Oh that men could see that to afflict a fellow- 

 mortal is to hurt self ! But we are blind, and 

 destroy one another, and so injure ourselves. 



What, then, is the duty of bee-keepers of to- 

 day ? It is to help each other. Unite and 

 stand together ; do it for mutual help and mu- 

 tual protection. Do it because we can not do 

 much if we do not unite. To lie still and wait 

 is to let a brother suffer for the help we could 

 and ought to give. 



As shown by the foregoing, we can not prop- 

 erly market unless we are united and co-oper- 

 ating. Every producing locality should work 

 together ; and when the product is to be trans- 

 ported to distant markets, instead of shipping 

 by less than car lots, and paying much higher 

 rates, combine and ship at car rates, saving 

 considerable in freight, and obtaining a safer 

 shipment. If our product were as common as 

 wheat, corn, potatoes, live stock, and such, in 

 the centers of production for these things, the 

 case would be different. The former products 

 are produced in such quantities, and the de- 

 mand for them so great, that there are open 

 markets and facilities for handling the goods 

 at all times. Not only the facilities to do the 

 business, but buyers in charge are constantly 

 informed as to the market value of the article. 

 They are bought at all times, and cash paid. 



Honey production is more limited in any 

 given location. Even the best producing lo- 

 calities scarcely justify special effort in places- 

 to receive and handle the goods, or get market 

 quotations. Honey is not produced in suffi- 

 cient quantity, nor kept through the whole 

 year, to justify or induce the establishment of 

 depots, or enough certainty to make one safe 



