670 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 19 17 



cidedly bullish at the present time; but I 

 am expecting a big slump. When Italy gets 

 filled up, like Great Britain and France, 

 mark what I say — prices will go tumbling, 

 and then the fellow who has been going 

 around the country contracting in ad\ance 

 will be left high and dry, believe me." 



Fact No. 9. — The editor got a calling- 

 down in New York for "bulling" the mar- 

 ket in some recent speeches at several of 

 the field meets which he attended in the 

 East. Telegrams were hurriedly sent to the 

 big buyers, telling that Boot had boosted 

 the market clear up, and that they (the 

 buyers) had got to come across with more. 

 Said one buyer: "Mr. Root, you surely 

 have 'spilled the beans.' We thought you 

 were with us. You will have to come 

 across with more money yourself. Why 

 didn't you keep still until we had bought 

 up and then play your bull antics? You 

 fired your wad too soon." 



What do all these facts mean ? 



They mean that prices on extracted are 

 "bullish," and will probably stay so pro- 

 vided the allies continue to buy honey, and 

 provided, also, that Food Controller Hoover 

 and the allies of Europe do not put honey 

 on the same basis as sugar, so that the 

 consumer can get only • a small quantity. 

 And this leads to the statement that the 

 furore in honey-buying from Italy is based 

 on the simple fact that sugar has been com- 

 mandeered in that country. That means 

 that the consumer in Europe can buy only a 

 very limited cjuantity — not enough to sup- 

 ply his needs or demands. Honey is a 

 superior substitute for sugar. The con- 

 sumer can buy honey, as much as liis 

 pocketbook will allow, and he is actually 

 paying 50 to 60 cents per pound for ex- 

 tracted honey in Italy — the very same ar- 

 ticle that the producer, in one case at 

 least, sold for at least 66 cents a gallon, 

 or 5^2 cents per pound. Here is an ex- 

 treme case where the consumer is paying 

 about 1000 per cent above the price paid 

 to the producer. What do you think of 

 that? War prices, war freights, submarine 

 insurance, and last, but not least, brokers' 

 profits. 



We did not hear very much about the 

 activity of the comb-honey market while in 

 the East. While comb honey will doubtless 

 sell for more than it did last year, it is 

 now bringing somewhat more. It is very 

 evident that the allies do not want comb 

 honey. This commodity must be consumed 

 wholly at home; but llie price of comb 

 honey is likely to go uj) in sympathy witli 

 extracted. 



TIuM'e are some tilings tliat iiul'<;itt' Ihni 

 Italy is getting wise like iRr allies, and 



will refuse to pay a higher price for 

 honey that is considerably beyond the price 

 of sugar. Whether Italy or the other allies 

 will continue to buy honey, whether they 

 will pay more than they have b;en paying, 

 no one can tell. It may be that the pro- 

 ducer will get more by waiting. Perhaps 

 he will do better to sell now. We don't 

 know, and we don't believe any one else 

 does. 



ELSEWHERE WE HAVE made mention 

 of the fact that honey-brokers are abroad 

 in the land, and 

 THE BIG some of them have 



HONEY- made big monev 



BROKEBS. within the last 

 three or four years, 

 particularly since the allies have begun to 

 buy honey when they could not get sugar. 



We know of one firm that, a few years 

 ago, put $10,000 into the business, and 

 whose credit at the bank now is good for a 

 million dollars; and we should not be at all 

 surprised to learn that they have bought in 

 the last twelve months a million dollars' 

 worth of honey ; and we know of several 

 brokers in New York and Chicago who have, 

 bought honey in five and ten carlots; a^nl 

 while they doubtless sometimes make a "big 

 scoop," yet, if our information is correct, 

 the majority of them do not clear over a 

 cent a pound; but even that much on 100- 

 ton lots means a big sum of money. 



In these days of war prices there is no 

 doubt that there are food speculators in the 

 land, and some of them have become im- 

 mensely wealthy within a short time. We 

 have no defense to make for the speculator. 

 He ought to be curbed, and we hope Hoover 

 will do it. A legitimate profit is permis- 

 sible; and there is no dodging the fact 

 that nearly every one, if he had a chance to 

 make a scoop, would do it if he could ; and 

 almost in the same breath the same fellow 

 who would condemn the man for making 

 an enormous profit is the very man who 

 would do some scoo])ing if he were smart 

 enough. 



But what about the broker? Is he an 

 unmitigated evil or a necessary evil, or is he 

 an evil at all? All we can say is that there 

 are brokers and brokers, some good and 

 some bad. It is the latter, just as it is in 

 the other professions, that hurt those who 

 are trying to do an honest business. 



After a talk with brokers in several of 

 our big cities, we have come to the conclu- 

 sion that many of them are honest. As 

 one of them very correctly said, "I cannot 

 rd'ord to rob my clients ard cus'omns, be- 

 (a:;:e that world pievent in? from doing 



