1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



385 



one on which his commission is based. Of 

 coui'se, his commission will be less. But how 

 is the producer to know that he does not 

 pocket the difference between the aciu(d sell- 

 ing price and his alleged price? Let us take 

 a concrete example. We will suppose Mr. 

 Commissionman quotes his market on No. 1 

 comb honey at 15 cents. He secures a con- 

 signment of, we will say, 1000 lbs. When he 

 makes his returns he bases his commission 

 on 15 cents, or $150. On a ten-per-cent ba- 

 sis, his commission will be $15.00. Mr. Pro- 

 ducer receives a cheek for $150 less $15.00, 

 less freight and drayage $5.00, or a net 

 amount of $130 for his honey. But suppose 

 Mr. Commissionman sold this honey at 18 

 cents, how will Mr. Honey-producer be any 

 the wiser if the other fellow says he sold it 

 for 15 cents and pockets this three cents or 

 the total amount of $30? The honey-produc- 

 er is not supposed to know to whom the hon- 

 ey is sold, and therefore he has no means of 

 ascertaining whether Mr. Commissionman 

 cleaned up not only the $30, but his commis- 

 sion of 10 per cent, or $15 more. In other 

 words, our city man may quote the market 

 just high enough to get a consignment, but 

 may sell above his quoted market. The ef- 

 fect of this low quotation is to depress the 

 honey market generally, and Mr. Commis- 

 sionman makes on the sale his legitimate 

 commission plus $30.00 that is not his. But 

 suppose he wants to make an outright pur- 

 chase of some lots that are offered. Obvious- 

 ly it will be to his advantage to have the 

 market quoted low, so that on cash deals he 

 will not have to pay the higher price, and 

 on commission deals he can make a " scoop " 

 in addition to his regular commission. In a 

 word, as I tried to point out in our last is- 

 sue, the whole scheme of quoting prices in 

 Gleanings on honey may have a tendency 

 to ''bear" the market rather than to "bull" 

 it, or push it up to the level it would natu- 

 rally seek. Far be it from us to cast discred- 

 it on the men who furnish i;s honey quota- 

 tions, for as a whole we believe they are 

 honorable men. If we did not believe them 

 to l3e such we would drop their quotations. 

 The trouble is not with the men but with the 

 system of quotations. — Ec] 



The reader's attention is di-awn to the 

 scheme of honey quotations discussed by Dr. 

 Miller and the editor in the columns above. 



One of the brightest and happiest articles 

 relating to our industry we have seen for 

 some time appears in the March number of 

 the IllustnUed Northwest Farm and Home, 

 published at North Yakima, Washington. 

 The article is entitled "The Honey-eaters' 

 League," and is couched in a happy vein 

 which is certain to be well received, and 

 ought to do the bee-keepers of the North- 

 west considerable good. 



A NEW NATIONAL PURE-FOOD ASSOCIATION. 



We note with pleasure the organization 

 in Chicago, on Feb. 19, of an association 

 charged with the duty of enforcing to the 

 utmost limit all pure-food laws and the se- 

 curing of the uniformity of the same. It is 

 said representatives were present from the 

 National Wholesale Grocers' Association, 

 National Wholesale Druggists' Association, 

 National Association of Manufacturers of 

 Soda Water, National Extract Manufactu- 

 rers' Association, and other similar organi- 

 zations. If this association is what it pur- 

 ports to be we believe it would be a good 

 thing for the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion to join hands with it in securing a 

 pi'ompt enforcement of the laws relating to 

 pure food. Such a society could work more 

 quickly than Uncle Sam, and it could do 

 much to prevent graft, etc. The General 

 Manager of the National Association, Mr. N. 

 E. France, Platteville, Wis., would probably 

 be glad to cooperate in future with this or- 

 ganization at any future meetings. We need 

 not wait for the "^national government to get 

 ready. Let us help ourselves a little. 



The manuscript for the department of 

 Fancies and Fallacies arrived too late to go in 

 its regular place. It will be found, however, 

 in the latter part of the journal. 



THE enemies of THE NATIONAL PURE-FOOD 

 LAW, AND WHAT THEY ARE ATTEMPT- 

 ING TO DO. 



No law enacted by Congress in many years 

 has created so much criticism and excitement 

 as the new pure-food law. In many business 

 circles it forms the sole topic of conversa- 

 tion. From Feb. 11 to 16 the city of Buffalo, 

 N. Y., resounded with the story of the pure- 

 food law because a convention representing 

 the National Canners' Association, the Na- 

 tional Wholesale Grocers, the New York 

 Wholesale Grocers, the Western Canned 

 Goods Association, the National Canned 

 Goods and Dried Fruit Brokers' Association, 

 and other societies met to discuss ways and 

 means of cooperating with Uncle Sam in the 

 proper enforcement of the law, and two of 

 the principal speakers were Professor Wiley 

 and Dr. William Frear, who are the men 

 chiefly responsible for the correct operation 

 of the law. 



Other meetings of a like nature have been 

 held elsewhere, and the whole business world 

 is agog. Several vState governments are en- 

 gaged in the work of framing pure-food laws 

 almost identical with the national. We would 

 not allude to the subject so often were it not 

 for the tremendous importance of this mat- 

 ter to all honey-producei's. No business was 

 ever more cruelly undermined by adultera- 

 tion than that of honey-production in the 



