AUGUST 1. 1916 



HOW TO MEET COMPETITION 



BY JAMES A. BROWN 



Consternation reigned in Beeclom. The 

 serial scouts had brought in startling re- 

 ports of strange and mysterious operations 

 among men. They had sat beside office 

 windows and heard high officials talk of a 

 new and marvelous product which should 

 take the place of honey. They had heard 

 the whir of a thousand wheels where this 

 new product was being manufactured. Fi- 

 nally, they had seen it advertised in great 

 flaring letters, this mysterious substitute 

 for honey. 



All this could mean nolhing but ruin to 

 the business of the bees, they reported. The 

 report spread until it had become a fact. 

 " Our business is ruined — ruiiaed ! " they 

 wailed. 



Work ceased. Everywhere there was 

 frenzied discussion. The workers proposed 

 to organize a labor union and defend their 

 rights to the bitter end. The queens became 

 so perplexed that they forgot to lay any 

 eggs. The drones moved a little more 

 rapidly than usual, gorged themselves a 

 little more than usual, and sagely offered a 

 little more advice than usual. 



The militarists, who were first to be heard, 

 because loudest in their cries, were for im- 

 mediate declaration of war, and for con- 

 tinuous bombardment of their competitors 

 until they surrendered. 



The ultra-pacifists, on the other hand 

 (having fought for an oi^portunity to 

 speak), proposed the appointment of a 

 committee which should visit the manufac- 

 turers and solemnly ]Drotest, in the name of 

 justice and on the ground of long prece- 

 dence in the business, and further kindly 

 suggest and earnestly solicit the immediate 

 abandonment of the offending project. 



At this point, fearing dire consequences 

 should the advocates of these widely diver- 



gent views continue their discussion longer, 

 the laziest and " wisest " old drone arose to 

 propose a solution out of the fund of his 

 " wide observation and experience." 



The crisis was not really serious in his 

 estimation. Undue alarm was being mani- 

 fested. All that was necessary to save their 

 business without sacrificing either peace or 

 honor was to stop making honey and make 

 this new product themselves. This was 

 perfectly self-evident and logical. Nothing- 

 could be more simple or more sensible — to 

 a drone, who had never done a day's work 

 nor made a drop of honey in his life. 



At this moment, however, two more scouts 

 returned, weary to the point of exhaustion, 

 but evidently bearing most important tid- 

 ings. Not satisfied with what the others 

 had seen, they had carried their ilivestiga- 

 tions to the stores and finally to the con- 

 sumers. In the store windows they saw 

 large displays of the goods. Some went 

 inside to buy, and the scouts followed these 

 to their homes. Singularly enough, in every 

 home they heard what might almost have 

 been a stereotyped conversation : 



" Pretty good, isn't it ? " 



" Yes, but it doesn't taste like honey." 



"That's right; it doesn't. When I want 

 honey I want the best the bees can make." 



The bees' convention waited to hear no 

 m.ore. It rose en masse and rushed forth 

 with a mighty roar of satisfaction. Very 

 soon, wig-wagging signals of joy to one an- 

 other, each was in its accustomed place, 

 working harder than ever. The life of 

 Beedom was once more tranquil, and filled 

 with deep contentment. 



The bees had learned that the best way to 

 meet competition is to do the thing you can 

 do best, the best you can do it. 



Warren, Ohio. 



JUST HOW ASSOCIATIONS CAN HELP 



BY R. DIEMER 



With much interest I have read the arti- 

 cles in Gleanings and other bee-papers 

 about marketing honey. Most beekeepers 

 cry for higher prices, but do very little on 

 their part to get them by advertising and 

 developing their home mai'ket. Everybody 

 seems to think the other fellow will do it 

 also. The market for honey will not be- 

 come better before every honey-producer, 

 small or big, does his share in advertising 

 and enlightening the public as to the value 

 of honey. The first thing every beekeeper 



should do is to give the public information 

 about the value of honey as a food com- 

 pared with other products; he must strive 

 to keep his customer supplied the year 

 round, not only just about six or eight 

 weeks after the harvest. 



Our main competitor is the cheap syrup, 

 and we can combat that competitor only by 

 showing- the superior food value of honey, 

 and bringing on the market a really supe- 

 rior product, all the year round, and at as 

 low a price as the best grades of syrup. 



