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■7'^. '^ 



ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



195 



longer than that; but I would like t'~' 

 say, while on my feet, I was replying 

 to this paper in fact; as I understand, 

 and as the association understands, 

 he was sort of bemoaning the fact that 

 bee-keepers are getting so much less 

 for honey today than 23 years ago. I 

 say that statement, perhaips uninten- 

 tionally, was misleading, and not ac- 

 cording to the facts. We have a gen- 

 tleman here from New York, and I 

 wish he would be called on. I would 

 like to have OVTr. iSegelken say how 

 prices compare today with those of 

 twenty years ago. 



(Mr. Hershiser — I want to make the 

 broad statement that at the time Mr. 

 Selser refers to, along about 189'4 or 

 18'&5, we were getting higher prices 

 for honey than we are today, I refer 

 to what you could buy with what you 

 had to sell. In those days we got, ac- 

 cording to what he says, 3% cents to 

 3% cents a pound for buckwheat 

 hon6y. Do you off-hand remember 

 what you could get for a horse then? 

 If you had a good horse, worth about 

 $200 today, you would get about $40 

 then. Do you know what you got for 

 wheat then? It happened to be my 

 misfortune to be at home helping my 

 father out of financial difficulty. I 

 know he had about 1,200 bushels of 

 wheat in his grainary, and we hauled 

 it away and got 43 cents a bushel for 

 it! How much wheat could you buy 

 with honey at 3% cents a pound, 

 compared with what you can buy at 

 the present time? You get todaj' 

 twice as much for wheat and pork, 

 and three times as much for a horse, 

 and everything else in proportion. 

 What I want is to be able to buy as 

 much with my money today as I could 

 then. I want just as much living 

 , now as I could get out of it then. We 

 can't get that much today until we 

 get together in some way or other, 

 formulate some idea to bring the pur- 

 chaser and producer together in some 

 form, where they can discuss things 

 and get what their product is worth. 

 We have to think of these things, and 

 get together in some way or other. 

 (Applause.) I tell you, brother bee- 

 keepers, it is a burning question 

 whether you get a proper compensa- 

 sation for the work you arg doing. We 

 go into the bee-yard and stand the 

 smoke, and endure the heat, and ev- 

 erything of that kind, to produce a 

 crop of honey, and then we should 



not be so foolish as to fool it away. 

 I don't ask that we get too much for 

 it. I recognize the fact that Mr. 

 Crane brought out, that if we ask 

 too much (fior our honey we cut off the 

 consumption. We just want a fair 

 price. We don't want so much as 

 Mr. Crane, even when he sold his 

 honey at such a price that the jobber 

 couldn't sell it, and make a loss on it. 

 Wihen I take issue with the gentle- 

 man that we are getting as much or 

 more for our honey in those days 

 than now, I want you to remember it 

 is the purchasing power of what you 

 got for it that we have to consider, 

 and not the money. Money we can't 

 eat or wear; (but it has a purchasing 

 power. 



Mr. Segelken (N. Y.) — As far as the 

 subject under discussion goes, I will 

 say that I endorse every word that 

 Mr. Selser has said, from A to Z, be- 

 cause I know what he has talked 

 about. We are in exactly the same 

 position. Mr. Hershiser might be 

 right in some respects. There may 

 be conditions in some markets and 

 some localities where* they got better 

 prices, but that is not the rule all 

 over the country. As I understood, 

 Mr. Selser referred as a whole, not 

 selecting any section or locality. 1 

 can only endorse what he has said as 

 far as the prices are concerned. The 

 higher they go, the better we like It 

 ourselves, but we can't force them up. 

 If you bring the price of extracted 

 honey too high, the manufacturer will 

 not use as much as if he could buy 

 it at a reasonable figure. You take 

 the confectioners, who use probably 

 the most of the extracted honey, and 

 ask them, and see how much more 

 honey they will use if they can huy 

 extracted at five cents; or if they 

 have to pay eight or nine cents they 

 will cut out the larger part of it. 

 Comb honey is just about the same 

 as Mr. Selser says. For fancj' white 

 honey, I doubt very much whether 

 you could find fifty stores in the 

 United States, where they could get 

 more than 25 cents a comb. If it 

 could be driven, to 30 cents we would 

 li'ke to see it, but how to do it is the 

 question. 



Mr. Huffman — I endorse, as I said . 

 before, what Mr. Hershiser has said. 

 I want to ask him this question with 

 regard to the production of those days 

 and today. The last man on the 



