196 



TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



floor endorsed all Mr. Selser said. I 

 say, I don't, because I live in Wis- 

 consin, and I know what honey 

 hroug'ht at the date that the paper 

 says, and I know what bee-keepers 

 got, and later they got from five to 

 six cents. You must take into con- 

 sideration the locality, and all those 

 the purchasing power of a pound of 

 things. Prices went down. Take 

 honey today, and then where are 

 you? 



Mr. Hershiser — ^Oh, I think the 

 production now as compared with 

 then is 50 or 100 per cent more. I 

 want to say to Mr. Segelken it is not 

 my purpose to talk the rise in the 

 price of honey to the point where it is 

 going to shut off consumption, and' I 

 want to congratulate Mr. Segelken 

 upon the fact that he has in a great 

 measure enabled California bee-keep- 

 ers to get a higher price. I remember 

 when the white sage honey was bring- 

 ing to those bee-keepers only 3 1-2 to 

 4 and 5 cents a pound, but now I 

 know they must be getting a good 

 deal more than that, because now he 

 asks nine cents a pound. 



Mr. Weber — I think if all was con- 

 sidered and weighed, and one crop 

 after another taken into considera- 

 tion, that honey today is in better de- 

 mand and in better shape than it has 

 previously been in my time. I can't 

 recall twenty years ago, for I am not 

 that long in the business, but within 

 the last seven or eight years I can, 

 and I wish to say here that I think 

 if the crops were compared, which 

 we can't do very well, because one 

 year the crop is bad in one portion 

 and good in another, and in another 

 year you will find it just the oppo- 

 site, but I think if we compare crops 

 today in general we will find honey 

 has advanced about fifteen to twenty 

 per cent. 



Mr. Hershiser — I think that is true, 

 and I thik the other things we have 

 got to use along side of it in our liv- 

 ing, — flour and meat and one thing 

 and another, — have advanced about 

 50 per cent. 



Mr. Latham — I am not an old man, 

 but I was selling honey 25 years ago, 

 and I could' sell honey at 25 cents a 

 box as easily as I can get 20 cents 

 today, and the honey I produce to- 

 day is better than the honey I pro- 

 duced 25 years ago. 



Mr. Davis. — I think the solution of 

 the difference in the price between 

 what the consumer pays and what 

 the producer gets is not the fault of 

 the large honey-jobber or buyer, but 

 the fault lies in the fact that the pub- 

 lic do not demand honey, and it is 

 not a staple in the grocery store. In 

 the north country, in St. Lawrence 

 County, the largest dairying County 

 in the United States, barring one, 

 the farmer receives in the form of a 

 check On his bank about 29 1-4 cents 

 a pound for butter, after all the ex- 

 pense of manufacturing has been tak- 

 en out, and the butter retails over the 

 counter in New York, and in Ogdens- 

 burg, for 32 to 33 cents a pound, mak- 

 ing a small margin of difference be- 

 tween the price the producer gets and 

 the price the consumer pays for it. 

 Why? Simply because the dealer 

 knows he can make a small margin 

 on that and make a quick return. He 

 doesn't have that butter tied up in 

 his ice-box for six months or a year, 

 and part of it left over till next year; 

 it is sold almost before he pays for 

 it. Now, before the producer can ex- 

 pect a larger return for his honey, 

 some campaign of education has to be 

 made to make honey a staple, not a 

 luxury, and until the market is in that 

 condition, I don't see, in justice to 

 the dealer or in justice to the jobber, 

 how honey, retailing at 25 cents a 

 pound, can be realized more for by 

 the producer than 'sixteen or seventeen 

 cents. 



Mr. Van Anken' — I worked' for our , 

 Vice-President about 31 years ago, 

 and he put up his comb honey in two- 

 pound sections, glass both sides; he 

 sold several tons of that honey in 

 New York at 20 cents a pound, 31 

 years ago. That will show you the 

 difference between prices now and 

 then. 



The President put the motion to re- 

 fer the paper to the committee of 

 three, which, on a vote having been 

 taken, was declared carried. 



Pres. York — ^We will call now for 

 the report of the committee appoint- 

 ed last evening, on the President's Ad- 

 dress, of which Mr. Hershiser is 

 chairman. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON 

 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



Mr. Hershiser — As chairman of the 

 committee on the President's ad- 



«'..fe'^^si' 



