58 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



to accept them willy-nilly? 



I mean by this, any policy that will 

 affect any considerable portion of 

 them. Of course, the little things 

 must be settled by the Directors. 



I got off my subject a little, but I 

 am going to let it go, and start over 

 again. I started in to say that it 

 seemed to me that the National is 

 big enough to accommodate all who 

 are interested in honey production in 

 any way, and give ample room with- 

 out crowding. Take, for instance, the 

 launching of a nation-wide cam- 

 paign for advertising. Let's see if 

 we cannot find room for everybody to 

 get busy in that, and not get crowd- 

 ed. Did you ever undertake to 

 launch a nation-wide campaign with- 

 out much means ? I have. I started 

 into it once and got as far as to cover 

 Indiana, and — reduced my plans some- 

 what. But I did not have enthusiastic 

 supporters in almost every hamlet in 

 the country to look after the local 

 papers; I did not have a thousand in- 

 telligent young men and women will- 

 ing and able to make demonstrations 

 in stoi^es and at fairs; I did not have 

 three or four splendid journals will- 

 ing and able to co-operate in my cam- 

 paign; I did not have 10,000 men and 

 women ready and willing to assist in 

 publishing my good news to a willing 

 public. I did not have an able corps 

 of lecturers and demonstrators to en- 

 tertain field and local meetings; I did 

 not have a thousand able writers to 

 flood the papers with news and stories 

 pertaining to my business. I did not 

 have a public ready and willing to ac- 

 cept my product without question, 

 but I had to educate it. I had none 

 of these things, and I made a won- 

 derfully successful campaign with 

 much less money to begin with than 

 the Association can command. I did 

 it by planning ahead and everlasting- 

 ly keeping at it. 



With all this army of more than 

 100,000 beekeepers in the United 

 States organized and working togeth- 

 er, the consumption of honey can be 

 doubled and even trebled in three 

 years. I know, for I have seen it 

 done in different localities, and under 

 different conditions, and with both 

 comb honey and extracted. Room 

 enough for all to assist, isn't there? 



There are certain fundamental rules 

 of business that must be rigidly ob- 

 served to insure success in a pub- 

 licity campaign for honey. Frank 

 Ruchfuss and many astute business 



men have all given these as basic. 



First, absolutely uniform grading 

 for both comb and extracted honey, 

 sold under a guaranteed and distin- 

 guishing trademark. 



Second, a full and exact knowledge 

 of the source of supply, the channels 

 of distribution and the exact require- 

 ments of each market. 



Third, a thorough organization and 

 harmonious co-operation in all branch- 

 es of the organized body. 



A settled policy, approved by all 

 the units, with sufficient funds to 

 carry it out. 



Last, but not least, a recognized 

 director, broad enough to get the 

 needed perspective, quick to grasp 

 the necessary details, and persistent 

 enough to hammer away until the 

 cows come home and pugnacious 

 enough to fight if necessary. I hint- 

 ed at the possibilities of such a cam- 

 paign as this early in the spring to 

 the Directors, but it was not taken 

 up at that time. Recently it has been 

 mentioned and incidentally I suggest- 

 ed that it could not be undertaken at 

 the present salary of the Secretary. 

 It was suggested that the Secretary 

 in all his little squibs and correspond- 

 ence was working with the idea of 

 organizing some plant like this for 

 the purpose of getting his salary 

 raised. I will admit one part of the 

 allegation with pleasure. I have writ- 

 ten every word of the little items 

 with the single idea of "stirring up" 

 the different members to the possi- 

 bilities before them. As to raising 

 the salary, your Secretary or anyone 

 else who has had any experience with 

 advertising would require several 

 times the present salary (of nothing 

 at all) to undertake such a big job. 

 Much good can be done, however, 

 with very little means. But the As- 

 sociation should be reorganized to suit 

 the requirements of the businses to 

 be transacted, if it attempts the task. 



This is a big country. It is a long 

 way up and down, and longer across. 

 It is a tremendously big and expensive 

 undertaking in the ordinary way to 

 make a shore-to-shore campaign of 

 publicity. I do not underestimate it. 

 I have been against it, and know. In 

 an ordinary way, we would not get 

 to first base with the means we can 

 command, but with our resources we 

 can make a home run with time to 

 spare, with proper organization. The 

 difficulty with all the doubting Thom- 

 ases is that they overlook the tre- 



