296 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 15. 



In the bee-farm the investor has the use of 

 labor-saving machinery to increase the output 

 of his estabhshment ; his profits are large or 

 small according to the caprices of his market. 

 He can not estimate with much accuracy what 

 his cost of production is going to be at any 

 season. The rains, the winds, the drouth, 

 may cut his product short fifty per cent or 

 wipe it out altogether. 



During the period of time extending back 

 for the last ten years, the business community 

 in the entire country has suffered from what 

 seemed to have been over production. The 

 result of this was to bring about excessive 

 competition in all lines of business. Anxious 

 to find purchasers, prices have been cut below 

 the limits of reasonable remuneration. This 

 evil of excessive competition seemed to pre- 

 vail everywhere. In the effort to obtain relief 

 the wages of labor were reduced. This only 

 led to additional complications. The working- 

 men strove by the only means at their com- 

 mand to save themselves, and strikes and lock- 

 outs were instituted, and these were followed 

 by the usual distressful accompaniments. 



The only effective means of overcoming this 

 condition seemed to be in the obvious one of 

 an undertaking among the producers of va- 

 rious lines as to the prices to be asked for 

 their various commodities. Regulation in 

 this respect was possible only through a union 

 of interests upon the part of those engaged 

 in the same line of business. Ordinary trade 

 agreements were hard to enforce, and were 

 readily disregarded in the effort to obtain bus- 

 iness. 



Only a small fraction of humanity can be 

 stirred by considerations of moral or mental 

 advantages. In our greedy modern life the 

 material side is chiefly regarded. By far the 

 greater number challenge all things with the 

 question, ' ' What is there in it for me ? " It is 

 but the statement of a simple fact to say that 

 the present tendency toward combination and 

 co-operation is but the reaction from the keen 

 and excessive competition of the past few 

 years. 



Whether this movement for co-operation is 

 justifiable or not, depends upon the facts in 

 the case ; and whether for good or evil must 

 be determined by the results. An impulse so 

 general and so widespread in the business 

 world must have cause for its existence. 



The rights of the public are not to be ignor- 

 ed in any event ; but so long as those rights 

 are respected, the individual is certainly at 

 liberty to concentrate his capital and combine 

 his resources with those of his fellows in the 

 same line of business for their mutual benefit. 



A practical instance of the good accomplish- 

 ed by CO- operation is the decreased cost of pro- 

 duction by doing away with the wasteful 

 method of competitive business. By constant 

 study of the conditions of business in all its 

 phases they are enabled to increase the de- 

 mand for a product, and thus enlarge the con- 

 sumption. If abuses should arise, these or- 

 ganizations are at all times amenable to the 

 law. No combination will ever be able to 

 maintain abnormal prices, for the reason that 

 such a course would call into play practical 



competition, and this will alwaj's operate as a 

 check. Any undue increase in price will less- 

 en the demand. 



The co-operative movement is the outgrowth 

 of natural conditions, and opposition to it is 

 based upon a misunderstanding of the fact 

 that it is the application of a great and effect- 

 i;al remedy to the crushing and demoralizing 

 . condition which has resulted from unlicensed 

 and excessive competition. 



It is curious that we should have had grow- 

 ing up around us for the last three hundred 

 years the very co-operative system of which 

 philanthropists dream, and that men should 

 have failed to recognize its features. If the 

 day ever comes when all men shall have ob- 

 tained a secure competency it will be when 

 co-operation has become universal. There is 

 no other road leading to the abolition of pov- 

 erty. 



Speaking generally, there will be no hon- 

 esty in the world until men have been taught 

 that all intersocial relations should be recipro- 

 cal, due to an interchange of service among 

 equals. Any attempt to crush out or interfere 

 with the proper and reasonable workings of 

 this remedy is utterh- hopeless The move- 

 ment is bound to continue until all industrial 

 activities are brought into a system of co-oper- 

 ation. 



Now a word concerning the opposition to 

 the movement as experienced in the Bee-keep- 

 ers' Exchange. I will name some of the rea- 

 sons, as they occur to me, why the Exchange 

 has found i' difficult to attain that measure of 

 success it deserves. I do not intend to be 

 harsh, but I should be untrue to you if I were 

 not plain. 



The failure to perfect the organization, leav- 

 ing out of consideration the failure of two 

 crops in succession just as we were starting, is 

 attributed to- — 



1. Selfishness on the part of many who de- 

 sire to sell at the better terms offered by the 

 great buyers on account of the agitation in 

 favor of organizing. Such men say, "You 

 are all right, but we have a crop of honey to 

 sell, and are now negotiating to that end. 

 JV/ien we have sold we will be with you, heart 

 and soul, and do all we can to aid you in build- 

 ing up an exchange Ihat will protect our in- 

 terests. In the meantime, however, do not 

 for the world abandon the effort to bring about 

 a perfect and complete organization of the 

 bee-keepers." 



2. Crop mortgages, which prevent independ- 

 ent aciion on the part of the producers. 



3. Concessions made to the producers in the 

 way of rebate on commission, so much on 

 supplies, or in any way that would be satis- 

 factory to the parties interested. The inevita- 

 ble result of such an arrangement is the low- 

 ering of prices to the producer by just that 

 much, and it is a detriment to the honest buy- 

 er when he comes to deal with those who have 

 not made this kind of deal. So the conces- 

 sion made to one operates to the detriment of 

 all. Men are not in business for their health, 

 and any thing of this kind is sure to be found 

 out and taken advantage of. 



4. Intimidation. Many have foolishly tied 



