BEEKEEPING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1628, 13 May 1903, Page 63

BEEKEEPING

COMMERCIAL ORGANISATION OF BEEKEEPERS.

(By R. C. Aikin.)

Every observant person cannot fail to Bee the trend of commercial organisation and co-operation. The man who stays at home in some small agricultural occupation and does not take much noto of the volume of business being done and the immensity of the plan and scheme upon which it is done, has little comprehension of its magnitude and effects. There was a day when every man dwelt “under his own vine and fig tree*' and the family was a little Avorld within itself. The day of small things is not much more than out of sight in the past, but they are in the past and totally eclipsed by the etupendousness of the present. To-day it is specialism. That which was produced a few years ago all upon one farm and by one family now is done by a dozen or more. This specialism makes us more and more dependent, brings us more and more into competition with each other, and gives power to the stronger and better equipped. All have heard of the statement “competition is the life of trade/’ but it ia false; competition has ground the life out of its millions. Ambition to honestly excel is commendable and productive of good, but competition that cuts the throat of a competitor or grinds him out of business simply because he is the weaker does no good apd becomes a boomerang. Live and let live is the principle that pays and builds up, and that is what beekeepers should strive to do. As it has been We have constantly tramped on each other’s toes by cutting pi'ices on each other find putting our product into each other's territory. How long will this continue ?

Some will say that if we beekeepers band together and do our own business, that we are cutting out of business many middlemen Avho now are getting their living out of the honey they handle. If the middleman is doing the business rightly and not putting honey producers out of business by crowding prices below a point of profit to the producer, nor so handling the business that the consumption is kept below what it should be; then he should not be superseded; but that the producer is not getting justice nor the goods being put into the hands of consumers as it should, neither in the quantity or, price, is without question. This being true, more people will be benefited by a change than by continuing in the present way, and that which benefits the greatest number is the thing to do. Co-operation of beekeepers in marketing their produce will put the business upon a much more sure' and solid basis and will facilitate the distribution so that the consumption will be largely increased, and the greater prosperity of the other classes will make more business for the displaced middleman in other lines.

I stand firmly on the ground that every kindred business should be under one general co-operative management, and that the price of every product should be above the cost of production. When this is accomplished, then these combinations should be made to harmonise, but in what way I Avill not say at this time, as it is not necessary to the discussion of the subject before us. However, we have but to observe the rapid rate at wbicli various related lines are combining under vast capitalised associations so as to minimise the cost of production, and by their power to keep abovecost, to at once recognise that if we do not do likewise we are the losers.

Combination in itself is right, and the economic principle underlying all this combining is certainly correct. What makes us dread the combination is that it has so much greater power than the individual that we cannot stand against it and the selfish spirit leads to abuses of power. There is not yet half enough co-operation in the world; we ought to work together and to each other’s interests, and Avhen wa do so the governing power should protect and foster, but the combine that has for its purpose the crushing out of the weaker and putting unjust burdens on these should be ruled with an iron hand. I am an advocate of high prices; the trouble is not that prices are high, but that they are unequal. Everything being equal and prices high there is a chance for everyone to get along but wlien prices are at- or very near the cost line then it takes such an immense volume of business to- make any showing in gains that it is impossible for tlie weaker to arise. A simple comparison of high priced labour with the countries where a very few cents a day rules shows the difference. —“Rocky Mountain Bee Journal."