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Is Honey a Luxury

While it may not be a necessity, no more is it a luxury than is butter or beefsteak. Some writers have pointed out that because one could not live on honey alone, it was a luxury and should be sold as such. One could as well live on honey alone as on butter alone, yet no one regards butter as a luxury. A fair basis of values of food products is the actual food units which they contain. In order to secure reliable information as to the food values of the products which we wish to compare with honey, we have taken the table compiled by Hon. W. B. Barney, of the Iowa food and dairy department. With this table at hand we went to a retail store where the usual retail prices prevail, and purchased different products of equal food value.

Fig 1-Four Articles of Equal Food Value-7 Ounces Honey. One Quart Milk, 15 Ounces Codfish and Ten Eggs.

Figure 1 shows 3 articles with food value equal to 7 ounces of honey. Milk and eggs are generally recognized as necessities, yet as far as food value is concerned the eggs cost more than twice as much as the honey, and the milk is slightly higher in price.

In Fig. 2 is shown a 12-ounce steak which, according to Mr. Barney's table, is only equal to 7 ounces of honey in food value. When beefsteak is regarded as a necessity even by those who are working for the lowest wages, why should the impression grow that honey is a luxury at half the price? Eight and one-half ounces of walnuts are necessary to equal the small jar of honey.