

ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



93 



clean enough to put on the table. The 

 reason is the honey is too thick to go 

 through a fine cloth when they put it 

 through the extractor. I have to heat 

 it up; it may not be dirt; it may be 

 propolis or gum, but you must take 

 that out before the people will think it 

 is clean. 



Oan we get the bee-keeper to put up 

 his honey in proper shape? So many 

 bee-keepers simply work for comb- 

 honey production, and comb-honey 

 production is going out of style. 



There are a good many things in the 

 way, but it can be done, and if you sell 

 the honey cheap enough to people, they 

 will eat it — so that we can make it a 

 profitable business to keep bees and 

 prodnce extracted honey. 



Pres. York — ^We are getting a little 

 off the question. The second part of 

 this is: "How much should the bee- 

 keeper get if the retailer sells a quart 

 of honey for 55 cents?" 



Mr. Wilcox — He should not sell it as 

 high as that. 



Mr. Macklin — It is too much. 



Mr- Purple — ^^There is a case where 

 the middleman comes in for his big 

 profits. For the last two or three 

 years I ihave begun to see into the 

 middleman business. After being in 

 the manufacturing business, you find 

 the middleman comes in and says: 

 "Why, now you want us to sell this 

 product, how much do you want?" If 

 a staple article, it will average in price 

 anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent for 

 the middleman; he doesn't work for 

 nothing. You will find that out right 

 away. The ordinary middleman is 

 willing to do it for about 30 per cent; 

 you add that to the price of honey and 

 you will see what you £xe getting. I 

 don't think there is any dealer here 

 but w.hat will bear me out in that. The 

 actual producer doesn't begin to get 

 what is received for the article, no 

 matter what it may be. 



"If white extracted honey is put up 

 in 12-ounce bottles, how much will the 

 bee-keeping get when selling to stores 

 in cities like Detroit or Chicago?" 



Mr. Macklin — What do the bottles 

 cost? 



Pres. York — 'Suppose they cost 3 

 cents each, by the dozen. How much 

 would the bee-keeper get when selling 

 by the dozen? 



Mr. Niver — I found it retailing in 

 stores for 25 cents, as a rule. That 



makes us keep our honey at home and 

 eat it if we can. I don't believe that is 

 good sens-. I believe the package is 

 too small, to commence with. I don't 

 believe in bee-keepers putting it up in 

 less than 3-lb. packages, and I think 

 they should be sold for 35 cents at the 

 retail grocers; that is what I have 

 been contending (for, and trying to sys- 

 tematize some way that it could be 

 done. Honey at present prices is a lit- 

 tle high, and I believe it could be done, 

 with a proper systematizing of busi- 

 ness, and, perhaps, a little co-operation. 

 It is a pretty hard subject to get all 

 around. 



Mr. Ahlers — ^Honey can be sold at 35 

 cents a quart, and everybody make a 

 living at it. 



Mr. Kimmey — ^It occurs to me there 

 are a good many talking on this sub- 

 ject wiho don't know as much as some 

 of those who don't speak out. We eve 

 ready to cry, "The middleman is to 

 blame!" Having never been a middle- 

 man, I don't know much about it. You 

 remember when we went to Texas, and 

 went in to buy some honey, and it was 

 labeled "York's Honey?" I would like 

 to hear from our President, and from 

 Mr. Arnd. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I would suggest me 

 divide this meeting into two classes — 

 the bears and the bulls; the producers 

 and the fellows who are going to buy 

 and sell again. 



I>r. Miller — 1 am not a middleman; I 

 ■am one of the "end" men in the show! 

 (Laughter.) I would suggest this: We 

 are getting away, and persisting in 

 getting away, from the question; I 

 might as well stay away from it. 

 Mr. Niver says: "Cut out the 60 lb. 

 can." I would ask the question, 

 whether it might not be well to keep 

 the 60 lb. can, and get up a trade in 

 honey in 60 lb. cans? I don't see why 

 it might not be a good thing to strive 

 to get more families to use 60 lb. cans 

 of honey. It is not too much for a 

 family to use, and if you can do that, 

 and get the people to eat it at the low- 

 est rate they can get it, a good deal 

 more honey will be eaten, and you will 

 be doing the people as much good as 

 you will the bee-keepers. A man to- 

 day — a, citizen of Chicago — asked me 

 a question about comb honey and ex- 

 tracted honey — ^whether he would get 

 more, or as much, by buying extracted 

 as the comb honey. I told him if he 



^^ihir^ 



