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74 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



tions. Mr. Macklin will now distri- 

 but the blanks and any questions you 

 wish to ask, write them on the slips, 

 and we will take them up in a few 

 minutes. We will begin the program 

 in that way, and then, as we find that 

 those having' papers have come in, we 

 will have the papers read and dis- 

 cussed. It might be well now to have 

 an intermission of about 15 minutes, 

 after which we will then begin to take 

 up the questions. You can visit and 

 also see t)he Secretary about the dues. 

 You will please state if you are already 

 a member of the National; those that 

 are, will pay $1.00; the others, $1.50. 



After the intermission, Pres. York 

 called to order. 



Pres. York — I hope those who have 

 not yet become members will see the 

 Secretary as soon as we adjourn for 

 lunch. Mr. C. A. Hatch is here with 

 his paper, so I think we will begin with 

 that, and discussion will follow on this 

 paper, after which we will have some 

 of the questions. 



CO-OPERATION AMONG BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



Mr. President and Fellow Bee-Keep- 

 ers: I feel as though I was in a strange 

 hive, almost. I don't know that I have 

 met with this Association before, and 

 you are nearly all strangers to me, so 

 I shall feel very awkward and act a 

 little more awkward than I feel. 



(Dr. Miller — You will get over it be- 

 fore you are here very long!) 



I take the liberty of doing something 

 like the ministers do — I have a text to 

 go by; I .made out tihis chart, copying 

 it from Mr. Crane, of Vermont, as it 

 was published in the Bee-Keepers' Re- 

 view, and then re-published in the 

 American Bee Journal. 



(Exhibiting chart and hanging same 

 on wall.) 



This is a table of honey expenses to 

 consumers, made out, as I have stated, 

 by Mr. J. E. Crane: 



Price of a 1-lb. Bottle of Honey. 



The first cost of honey to the pro- 

 ducer 8c 



Freight on same l%c 



Bottle • • 414c 



Selling %c 



Labels, etc % c 



Jobber's profit 2c 



Retailer's profit 5c 



Leakage — loss by breakage 2c 



Cost to consumer 24c 



Two -thirds of what is paid for a 

 pound of honey doesn't go to the con- 

 sumer, but goes simply for packing 

 and getting it to Ihim; something is es- 

 sentially wrong somewhere, when it 

 costs' twice as much to get a pound of 

 honey where the consumer can use it 

 as it does to produce it; and then when 

 you look at the producer's side, it 

 seems strange that we get offly one- 

 third of the amount the consumer 

 pays. 



As consumers, iwe should be wide 

 awake and try to find out what the 

 reason is. There is something tihat 

 calls for action on our part — something 

 that needs to be rectified — 'when we 

 only get one-third of what the consum- 

 er pays for our product. 



Where is the trouble? 



Now, I say that the trouble lies be- 

 tween the consumer and the producer. 

 The lack of co-operation between them, 

 and the lack of co-operation by the 

 producers as a body, in not making the 

 distances slhorter and the expenses less 

 between the consumer and the pro- 

 ducer. 



We might say that the middleman 

 is' to blame — that he is making too 

 much money. 



I don't think he is; I have been a 

 middleman somewhat myself, and I 

 find that to toandle honey out for less 

 than 5 cents a pound you can't very 

 well do it, in small quantities, and 

 make anything at it. You would have 

 to handle a great deal of Ihoney to make 

 a decent living, if that were your only 

 source of income, at 5 cents a pound. 



I think the great trouble is between 

 the two points. We don't make our 

 wants known through each other. I 

 am inclined to think both the con- 

 sumer and the producer are at fault, 

 by not trying to let each other know 

 of- their iwants, one to sell and the other 

 to buy. How are we to know this? 

 Our daily papers are full of wants and 

 offers— wlhy is not honey a good thing 

 to offer? 



If the consumer is so short-sighted 

 that he insists on buying only a pound 

 at a time, fix your goods to meet the 

 demand. But from several years' ex- 

 perience, a small package is not need- 

 ed, not smaller than 10 pounds, any- 

 way. I have a trade. that takes about 

 20,000 pounds annually, and 200 pounds , 

 would cover all my sales in less than 

 60-pound packages. 





