178 



THE BEE-KEEPERS* REVIEW. 



EXTRACTED DEPARTMENT. 



CO-OPERATION. 



It is the Order of the Day, and Should be 

 Adopted by Bee Keepers. 



As the years go by conditions change. 

 This is, emphatically, an age of combi- 

 nation and co-operation; and bee-keepers 

 ought not to be behind the times in this 

 respect. There are many fields in which 

 it is possible to labor for the good of bee- 

 keeping, but co-operation and combina- 

 tion certainly offer a very hopeful field. 

 Our National Association, and the one or 

 two honey exchanges, are doing more in 

 this direction for the benefit of bee-keep- 

 ing, than perhaps some of us realize. 

 There is need for much more in the same 

 line. On this subject, Prof. A. J. Cook, 

 in the American Bee Journal, has the 

 following: — 



We have great reason to hope, from 

 the temper and spirit of our late and last 

 convention, that we should very soon 

 have a honey exchange that would rival 

 in excellence and advantage to its niem- 

 Vjers the Citrus Fruit Exchange of South- 

 ern California. That organization saved 

 the citrus industry. It now markets 60 

 percent of the citrus fruits, and with the 

 present rate of growth it will soon handle 

 nearly or quite all. The great advan- 

 tages arising from buying supplies cheap- 

 er; packing better, cheaper and more uni- 

 formally; distributing more wisely in the 

 market; developing more and better 

 markets; of keeping informed most thor- 

 oughly as to the state of the markets, 

 throughout the entire country; and of 

 keeping all the profits to the grower, are 

 simply stupendous. It is co-operation on 

 a large scale, and is blessed in perform- 

 ance. 



The bee-keepers desire to enter an ex- 

 change, but at the same time wish to keep 

 the right to sell their own honey if they 

 will so to do. Of course no such ex- 

 change could live. It must know its sup- 

 plies as to quantity, quality aud where- 

 abouts, else it cannot conmiand the mar- 

 ket. In case any bee-keeper learns of a 

 good market at a high price the exchange 

 will be glad to know of it, and give the 

 bee-keepers the advantage of it. But, of 



course, the organization must handle the 

 honey, and, unless this is permitted, the 

 organization would be like a rope of 

 sand. 



The-e are two things that stand in the 

 way of the rapid realization of such organ- 

 izations. People are slow to trnst them, 

 and quite as slow to pay salaries that will 

 secure the aV)lest management. A bee- 

 keeper or fruit-grower who works hard 

 the entire year, and counts his income 

 possibly with three figures, finds it hard 

 to see why the manager of an exchange 

 should receive a four-figured income, 

 with the fourth figure probably a large 

 one. It is simply this: In doing business, 

 as does the Citrus Fruit Exchange, that 

 reaches up into the millions, a shrewd 

 business sense will often, in a single deal, 

 save many times the salary of the mana- 

 ger. He must be far-sighted, alert, cau- 

 tious, experienced. The railroads, and 

 all large, successful corporations, are all 

 the time looking for such men; once 

 found, and they will have and keep them 

 at any price. The Exchange must be the 

 same. 



The Southern California Citrus Fruit 

 Exchange pays its manager |;S,ooo. I 

 am free to say that she is wise, and would 

 far better add to this large sum, if such 

 addition were necessary to keep him. 

 This organization does business away up 

 in the millions of dollars, and yet, for 

 several years, has met no losses at all, in 

 the way of bad sales; does the business 

 ness for 3 percent of sales; has the full 

 confidence of the trade; and is develop- 

 ing a constantly larger and better market. 

 All our rural industries must and will 

 wheel into line. Let us all urge that it 

 be soon. 



Prof. Cook is clearly correct in his con- 

 tention that the honey must be consign- 

 ed unreservedly to the Exchange, and 

 that the best possible talent must be se- 

 cured for Manager. When in Colorado 

 last fall I became somewhat conversant 

 with the upbuilding and management of 

 the Colorado Honey Producers' Associa- 

 tion. One of the great drawbacks was 

 the reluctance to consign honey unre- 

 servedly to the Association. If some 

 member found an opportunity to sell his 

 honey at an unusually good price, he 



