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ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



77 



all. It is not what we would sell as 

 table honey any way, it goes mostly to 

 to the bakers, and they don't inspect 

 it. 



Here in this country I presume we 

 would have to inspect the honey; that 

 adds to the cost; we would have to 

 have a central warehouse; that adds 

 to the cost. 



In Colorado they make no assess- 

 ment at all; the thing- is all closed out. 

 You can get an advance on your honey, 

 if you want to, of the Colorado Asso- 

 ciation, and when the deal is all fin- 

 ished, then they charge up actual ex- 

 penses, nothing more; they pay their 

 Secretary and Manager, I think, $75.00 

 a month for actual time put in — ^I don't 

 remember exactly. That worked the 

 most satisfactorily of any one of these 

 Associations that I have belonged to, 

 and cost a good deal less. They have 

 very efficient officers there, and I don't 

 think they could find a better man 

 in the United States than Frank 

 Rauchfuss, for the post he occupies; 

 such men are not to be found every 

 day, so that Colorado is very fortunate 

 in finding that kind of a man. 



What this Association needs is to 

 get on to some of these lines. 



I want to turn this chart over, and 

 let you see the "Revised Edition." 

 Change is the order of the day. We 

 don't like to be living in old styles 

 always. We have to imagine we are 

 making progress whether we are or 

 not. 



(Turning the chart over). This is 

 the way I would have it stand. 



So you see I raise the price to the 

 producer — Say 2 cents, anyway. Now 

 I would tax 10 cents a pound cash 

 with the order. I never have lost any- 

 thing since I commenced this way of 

 selling my honey. 



I have sent some without the money 

 for it, but I have always gotten my 

 pay somehow or other; I have never 

 lost one cent. 



As to the freight charges — ^you can 

 send it away to the corners of Dakota 

 for 75 cents a hundred pounds, so I 

 concluded % of a cent would be about 

 the right thing. 



Then the honey would cost the con- 

 sumer 10% cents — ^13 cents rather. 



The consumer would save, I mean, 

 over the other way, at twenty-four 

 cents, 10% cents; he would save 13% 

 cents. 



The producer would make a profit 

 over the other way of 2 cents a pound; 

 then you could put in 2 cents for ad- 

 vertising, and that added to this would 

 make it 12 cents, and you could let the 

 consumer have it at 12 cents; then 

 you would save the consumer just half 

 of what he was paying before, and the 

 producers would make 2 cents and 

 the consumer would save 12 cents. 



If there is anything that is not clear 

 about that I am here to explain it. 



I extracted a little from our Presi- 

 dent's Address before the National 

 Convention at Albany; I thought he 

 put it better than I could say it, so I 

 just simply copied it. It reads: 



"The time is rapidly passing away 

 when a single producer in any line 

 can make a success all by himself. 

 These are 'get together" times, and 

 bee-keepers have lost much., during the 

 past decade in not being properly or- 

 ganized so as to protect their own in- 

 terests, and realize a proper return 

 for their efforts in the production of 

 honey. Again, I say, leave the meth- 

 ods of production and the details in 

 that line to the bee-keepers of the 

 country, but the larger and more dif- 

 ficult work — the marketing of the 

 product — let that be controlled by a 

 National Organization made up of the 

 branch organizations in the various 

 States and Territories." 



Mr. Rauchfuss, of Colorado, wrote 

 an article on the co-operation in sell- 

 ing honey, and one of the things that 

 he says that is worth thinking about — 

 after saying that we should always 

 have honey on hand when anybody 

 demanded it, and in a shape to sell, he 

 says: 



"One of the things we bee-keepers 

 would run up against would 'be the 

 failure to supply the kind and grade 

 of honey desired when the jobber or 

 wholesaler wanted it ; then some com 

 syrup would be substituted, and some 

 valuable ihoney trade would vanish. 

 We shall have to he on deck with the 

 goods the year around." 



That would be another problem 



I find some people are not willing 

 to take one kind of honey that they 

 have not used, in place of the kind 

 they have been accustomed to, 'but I 

 do find this: a first-class honey of any 

 variety — that is, any first-class va- 

 riety, say such as clover, basswood 

 or alfalfa, will generally suit a cus- 



