184 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REV 2k 



If every consumer wanted large quantities 

 of itiiy given article of production, the i 

 some of the dealers might be dispensed with, 

 but it is a question if this would result in 

 any ultimate good to society, as I sh;ill try 

 to show further on. Let us see, first, what 

 some of the functions of a dealer are, or 

 what benefit he is to society. By examin- 

 ing this matter a little more carefull.\ , I 

 think it will be made apparent that the 

 dealer is not a wholly useless member of 

 society, and that he satisfies a real desire. 

 If he does, then he is as much a producer as 

 any other man who satisfies human w-ins, 

 or creates wealth. 



Oue of the functions of a dealer is to hold 

 things in readiness for the consumer until 

 he feels the immediate need of it. This re- 

 lieves the consumer of all anxiety and re- 

 sponsibility, and he has the use of his 

 money up to the very time when he is 

 ready for the article he needs. The nearer 

 the article is to hira when he is ready for it. 

 the longer he can wait before he gets it, and 

 the less loss of time and energy he will incur 

 in getting it. Not only this, he can get the 

 article in just such quantities as he may 

 desire, and generally the man who wants a 

 small quantity of anything can get it of his 

 local dealer as cheaply as he could at the 

 point where production commenced, to say 

 nothing about the expense of transportation, 

 the delay, and possibility of total lof^s. 

 The dealer has to assume all of the risk, 

 and every man who knows anything about 

 the honey business knows that this is no 

 small item. The season may prove a bad 

 one and he finds him'=elf with a 1 irge stock 

 of goods on hand, for which there will be no 

 demand until another season. Few con- 

 sumers realize how much this means. If it 

 were not for a local dealer, in many cases 

 these goods would be left in the hands of 

 consumers, who would have to order them 

 in advance in order to be ready when the 

 honey flow comes. 



Another function of a dealer, which is a 

 very important one, is frequently complete- 

 ly lost sight of by the consumer. He cre- 

 ates a demand for articles of real value, and 

 gives the consumer an opportunity, frequent- 

 ly, to examine articles at first hand, and see 

 if they are such as will add to his comfort, 

 ■without any outlay on his part. It often 

 occurs that the consumer would never have 

 seen the article, if it had not been for the 

 dealer, for he cannot afford to send to the 



distant manufacturer and get all articles, of 

 which he may read or hear, without know- 

 ing whether they are such as would satisfy 

 his desire. The dealer places them in his 

 stock aud the consumer has oppporlunity to 

 to examine them before he buys, which no 

 d'jubt saves him many times from purchas- 

 ing articles for wliich he would have no use. 

 Tlie d-ialer not only brines to the attention 

 of ihe consumer new articles, but he also 

 calls his attention to new methods of satis- 

 fying his dt sites, and in some cases im- 

 parts information which will prove of as 

 much value to him as the cost of the article 

 which he buys. Especially is this true with 

 the dealer in apicultural implements, and 

 firm machinery. I know a case where a 

 man went to a dealer for fifty cents worth of 

 sectious, and got information that was 

 worth four times that to him, for he had an 

 idea that those sections should go on the 

 hive at once, the mercury being at that 

 time down near zero. 



Thau, again, the coming of a dealer into 

 a community almost always reduces the 

 price of goods. I think of a case where the 

 coming of a dealer reduced the cost of hives 

 to the consumer about half in two years' 

 time. Whatever prejudice we may have 

 against the agents of the country, we will 

 be forced to confess that many times, if it 

 were not for them, the people would remain 

 iu ignorance of a great many thiugs of real 

 value to them. Some have a habit of turn- 

 ing up their noses at book agents, but there 

 isno doubt but what in early times, and in 

 many cases in these times, they have added 

 materially ta the information of the people 

 iu the community wh re they operate. They 

 oftentimes furnish an o()portunity for the 

 children to see and read valuable books, for 

 which they have long had a desire, but that 

 desire would never have been gratified if 

 some pushing agent had not come to the 

 home and created a desire in the breast of 

 the father or mother for that book. So it is 

 with honey ; there are hundreds of people 

 who would make it an article of daily con- 

 sumption, aud thus largely increase the de- 

 mand, if only someone with a faculty for 

 such work would go to their homes and show 

 them its great value as an article of human 

 food, and how cheaply it may be obtained. 

 True, stich an one might be a " middleman, " 

 but the owners of bees could well afford to 

 accord to him some of the honors and pro- 

 fits of viroduction, which are rightly his. 



