258 THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



man or system of middlemen with another set of middlemen com- 

 posed of producers. The cost of getting food from the producer 

 to the consumer is an economic waste and if the waste cannot be 

 reduced by co-operation then the old competitive methods are bet- 

 ter. To advocate a national co-operative organization with few 

 trained leaders, too little knowledge of honey markets and no defi- 

 nite plans for improving conditions and then to expect such an 

 organization to reduce the waste of distribution can only be looked 

 upon as visionary. 



That well executed co-operation is an advantageous method for 

 handling various products is universally accepted. That this plan 

 of selling may be applied to honey selling has been demonstrated. 

 It should be noted, however, that such organizations have so far 

 had no experience in handhng the products of two or more of the 

 previously mentioned honey regions. This is the limitation which 

 existing conditions put upon the co-operative movement among 

 beekeepers. Within a single honey region where all the members 

 are confronted by the same conditions in production and market- 

 ing, there is reason to expect success if the members are able to 

 co-operate and if they are so situated as to make individual selling 

 unprofitable. Even smaller units might be advantageous, for the 

 producers of raspberry honey or of buckwheat honey might find 

 it financially profitable to sell together to meet the competition of 

 other honeys. It may even be best to divide by states or even 

 smaller units to reduce overhead charges which increase rapidly 

 with expansion. 



The natural growth for any movement such as co-operation 

 will always be from small units to larger combinations. When the 

 United States contains dozens of small co-operative societies for 

 selling honey it will be time to plan, not for one large co-operative 

 society but for a federation of societies, working together to take 

 the edge from the naturally keen competition. Organization from 

 the top downward is not in accordance with the lessons of history 

 and in the absence of success in any such case should not be 

 attempted. 



One other point must be mentioned : Efficiency depends on har- 

 mony of plan and action and, in co-operation as well as in industrial 

 development, this harmony rests to a large extent on one-man 

 effort. When we find one man who alone can grasp the intricacies 

 of the American honey market, then will be the time for a co-opera- 

 tive federation. To plan for several widely scattered managers in 

 such an organization is to court financial disaster. 



Let us, then, if possible, have co-operative honey marketing, 



