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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 15 



has secured several write-ups without a dol- 

 lar of expense; but it can not do this long 

 without money to help. If there is any bee- 

 keeper who thinks that the new organiza- 

 tion is a good thing, and that it will go any 

 way, even if he does not help it, and that he 

 will secure the benefits without his contribu- 

 tion, he will be most woefully mistaken. 



ARE SUPPLY-MANUFACTURERS CHARGING EX- 

 ORBITANT RATES FOR BEE-KEEP- 

 ERS' SUPPLIES ? 



In these days when some of the grasping 

 corporations and trusts are charging "all 

 the traffic will bear," extorting money out 

 of the people, compeUing railroads to dis- 

 criminate against the small concerns and in 

 favor of the big ones, inflating prices to 

 flood the market in order that they may buy 

 at ruinous prices— in short, conducting their 

 business "in restraint of trade"— it would 

 not be surprising if every corporation would 

 be placed somewhat under the ban of dis- 

 trust. We have been very much interested 

 in reading some of the exposes of some of 

 these gigantic concerns, and we must con- 

 fess that our sympathies have been with 

 the people. But there are corporations and 

 corporations — some good and some bad. 

 Every little while there have been various 

 hints and suggestions that there was a bee- 

 keepers' supply trust; that prices have been 

 advanced away beyond all precedent, so that 

 bee-keepers would have to go out of the 

 business, etc. We have paid no attention 

 to these, believing that the intelligent dis- 

 criminating bee-keeping public would of it- 

 self sift the truth from fiction; but when a 

 couple of our old-time friends get caught in 

 the toils it is, perhaps, time for us to say 

 something. One correspondent, I see by 

 the Atner-ican Bee Journal, Mr. E. A. Mor- 

 gan, the ABC scholar of thirty years ago 

 "who grew so fast, "and seemed to be a 

 special pupil of A. I. Root, makes this re- 

 markable statement in reply to Editor York 

 in the American Bee Journal: ' ' The sup- 

 ply-dealers do take the statement from 

 Washington to raise their pilces on supphes, 

 however much you try to cover it up." 

 Editor York had already said he did not be- 

 lieve that any statistics from the Depart- 

 of Agriculture going to show that there was 

 100 per cent profit in bees had anything to do 

 with the recent advance in the price of bee- 

 keepers' supplies. So far as the Root Co. 

 is concerned, this is the first time that we 

 ever knew such a statement had emanated 

 from Washington. The proposition is so 

 ridiculous on the face of it that there will be 

 no use to argue it. That supplies have ad- 

 vanced has been only natural because of the 

 advance in lumber and wages— for we are 

 supposed to know the conditions surrounding 

 our business as well as or better than the 

 government. 



Further on in the same paper Mr. Morgan 

 makes another remarkable statement, or a 

 series of them, rather. Here they are : 



But you ask, "Is it true that prices have doubled ?" 



and ask The Farmer to give a single instance of a case 

 in which any manufactory lists a hive at double the 

 price at which it listed it at any previous time. This is 

 the greatest break in your whole article. Would you 

 please name one single manufactory that hann't dou- 

 bled prices on supplies? and many have trebled. 



I have before me bills paid in 1879, 1880, 1881: 8 frame 

 Langstroth hive, 1' 1; story, nailed and painted, 75 cents. 

 That was before the day of sections, but eight 5-pound 

 boxes wei-e furnished with glass sides. 



In 1889 hives took a drop. I bought, that year, 100 

 hives, 10-frame, m story, in the flat, at 50 cents. V/hen 

 sections came on the market they were sold at $1.75 per 

 1000: later on, sandpapered both sides, $2.00 per 1000. 

 This as late as 1897; since that time they have doubled 

 in price. 



At the first-mentioned date honey sold in the comb at 

 25 cents to .30 cents per pound. In 1883 I sold my entire 

 crop at 17 cents, and paid $1.00 each for 10-frame IVL- 

 story hives, and $2.00 per 1000 for sections; and now, 

 when the best comb honey must be sold at 11 to 14 

 cents, extracted 7 cents, delivered, they ask $2.45 for an 

 8-f rame. Ill-story hive, and $5.00 per 1000 for sections. 



Assuming, for the sake of argument, that 

 all manufacturers of bee-keepers' supplies 

 had doubled their prices, would there be any 

 crime or any thing wrong, -providing the 

 cost of material had doubled and labor ma- 

 terialUy increased during the same time ? 

 But it is not true that ' ' all the manufactu- 

 rers have doubled their prices," and that 

 ' ' many have trebled them. ' ' To prove that 

 one or two had done so would not sustain 

 either claim. 



Of course, we can speak only for our own 

 company. We concede it might be possible 

 to find some catalog showing that prices had 

 doubled. Some ten or fifteen years ago 

 there were many supply manufacturers who 

 made their prices so low that they had to go 

 out of business. Something like a score of 

 them in the early days failed. They did not 

 take into account overhead expenses, adver- 

 tising, bad debts, and fixed and various other 

 expenses. Now, if these concerns had since 

 learned their mistake that their prices were 

 too low to live, and later put them high 

 enough so they could continue from year to 

 year, it is conceivable that there might have 

 been 100 per cent difference between their 

 first prices and those at the present time. 

 At all events, Editor York asks Mr. Morgan 

 to furnish " a single instance or a case in 

 which any manufactory listed a hive at dou- 

 ble the price at which it was listed at any 

 previous time." And in return Mr. York is 

 asked in all soberness "to name one single 

 manufactory that hasn't doubled prices on 

 supplies, and many have trebled.' ' The first 

 and last italics are ours. This is a strong 

 and sweeping statement. It means that all 

 the factories have doubled and many have 

 trebled old prices. If Mr. Morgan had in- 

 vestigated even a little bit, which he could 

 easily have done, he could have saved him- 

 self the humiliation of such a "bad break." 

 If his other statements are as accurate as 

 this he could scarcely blame his friends for 

 believing that his prejudice has so warped 

 his judgment that he is incapable of weigh- 

 ing evidence carefully and impartially. If 

 he had compared the Root's prices as given 

 in old files of Gleanings (and he is an old 

 subscriber), or those given in our early cat- 

 alogs with those given in our late catalogs, 

 he would never have penned the sentence. 



