1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



411 



To compare prices made in old bills on hives 

 without stating the kind or quality quoted, 

 or whether they had inside fixtures or not, 

 with hives of to-day better made, probably, 

 and listed in an entirely different manner, is 

 decidedly misleading and unfair. If he is 

 comparing a home-made hive with a better- 

 made factory hive as now made, he is 

 scarcely less unfair. If he is comparing a 

 hive made at a price that compelled the 

 maker to suspend business or sell out, with 

 a price on an up-to-date hive turned out by 

 a responsible factory that has done a suc- 

 cessful business for twenty years, and has 

 given its employees livmg wages, he is 

 again doing violence to the principle of just- 

 ice and right. If he is comparing a quantity 

 price as per the bills mentioned, with a less 

 quantity price on goods now made, he is still 

 open to the accusation. 



The quotations in the second and third 

 paragraphs are indefinite, and therefore 

 irrelevant. In order to prove his most 

 sweeping statement in his first paragraph 

 it is up to Mr. Morgan to show by references 

 to bills, advertisements, or catalogs, of wide- 

 ly separated dates from the same firm— not 

 from two different ones— that prices have 

 ' ' doubled ' ' and ' ' trebled ' ' on practically 

 the same goods of the sam,e quality, size, 

 style, and quantity. Then it will be up to 

 him to show that all the manufacturers (not 

 a part of them) are guilty of the offense of 

 doubling prices, and that many are guilty of 

 trebling them. And right here, before we 

 show that at least one company is not guilty 

 as charged, it is proper to explain how sup- 

 plies were listed years ago and are now. 



So far as I know, the hives that were 

 made and sold ten or fifteen years ago are 

 almost entirely off the market, and new pat- 

 terns, with a new method of listing, have 

 taken their place. As Mr. York points out, 

 it is very difficult to compare prices on hives 

 of twenty years ago with those of to-day. 

 We, for example, are not making a single 

 hive that we made years ago. Moreover, 

 the hives that were quoted in the early 

 catalogs were, as a rule, hives only, with- 

 out any inside furniture. No attempt 

 was made at that time to give the practic- 

 ally clear stock given to-day; and it was 

 only within comparatively late years, with 

 some , exceptions, that inside fixtures were 

 included. Of course, prices have advanced 

 since these inside fixtures have been made 

 a part of the equipment. 



A few years ago another advance was 

 made by ourselves above the former advance 

 when we included not only sections, founda- 

 tion, and brood- frames, but foundation for 

 the brood-nest, nails to nail the hives up 

 with, and hand-hole cleats over the hand- 

 holes. The convenience of having assort- 

 ed nails of the right size and quantity is very 

 great. The extra equipment, better quality 

 of lumber, and a general advance, both in 

 lumber and in wages, have necessarily made 

 the price of bee-supplies higher ; but that 

 advance has only kept pace with the advance 

 in material and labor. We have no old cat- 



alogs of other manufacturers at hand, but 

 we have our own away back almost to the 

 beginning of our business. As was stated 

 at the outset, it is almost impossible to com- 

 pare prices, because the articles listed are 

 very different, and include a different equip- 

 ment from those a few years ago. But I 

 find a few articles that we offered away 

 back in 1880 that we still furnish, made in 

 exactly the same way as when first listed. 

 Let us take what is known as the all-wood 

 frame. In 1881 this frame was priced in the 

 flat in lots of 100 at $1.75. Let us now com- 

 pare the list of 1905 and see what we have. 

 The same frame is quoted at $2.00 per 100. 

 Between the first-mentioned date and to-day 

 these same frames dropped down to $1.20 

 because of improved machinery ; but be- 

 tween the $1.20 price and the $2.00, lumber 

 out of which these were made advanced over 

 50 per cent, and labor 25 per cent, and the 

 frames went up to $2 00. 



Again we go back to 1881, the time men- 

 tioned by our correspondent, and we find 

 one-piece sections, surfaced on one side only, 

 a good deal the same as we make now, 

 although, of course, not as well made, listed 

 in our catalogs for that year at $4.50 per 

 1000. Again, in 1885 they were quoted at 

 $5.00; in 1895, ten years ago, $3.00, and that 

 price continued for several years when it 

 advanced in 1891 to $3.50 per 1000, owing to 

 the advance in the price of basswood which 

 then began to take place. Basswood contin- 

 ued to go up, and sections jumped to $4.00, 

 and finally reached the present rate, $5.00. 

 When sections were selling at $3.00 we 

 were buying basswood lumber at from half 

 to two - thirds the prices recently paid. 

 Then we made sections nine to the inch, 

 while we are now making eight to the 

 inch. The principal item of cost in sec- 

 tions is lumber. So that it will be seen that 

 sections have only kept pace with lumber. 

 Sections at $2.00 in single thousand lots? 

 We never sold any at that price, nor did any 

 one else very long. They either sent out 

 very poor goods or sold out, as they could 

 not stand the price. 



Let us now go back again to 1879, the time 

 spoken of by Mr. Morgan. In Gleanings 

 for that year, page 73, we find the IJ-story 

 ten-frame portico hive, including ten all- 

 wood frames, section- crate, and separators, 

 quoted at $1.90. A little later on, this hive 

 was quoted at retail, in the flat, single lots, 

 at $1.70. The nearest hive we have to this at 

 the present time, a 1 J-story ten-frame Dove- 

 tailed, is $2.30 in single lots; but the present 

 $2.30 hive has foundation starters for the 

 brood-nest, Hoffman frames with thick top- 

 bars, nails for frames, for hive-cover, bot- 

 tom-board, body, super, and all, complete. 

 The old $1.70 hive was made of a lower 

 grade of material, cheap frames with their 

 top-bars non-spacing, a cheap section-crate 

 — a hive that in nowise compares with the^ 

 corresponding hive of to-day of practically 

 clear stock. Considering that pine lumber 

 has advanced over 50 per cent in price, and 

 labor 25 per cent, I really do not see where 



