November 9. 1918 



H R T 1 C U L T U E E 



457 



"Since America's entry into the war 

 much has been written about the state 

 of mind in which our men will find 

 themselves when they return in peace, 

 the excitement, the danger, the hard- 

 ship over. 



"What then can we offer these men 

 as a reminder of the every day life of 

 home, a diversion from present pain, 

 an assurance that there will be beauty 

 in the work-a-day life of time of 

 peace? 



"There is a simple panacea that holds 

 inexplicable relief and power to sooth, 

 that can lift thoughts back to hours 

 of pleasure and arouse poignant mem- 

 ories. Not a man living but has been 

 transported to fields and gardens of 

 childhood by the sight and scent of 

 a flower, and resting there has felt 

 again the blessed safety of the sur- 

 rounding walls of home. 



"A secretary of the Red Cross, asked 

 recently whether he considered flow- 

 ers helpful to the recovery of a sick 

 soldier, answered briefly, 'To every 

 man a flower is always home.' 



"Doctors in charge of these wound- 

 ed boys say, 'Flowers are more valu- 

 able than tonic, especially when home- 

 sickness is added to all the other 

 troubles. The men crave them and 

 are more appreciative of them than of 

 cigarettes and delicacies.' These 

 statements remove the appeal we 

 make to a higher plane than that of 

 mere emotion and render a new form 

 of service not only desirable but ad- 

 visable. 



"At the beginning of the war, the 

 hasty cry arose among garden club 

 members 'Let us abandon flower gar- 

 dens and greenhouses. War is stern 

 and deals not with such beautiful 

 trifles. War is costly and we need 

 guns and food.' Many a patriotic flor- 

 er-lover has with natural regret ad- 

 mitted that this was true. 



"But it is not all the truth. Of late 

 saner thoughts and wider knowledge 

 are leading us to a different conclu- 

 sion and we are now authorized as 

 flower lovers and producers to sub.sti- 

 tute practical service for unnecessary 



sacrifice. Our maturer decision should 

 be, 'Here I have an asset, a posses- 

 sion of definite use to my country. Be- 

 cause war is stern, I will find a way 

 to mitigate even in slight measure Its 

 evil effects. Because war is costly I 

 will aid in bringing health and hope to 

 at least one of those whom war has 

 wasted and thrown aside.' 



"EJvery community, club, and indi- 

 vidual to which this patriotic service 

 is possible must work out a practical 

 plan to satisfy the increasing demand. 

 For as the months pass and hospitals 

 multiply, the tragic misery that fol- 

 lows in the wake of war is coming 

 nearer home. 



"And when the gray winter shuts 

 down on those who have returned and 

 will return from that grim battle 

 front, shall not some of us be ready 

 with the flowers that 'stand for home,' 

 that speak of hope and give assurance 

 of the common life of peace to which 

 in God's good time we and they shall 

 day by day awake?" 



FLORISTS^ EMPLOYEES AND THE DRAFT 



Editor Horticulture: 



Dear Sir: You will remember my 

 letter under date of Sept. 10th, 3 918, 

 giving my interview with General 

 Crowder and his statement that flor- 

 ists should not be unduly exercised 

 about being drafted into war work. 



On last Sunday I received a special 

 delivery letter enclosing a half-page 

 from a daily newspaper, with the state- 

 ment that all persons in the florist 

 business from 18 to 65 should either 

 quit their jobs at once or be drafted 

 into military service. 



On receipt of this 1 immediately ar- 

 ranged an audience with the War In- 

 dustries Board, Priority Division, for 

 Monday, October 28th at 2 p. m., at 

 which I presented the letter from Den- 

 ver, with newspaper clipping. 



After a very pleasant conference at 

 which I stated that my mission was 

 not to obstruct war industry but to 

 conserve the florist industry as well 

 as every other industry as much as 

 possible while the war was going on, 

 they told me that I should have a writ- 

 ten communication the next day. 

 Therefore I am enclosing you the offi- 

 cial communication of the War Indu.s- 

 tries Board which I trust you will print 



in full and which should nassiire all 

 florists. 

 Always willing to serve I remain, 

 Wm. F. Gude, 

 To W. P. Gude, 1214 F Street, N. W., 

 Washington, D. C. 

 Subject: Florists' Labor. 



1. You have called our attention to 

 a letter dated October 24th addressed 

 to you from Davis & Whitney, attor- 

 neys at Law, Denver. 



2. This letter states among other 

 things in substance that a United 

 States Employment Service agent in 

 Denver has stated to men who are 

 working as florists that unless they 

 absolutely quit their jobs before No- 

 vember 1 they will be inducted into 

 the military service immediately; fur- 

 ther that this covers every man be- 

 tween the ages of 18 to 56. 



3. If an employment agent made 

 such a statement we think it was un- 

 authorized. The fact that a man is 

 employed in a florists' establishment 

 would not in all probability entitle him 

 to consideration for deferred classifi- 

 cation on industrial grounds, but such 

 a man, provided he is not a clerk in a 

 florist's store, is not engaged in a non- 

 productive occupation within the 



meaning of General Crowder's pres- 

 ent "work or fight" order and would 

 not lose his right to deferred classifi- 

 cation on dependency grounds or his 

 order number and be inducted into 

 service because he chose to remain in 

 his employment. This is in accord- 

 ance with the present law and regula- 

 tions. 



4. You will understand that this 

 does not apply to a clerk in a florist's 

 store who comes within the "work or 

 fight" order. 



5. You will agree with us that the 

 florist business is among the less es- 

 sential businesses. The need for most 

 effectively utilizing the man power of 

 the country in the present emergency 

 demands that so far as possible able- 

 bodied men should be either in the 

 service or in some war industry and It 

 is perfectly proper that such men 

 should be encouraged by the Employ- 

 ment Service or by anyone else to get 

 into a war industry. It is not, how- 

 ever, as we have said, proper to use 

 as a means of compulsion a statement 

 which is not justified. 



(Signed) A. W. Clapp, 

 Chief of Labor Section, Priorities Di- 

 vision. Oct. 31, 1918. 



