1881 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



63 



JOURNALS €OSTI>G IttOKF- OF THE 

 PlJBIilSHERS THAN OF SUBSCRIP- 

 TION AGENTS. 



THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION. 



^^RIENB ROOT:— I desire to talk in a friendly 

 jirJ way to you and friend Jones, about what you 

 — ' say on paffos 17 and 18 of Jan. Gleanings, and 

 desire a space in the Growlcry or elsewhere so to do. 

 Friend Jones says, "You hit the nail on the head 

 when you say, 'Gleanings is a standard article.' " 

 Now, I wish to ask, "How has Gleanings become a 

 'standard article' V " First, by advertising- it by the 

 editor; and second, l)y its being advertised by sub- 

 scription agents. Which has paid the better? We 

 will let A. I. Root answer. Under date of Feb. .5, 

 1874, friend Root writes me as fallows; "Our num- 

 ber is now 840, but wo have paid out about $150.00 

 advertising, so that we are not making Gleanings 

 pay as yet." Under date of Dec. 25, 1874, he writes; 

 "If you don't stop sending us full price for sub- 

 scriptions, M'e will reveLge ourselves by swelling 

 the amount on your credit page until we can put it 

 out on interest for your wife and family. We bhould 

 soon have a larger journal if we had a few more 

 such friends." Again, under date of Oct. 3, 1875, he 

 writes: "We really feel as if we owed you much for 

 the subscribers you have been the means of our 

 getting." Thus it will be seen that subscription 

 agents paid the better in bringing Gleanings to a 

 standard article. That was when Gleanings was in 

 its infancy, and" friend R. insisted, at that time, on 

 our taking 50 per cent as pay for our labor in getting 

 subscriptions for him; or, in other words, buying 

 Gleanings at wholesale, and selling at retail. As 

 50 per cent was more than ■vve wished to take, the 

 next year we conceived the idea that we could help 

 friend R. more by way of introducing his paper, if 

 we gave all our suV)Scribers 35 per cent of this profit, 

 and also be a help to them by reducing the price to 

 all such as would buy Gleanings of us. Thus we 

 have worked up to the present time, and the many 

 letters we have received thanking us for our under- 

 taking has cheered us on, and helped smoothe over 

 several losses we have sustained. Also, friend Root 

 has expressed his thankfulness to us for helping 

 him to a large circulation. But now Gleanings 

 has become a standard article, and as many children 

 forget, when grown up, the labor and kindness be- 

 stowed upon them in childhood by their parents, so 

 friend Root apparently forgets the many friends 

 who helped him in his time of need, and places them 

 in a position whei-e they will either lose all their 

 customers, or else get no pay for their labor. If we 

 place Gleanings to subscribers at 90c, and have to 

 pay friend Root the said 90e (as he says we must an- 

 other year) where will the $100 come from it cost us 

 to print and get 4000 club lists into the hands of 

 bee-keepers all over the land? If we put the price 

 of Gleanings at one dollar, we shall get no sub- 

 scribers, as they will then send to friend Root for 

 Ihem, just as we would go to any store if we wanted 

 a watch, rule, knife, etc., if we could get them just 

 as cheaply at the store as of friend R. And now we 

 come to the 



inconsistency of friends root and JONES. 



Friend Root refers us to counter store; that he 

 there sells at a profit of 10 per cent, and has thus 

 "builded up such a trade;" but he must have for- 

 gotten how he has told us, all along back, how, by 



buying large quantities at wholesale, he has been 

 enabled to get the goods at from 25 to 50 per cent 

 discount, so as to sell to us thus cheaply, thu=» mer- 

 iting the approval and thankfulness of bee-keepers 

 all over the land. How many 10 per cents do you 

 think you would raakf^, friend R., if some one of us 

 should sit down and write to all the mauufauturera 

 j-ou buy of, and tell them you were selling goods at 

 retail for less than they were, and convinced them 

 that it would be a benefit to mankind if they would 

 raise their prices so that all parties would have to 

 pay alike for their goods? And now, friend Jones, 

 to carry out your theory (of "bringing the producer 

 and consumer, publisher and subscriber, nearer to 

 together, thus crowding out unnecessary middle- 

 men"), suppose you sit down and write to all these 

 men of whom friend Root buys, that their "vvhule- 

 sale price is too low," and thus cause a wail to be 

 heard from Maine to California, and fn m Cana'ia to 

 the Gulf of Mexico, from those who have bought of 

 friend Novice at the present low prices fn m his 

 counter store. And Nfivice says, "Amen I this is 

 done solely to correct the inconsistencies you have 

 mentioned." O consistency ! thou art a jewel. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Jan. 11, 1881. 



That is right, friend D.; speak out; all 

 you say is true, and some more that you did 

 not say is true also. Wlieu 1 wrote you 

 those letters of thanks, you received the full 

 price from each subscriber; wlien you spoke 

 of working without pay or commi.ssion, I 

 suggested (if I am correct), that it was not a 

 good way to do, even among tlie best of 

 friends, and I think so still. If I am not 

 mistaken. Gleanings became a ''standard 

 article" while you and friend lleddon both 

 were dealing clips at it and its editor month 

 after month, through the A. B. J.; and it 

 was during this term of years that you com- 

 menced sending circulars to all of its old 

 regular subscribers, offering it to them for 

 75c instead of a dollar, if they would buy of 

 you. Letters came to me, inclosing 7.")C, say- 

 ing that they supposed the publisher was 

 able to afford Gleanings at the regular ad- 

 vertised price, and if he could not. send the 

 money back. Of course, we sent the money 

 back ; for if I should let one of our friends 

 have it at 7.5c, and charge the rest $1.00, 1 

 should think it litde better than stealing, 

 and that, too, from the best friends I have. 

 I might put it at 7.3c to everybody, and have 

 no wholesale, but this you would by no 

 means consent to, if you took subscribers. 



Those wdio sell me goods for the counter 

 store do not retail, as a general thing; and 

 I have never heard one of them complain 

 because I sold them too low. A bee journal 

 is wanted year after year by a special class 

 of men, and it is an easy matter to put a cir- 

 cular into their hands, just about tlie time 

 they are ready to subscribe. Our friends 

 across the ocean often commission me to 

 purchase for them certain goods, and I can 

 give them as low rates on every article as 

 anybody else, with the exception of Glean- 

 ings; and it is a hard matter to explain to 

 them,— in fact, it can't be consistently ex- 

 plained, why I, the publisher, charge them a 

 full dollar, when it is advertised extensively 

 at 85c. As I now see it, it is my duty to fur- 

 nish Gleanings for 1882 as low as it shall 



