92 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



For iPresident, George W. York, of 

 Chicago; Vice-President, Chas. G. 

 Maclilin, of Morrison, 111.; and Secre- 

 tary-Treasurer, Lfouis C. Dadant, of 

 Hamilton, 111. 



How Much Should Producer Get for 

 Honey? 



"If a grocer retails a pound of white 

 extracted honey in jar at 40 cents, how 

 much ougiht the producer or bee- 

 keeper get?" 



Mr. Macklin — 30' cents. 



Mr. Taylor — 27' cents. 



Mr. Niver — I would say the producer 

 would "get it in the neck." 



Mr. Smith — From what I have 

 studied of marketing products under 

 our present system, about 17 or 18 

 cents. I believe you will find the 

 greatest machine company that manu- 

 factures harvester machinery, and all 

 of these trusts', pay out more money 

 for the marketing of their product 

 than they do for the manufacture. It 

 cost more to market a self-binder than 

 it does to make it — to sell a suit of 

 clothes than it does to make a suit. It 

 costs more, I believe, in nearly all 

 lines of manufacture to sell goods^ — to 

 put them in the hands of the con- 

 sumers — than to manufacture. I be- 

 lieve you will find that is true. 



Pres. York — The producer would 

 have to put it up. How much, if sold 

 at 55 cents per quart? 



Mr. Cavanagh — I would like to know 

 as to whether you mean one can or a 

 car-lot; you can figure a little closer 

 in selling in large quantities? 



Pres. York — If you were to take n 

 single can? 



Mr. Wilcox — The question will again 

 come up as to whether you leave your 

 honey with the retail grocer, or ship 

 it; if you have to ship it you must 

 have a wider margin. If you sell it to 

 your own grocer to retail, 5 cents is 

 enoug'h, 



Mr. Niver — "We are getting on a very 

 tender point with me. I have studied 

 it about ten years — that one question — 

 and coming right down to the funda- 

 mental thing, you have to understand 

 that the production is limited by the 

 consumption, and if you get the price 

 on honey too high it cuts down the 

 consumption below a point where it is 

 profitable to produce honey at all. 



I contend that the only way to raise 

 the consumption of honey, to get it up 



where it ought to be, is to get the 

 price within the people's reach; the 

 average price of honey, in stores, 

 where I am traveling, is 30 cents a 

 pound, excepting for medicines and an 

 occasional luxury. That is all wrong. 

 The argument of the bee-keeper is 

 that meat is very high, and so is flour, 

 and butter, and eggs — why should not 

 honey be? X^ie point is, that meat 

 and butter do not come into compe- 

 tition with honey at all. Honey is a 

 competitor of sweets — sugar, molasses 

 and syrups; they have not advanced 

 anything like any of the other neces- 

 saries of life. 



Now I contend that a price of 12% 

 cents for extracted honey — I don't say 

 anything about comb honey because 

 there is so little of it consumed it 

 doesn't amoomt to anything; when you 

 get above 12% cents' a pound for ex- 

 tracted honey you are cutting down 

 the consumption to a point where it is 

 below a profit to produce it. 



Can we get it to the consumer at 

 12% cents, or below that? Everybody 

 shakes their head and says, "No"; I 

 say it can be done, and be done at 

 present prices, but you must cut out 

 the expense — the 60 -pound can first; 

 that is sheer waste; costs % to % 

 cent peij pound. The bee-keeper must 

 put up his honey in retail packages; 

 then the bee-keeper must sell direct to 

 the grocer or the general market. 

 That is what I have been contending 

 for, and have been trying to systema- 

 tize. 



The first thing the grocer says is 

 that there is no demand for honey. "I 

 have a dozen little tumblers- that sell 

 at 15 cents a piece, 6 ounces, and I 

 don't sell a dozen in a year." He 

 ought not to at that price. I go right 

 along and sell a couple of tons in his 

 same town; he thinks I am crazy, and 

 I sell at 12% cents a pound. 



I attempted to put up honey in retail 

 packages that would ship at fourth- 

 class rate. That has to be done. I 

 have been retailing that to the con- 

 sumers and have a good, big trade; 

 they will take it that way, at a decent 

 rate, and take a great deal of it. 



I have talked this to Mr. France, but 

 he says it won't work because bee- 

 keepers cannot be trusted; that they 

 will put up poor honey if it is covered 

 up by tin. I have found that bee- 

 keepers do not put up their honey 



