774 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



not hope to get the prices that A. and 

 B. do for their snowy honey in fault- 

 less packages. Honey in poor shape 

 and condition is not wanted in the 

 home market, and it is certainly not 

 fit to ship elsewhere ; it is therefore 

 forced off at some price, and the mar- 

 ket ruined for all. Now what we 

 want is, to teach these bee-keepers to 

 produce only honey in the best pos- 

 sible shape, and they can then ask 

 and get a fair price. My own home 

 market was spoiled exactly as de- 

 scribed in the editorial above referred 

 to, and I was forced to find other 

 markets. 



I notice thatMr.Thielmann,on page 

 726, advises not to use combs a second 

 vear without first extracting the 

 honey. To bring his idea up to 

 modern times, he should have added, 

 " After extracting cut out the combs, 

 melt them up, and burn the old sec- 

 tions." He is evidently on the right 

 road, however, and will probably 

 catch up after awhile. 



Milan,^ Ills. 



For the American Bee JoumaL 



U. S. Honey-Proicers' Association, 



M. M. BALDBIDGE. 



One of the chief objects of this 

 article is to stir up a hornets' nest ! 

 The nest has been in sight for years, 

 but it has now grown so big that it 

 has become a nuisance. There must, 

 by this time, be " lots " of hornets in 

 the nest, so to begin the "fun" let 

 me throw a few pebbles at it to see 

 how much life there is in it. Having 

 provided myself with an iron-clad 

 armor of defense the hornets may 

 now come if they wish I 



On page 723 is one of those brief 

 but pithy editorials which reads thus : 



" It will pay producers to allow 

 local stores a commission of 20 per 

 cent, on the sale of comb honey if 

 they would retail it at 20 cents per 

 pound. Better this than to allow re- 

 tail prices to run down to less than 

 the net amount you would then re- 

 ceive from the stores." 



Now, there is good sense in the 

 foregoing extract for honey-producers 

 to analyze and heed. But will they 

 heed it and put it into practice V If 

 not, why not ? Why continue to ship 

 your honey away to some large city, 

 to be sold on commission by whole- 

 sale dealers, and neglect to supply 

 your home markets V In any event, 

 why not supply your home markets 

 first y Then, if there be a surplus, 

 will it not be time enough to ship it 

 away beyond your reach and perhaps 

 control ? Just think of this and then 

 act. But. says the reader, in what 

 way should I supply tlie home mar- 

 kets V Do as the Editor indicates, 

 to-wit : By selling your honey direct 

 to consumers through the retail deal- 

 ers, and by them on commission only. 

 Not at their price but at ymir price. 

 Pay retail agents a good commission; if 

 they disobey instructions take away 

 the unsold honey and refuse to sup- 

 ply them with any more until they 

 comply with your wishes. This is 



the way the flour producers on Fox 

 river do, and have done for years, and 

 the plan works like a charm ; and 

 this is the right way for honey-pro- 

 ducers to do. 



The producers should know what is 

 a fair, honest price for honey when 

 compared with its cost and the price 

 of other commodities, and it is high 

 time that they demand it. The power 

 to get it lies within their reach ; then 

 why not use that power i* But, says 

 one, what is a fair price for honey i 

 That, of course, depends upon the 

 kind, its condition, and the supply. 

 It seems to me that 20 cents per pound 

 at retail is none too much, at present, 

 for a good article of white honey in 

 small sections, and a fancy article 

 should command 22 to 2.5 cents. And 

 15 cents at retail, is none too much 

 for even good buckwheat honey, in 

 small packages, while 16 to 18 cents 

 per pound is none too much for inter- 

 mediate grades in good condition. 

 And, further, that 10 per cent., 15 per 

 cent., or even 20 per cent, is none too 

 much for the retail agent to have for 

 his trouble and assistance. The idea 

 should be " to live and let live." The 

 consumer has a right to live, so has 

 the agent, and so likewise has the 

 producer. But, as the matter now 

 stands, the producer has precious 

 little to say about the matter, nor has 

 the consumer. The middleman seems 

 to be, in many cases, the dictator to 

 both parties. 



Every important trade or business, 

 almost, has an organization to control 

 it, to limit production, oxio fix prices, 

 but the honey-producers have none ! 

 And why not "? Simply because there 

 has been no proper effort on their 

 part in that direction. They can and 

 should have such an organization if 

 they will. But how y Read the edi- 

 torial on organization on page 723, 

 then think about it, and then you may 

 be ready to act intelligently and 

 speedily. A honey-producers' or- 

 ganization of the United States is a 

 move in the right direction, and one 

 that the writer has been advocating, 

 in a quiet way, for several years. 



And now a few words about the 

 commission men and the bee-papers : 

 I claim that commission men have 

 no right, legal or moral, to the free 

 use of a whole column, or even a part 

 of a column of our bee-papers. Their 

 occasional and semi-occasional " re- 

 ports " of the honey markets are a 

 curse to honey-producers, and are 

 nothing more nor less ttian a free 

 advertisement for themselves. If 

 they wish to advertise their calling 

 and place of business, let tliem pay 

 for the privilege as other people do. 

 There are many reasons why the 

 wholesale commission dealers are a 

 curse to honey-producers ; why they 

 should have no right to a free use of 

 our bee-papers ; and, in fact, why 

 they should all, without exception, 

 be rigidly excluded from the use of 

 even the advertising columns 1 I will 

 not now attempt to give all the rea- 

 sons, but will content myself at pres- 

 ent by giving only one or two. 



They are to a great extent responsi- 

 ble for the present low prices that 

 prevail everywhere for honey. In 



short,they^ the price for honey, and 

 fix it to suit themselves. They seem 

 to care but little for the profits and 

 welfare of honey-producers. Their 

 chief interest in the transaction, be- 

 tween the honey-producer and th& 

 retailer, is simply their commission. 

 They cut and make prices simply to 

 make sales and to get ahead of their 

 rival commission neighbor. Having 

 been in the honey traffic more or less 

 for the past thirty years— producing, 

 buying and selling, but never on com- 

 mission—I happen to know that my 

 statements are true. But the com- 

 mission men are not alone to blame. 

 The honey-producers are equally tO' 

 blame. They have permitted the 

 wholesale commission men to fix the 

 prices on their honey for them. But 

 for the present, as in the past, they 

 cannot very well help themselves in 

 case they patronize the wholesale 

 commission men. Being unorganized, 

 honey-producers are trying almost 

 everywhere to undersell each other at 

 home, and when they ship their honey 

 away to the large cities, they give the 

 wholesale commission dealers the 

 same privilege. 



Now this practice should be changed 

 to one based on sound business prin- 

 ciples. But I see no way to do thi& 

 without an organization of the honey- 

 producers, to be known and desig- 

 nated, perhaps, as the " United iStatea 

 Honey-Producers' Association," or by 

 some similar title. The times demand 

 such an organization. Then why not 

 have it soon, and before we produce 

 another crop of honey to be demor- 

 alized in prices like the present one ? 

 I for one am not in favor of waiting: 

 until the next meeting of the North 

 American Bee-Keepers' Society be- 

 fore we make an effort to better our 

 condition as honey-producers. I there- 

 fore move that we have a convention 

 of honey-producers thi present winter, 

 for the express purpose of organizing 

 a honey-producers' association. And 

 why not have the meeting in Chicago?' 

 that city being perhaps as central as 

 any. Who will second the motion ? 



St. Charles, 5 His. 



[For editorial remarks on the above,, 

 see page 771.— Ed.] 



For the American Bee Joamal. 



Tlie Iota State Convention. 



The Iowa State Bee-Keepers' Asso- 

 ciation met in the association's tent 

 on the State Fair Grounds at Des 

 Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 7, 1886, at 2 

 p.m., with O. O. Poppleton in the 

 chair. Many questions of interest 

 were asked and answered, after which 

 the convention adjourned to meet in 

 the evening. 



The evening session was devoted to 

 a general discussion of various im- 

 portant questions, and was greatly 

 enjoyed by all, and adjourned to meet 

 again at 9 a.m. on Sept. 8. 



On Sept. 8, at 9:30 a.m. the annual 

 election of officers took place, which 

 resulted in the election of J. F. 

 Spaulding, of Charles City, for Presi- 

 dent ; Dr. Jesse Oren, of La Porte 



