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120 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Whitney — On going to my room 

 last evening I got to thinlcing over the 

 line of thought of yesterday in regard 

 to the price of honey. It occurred to me 

 that the trend was all towards a lower 

 price by those who are handling large 

 quantities of honey, and I thought to 

 myself. Where does the small bee- 

 keeper get off at, if that is to be the 

 rule? 



Now it seems to me that if lowering 

 the price is going to increase the 

 quantity of honey used, the question 

 naturally arises with me: It seems to 

 me if there is no surplus of honey, it 

 all goes, and if we have been holding 

 it higher than it ought to be, it settles 

 anyhow, and it doesn't seem to me it 

 is necessary to lower the price in order 

 to popularize the honey. I think if we 

 hold it at a higher price — I mean fancy 

 honey for table use, either extracted 

 or comb — that would be working along 

 the proper lines, instead of talking a 

 low price and forcing 60 lb. cans upon 

 the customer. Let them have 60 lb. 

 cans if Ihey want them, but keep the 

 price where it ought to be. 



Why do we want to belong to a Na- 

 tional Association and have co-opera- 

 tion to lower the price of honey? Our 

 smiall bee-keepers better take to the 

 woods than to do that. 



Mr. Wheeler — ^I wish you people — 

 some of you — could see the thing as I 

 see it. I am traveling between, and 

 in touch with the retail market as well 

 as the producer. I produce honey as 

 well as sell it. In selling honey you 

 have to keep in touch with the con- 

 sumer in a peculiar way, and the price 

 — it does not rise above a certain point; 

 just as soon as it rises above a certain 

 point the sales diminish. 



Now it is not for you folks here who 

 go to these conventions and talk, to set 

 the prices. It is a great movement 

 all through the country — it is hard to 

 tell where it comes from, or what it is, 

 but the law of supply and demand goes 

 into effect. In setting the price on 

 honey, I have to watch the market, the 

 consumers, and the retail grocers, and 

 see what they say, and And out what 

 they are paying, and use my judgment 

 when I sell honey; if I don't, I will 

 "get left." Because some people 

 happen to find a "sucker," and sell 

 honey for a good price, it is no sign 

 everybody can get it. Some year you 

 people will all hold off with your honey 



and have it all left over; that is what 

 would happen. 



Two years ago the market here in 

 Chicago was loaded with honey. One 

 of my competitors went out and bought 

 it for 10 and 11 cents. He kept it over, 

 and in the fall he sold it away up, be- 

 cause there was no honey then to be 

 had. 



You have to be careful not to get 

 too high with it. 



I noticed a thing this year: The 

 price of honey is higher; higher to the 

 consumer as a rule, and the amount 

 consumed is. not nearly as much in 

 Chicago. I don't believe there has 

 been as much bought. There is a feel- 

 ing among grocers that if they have 

 to pay for honey so much that they 

 don't make a certain per cent, they will 

 quit handling it. The moment the 

 grocer or his clerk stops pushing an 

 article, the article will not be sold. It 

 doesn't go without their pushing it. 

 We are dependent a great deal upon 

 the way the grocery men feel about 

 it, and the more profit they make, the 

 better they will push it. So soon as 

 you folks begin to raise the price, so 

 quickly does the grocer man begin to 

 stop selling it. It is the law of supply 

 and demand; you have to be very care- 

 ful. 



I foijnd out, in Aurora, where I used 

 to live, this fall there seems to be a 

 standing price, no matter what the 

 crop is or anything about it, or what 

 kind or how much you have. The peo- 

 ple who have a few colonies of bees 

 near there will rush their honey off 

 to the market for about a shilling a 

 pound. I went out there with honey 

 I paid 14 cents a pound for, and could 

 not compete with those people; I could 

 not sell a pound of honey; those grocer 

 men bought all the honey around there, 

 and I could not do a thing in Aurora 

 this year. iSome grocery men bought 

 as high as 30 cases at' a shilling a 

 pound. How are you going to compete 

 with those fellows? 



Mr. Taylor — Get them to raise the 

 price. 



Mr. Hatch — How are you going to do 

 it? It is the same with the Western 

 producers; they will sell their honey 

 at what they can get for it on the 

 market; alfalfa honey granulates com- 

 ing in to Chicago; we can't set a price 

 for those fellows; we would lose our 

 trade — that is all. We have to take 



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