ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



123 



pared with the freight rates on other 

 commodities. As an illustration of 

 that, one of our members in the West- 

 ern States was shipping a car- 

 load of bees from Texas to one of 

 the Western States, and attached to 

 the same train was a car-load of cattle 

 going to the same destination, there 

 being a man In charge of the cattle 

 to look after them and a man In 

 charge of the bees to look after them. 

 The bee-keeper had to pay full fare 

 home, whereas the stock-man had a 

 pass, and the cattle went for one 

 third the rate that the bees did. 

 This Committee found they were up 

 against a big problem. As soon as 

 this Committee got to work they went 

 at it vigorously and systematically, 

 and they found that there was a 

 sentiment over the States demanding 

 legislation reducing passenger fares 

 to two cents a mile. In many places 

 that legislation was successful and 

 the two cent rate secured. The result 

 was we had little or no influence 

 before the Railroad Commission with 

 those conditions facing us. If the 

 passenger fare must be cut down, 

 then the freight traffic rate must go 

 up. The railways said, our earnings 

 must be what they have been. In 

 the East at the tim.e this Committe'e 

 was to meet the Railroad Commission 

 In New York City, Mr. Muth of Cin- 

 cinnati, who was on that Committee, 

 was ready to go at a moment's 

 notice; and I, being Chairman of the 

 Committee', and your Honor, a little 

 inclined to be economical and to hold 

 onto the pennies of this Association, 

 till I can see clearly, found we had a 

 member of the National Association 

 who lived close to where this Railroad" 

 Commission was to hold its meeting, 

 who would gladly go and do prelim- 

 inary work, and if need be we would 

 send our committee men at once. 

 Consequently Mr. Selser, from your 

 State, went before that Commission 

 and secured very favorable returns 

 without expense to the National Asso- 

 ciation. We were encouraged. The 

 application still lays upon their table 

 for future consideration. But unfor- 

 tunately, when the other classification 

 committees were to mee£, before that 

 time had transpired, a joint session on 

 freight classifications had unitedly ad- 

 vanced freights, and we had no chance 

 to do anything. In my own State, 

 freight has gone up 82 per cent; and 

 when we talk about reducing them 

 we are laughed at. Let us hope that 



this is not to continue. And unless 

 this Association discharges this Com- 

 mittee, as Chairman of the same, I 

 feel it is my duty to watch the chance 

 and when the door opens we will go 

 to work again. That is, in short, what 

 we have accomplished. That is, we 

 have simply made an impression 

 before the Freight Classification Com- 

 mittee. Mr. Holekamp, located at 

 St. Louis, worked faithfully with the 

 western classification, and we have 

 left a good impression, and we are in 

 hopes that lower freight rates some 

 day will be secured. On the other 

 hand, by investigation, we found that 

 there was a cause for the high freights 

 on the honey products because such 

 a large percentage of it was not put 

 up in a good shipping condition, for 

 which we as producers are to blame. 

 The shrinkage and the poor packages 

 have much to- do with the high classifi- 

 cation; and one of the points on 

 which this Committee was going to 

 approach the Classification Committee 

 on Freights was to specify how comb 

 and extracted honey should be put up 

 to secure certain classifications which 

 would make it incumbent on the part 

 of the producers to put their product 

 up in much better packages than they 

 formerly had been doing. We could 

 not ask the Railroad Commission to 

 take all the risks with some classes 

 of shipments that had been originally 

 made. I see the one who represented 

 us in the Eastern Classification is 

 here, and I would like Mr. Selser to 

 explain the situation on behalf of our 

 freight interests in the East. 



Mr. Selser: I did not represent the 

 National through the kindness of Mr. 

 France, and it was a very wise thing 

 we went before the Eastern Classifi- 

 cation Committee at the time we did. 

 Those of you who have met any of 

 the members know something of what 

 constitutes this Classification Commit- 

 tee. It is two from every railroad run- 

 ning over the lines, I believe, east of 

 the Mississippi River. There were 

 some sixty-five men, and I never went 

 before a body of men who seemed so 

 anxious to help us, who were so free 

 from any petty spirit, and who seemed 

 to be of such a high character, and men 

 whom you were pleased to associate 

 with and address, as that body of men. 

 They paid me the kindest deference. 

 As I noticed in the ante- room there 

 were 120 odd different manufacturing 

 and business houses at the same time. 



