THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



95 



kets." Our supply in 1914 greatly 

 exceeded the demand, and I do not be- 

 lieve any amount of advertising we 

 can do vv^ill sell enough honey to justi- 

 fy us in paying out a cent a pound 

 to advertise. 



I have not the space here to teach 

 the beekeepers of the country to ad- 

 vertise. I have had experience, and 

 tell you plainly that any idea of Na- 

 tional advertising is a phantom. A 

 m.illion dollars may be spent for honey 

 advertising and it will meet the fate 

 of all advertising. Succeed or fail, 

 and there is not a man alive who can 

 tell which. To succeed in advertis- 

 ing one must have something new, 

 something desirable, something peo- 

 ple will want. Honey is not new, not 

 by 10,000 years. However desirable 

 honey may be part of the time not 

 one person in a hundred wants it all 

 the time. There are six of us in my 

 family, and two, no three, attach- 

 ments. That makes nine, and I do 

 not think we will use 100 pounds of 

 honey a year, and I should know, for 

 I supply it, for cash, kisses and 

 thanks. All the advertising one might 

 do. even up to $50 a year per indi- 

 vidual, in this bunch of nine would 

 not double the consumption of honey. 

 100 pounds. $12 at my prices. For 

 extracted. Would it pay? 



As far as the use of honey in cook- 

 ing is concerned, women will not use 

 it at 10 cents a pound when sugar 

 costs much less. As a medicine honey 

 has no reputation. 



It is not only the war's effect in 

 shutting off exportation of honey that 

 hurts, but home consumption has 

 fallen off, in many communities. I 

 notice it here, but I sell, and have a 

 neighbor to compete with who sells 

 two 60-pound cans for $10, $5 each, 

 and claims "my" territory because he, 

 eighteen years ago. lived near here. 



I am in favor of "encouraging dis- 

 tribution and selling." while not in 

 favor of the National putting a sin- 

 gle dollar into advertising of any kind. 



It is the business of the INDIVID- 

 UAL to advertise HIS OWN BUSI- 

 NESS. Tobacco raisers, cotton pro- 

 ducers, farmers do not advertise, so 

 far as I know of. Nobody is going 

 to advertise the Bonney Drug Store. 

 I have to do that myself, and I do it, 

 but I know better than to spend much 

 money in vaunting a drug store in a 

 small rural community. 



I modestly call your attention to 

 a pretty good ad I gave the beekeep- 

 ers of the world, the little red sticker, 

 EAT HONEY. Now I'll add to it. 

 Let everyone who has signed this "en- 

 dorsement" apologize and at once 

 spend a few dollars on envelopes as 

 follows: 



If Not Delivered in 5 Days Return to 



Name of Producer 

 Name of Town 



Let the upper line be 8 point type, 

 the man's name and his town about 

 ten point, and the EAT HONEY in 

 a condensed block letter 30 points 

 high. Print this in a brilliant red, 

 the rest in black. 



If a man does not use many letters, 

 let him have stickers made and put 

 up all over his territory. He can do 

 this. The National CANNOT. 



This circular is a thinly disguised 

 attempt to involve the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Association in an advertis- 

 ing campaign. "Therefore be it re- 

 solved: That the National Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Association intrust and empower 

 its directors to adopt early and en- 

 ergetic measures to insure a large 

 consumption of honey; that they en- 

 courage distribution, selling and ad- 

 vertising policies to the extent of 

 their available resources and financial 

 ability." 



We. as an association, have no 

 "available resources," no "financial 

 ability." 



Parkville, Mo., Jan. 8, 1915. 



Bee-Keepers' Review, 



North Star, Michigan. 



Dear Sir: — 



We had a good meeting at St. Jo- 

 seph, December 7-8, 1914. The pres- 

 ence of Inspector Frank C. Pellett, 

 of Iowa, Dr. L. Haseman, State 

 Entomologist, Dr. Godfrey Bohrer and 

 Secretary O. A. Keene, of Kansas, 



and W. M. Jennings of Franklin, In 

 diana, gave us a sense of neighborly 

 satisfaction; and their contributions 

 to the discussions were valuable. 

 Through the courtesy of the Com- 

 merce Club of St. Joseph the Asso- 

 ciation met in the rooms of the Club 

 in the Corby-Forsee Building. Dadanl 

 and Sons, of Hamilton, 111., and tho 

 Leahy Mfg. Co., of Higginsville, Mo., 

 exhibited their products. 



