196 



HOETICULTURE 



August 24, 191S 



Good Stock and Good Treatment 



always at 



J. A 



184 North Wabash Avenue, Corner Lake Street, CHICAGO 



ROSES, VALLEY 

 and CARNATIONS 

 SPECIALTIES 



WHOLESALE 

 GROWERS 



;^ Cut Flowers 



Special Attention Given to Shipping Orders 



As we are large growers of cut Sowers, the same insures your orders 

 being filled with absolutely fresh stock. We can take care of rush 



orders. TRY US. 



the more you educate the general pub- 

 lic to the value of flowers, aye, to the 

 necessity of flowers in every day life, 

 the greater our business is going to 

 become; any tendency to restrict its 

 development will lessen that much. 

 The notion of a great part of the pub- 

 lic which maintains that flowers come 

 under the head of luxuries is mis- 

 guided, and is due solely to lack of 

 education on our part. 



I believe we can accept it as the gen- 

 eral policy of our Government to inter- 

 fere just as little as possible with any 

 industry — even when it comes under 

 the heading of a luxury. Our law- 

 makers realize that the successful 

 prosecution of the war and the raising 

 of great loans toward that end, de- 

 pends absolutely on the general pros- 

 perity of our people or their uninter- 

 rupted employment at high wages. 



We are beginning to discount the 

 many wild rumors which flaring news- 

 paper headlines heralded regarding 

 taxation and confiscation of industries. 

 Canada passed through the same ex- 

 perience in the early stages of the 

 war, so did England, but as soon as 

 our economists began to analyze this 

 and that business they very soon 

 found out that the wiping out of one 

 business, apparently needless in itself, 

 affected a long string of other indus- 

 tries with the result that the most 

 minimum restrictions were desirable. 

 So I say that many of us have been 

 Tinduly pessimistic regarding the fu 

 lure of our business. 



We have shown what America 

 speeded up to can do in everything it 

 undertakes, and just as we have solved 

 the shipbuilding problem, the ammuni- 

 tion problem, the raising of a great 

 army and so on, so I am confident that 

 -we will solve the coal problem which is 

 the one that most vitally affects us. 



Goodness only knows we have 

 enough sadness and cruel war news in 

 our daily press. The people need 

 stimulating influences now more than 

 ever, and flowers surely come first in 



that category. Sell them flowers now 

 and not only keep our business going 

 but give it a tremendous boost later.. 



I would like to see our Society 

 show the same spirit as the Washburn- 

 Crosby Co., who in a $1(1.000 color page 

 on the back of the Saturday Evening 

 Post had the courage to run (hat 

 famous slogan, "Eventually — Why not 

 Now?" when they hadn't a barrel of 

 Gold Medal flour to sell the public. 

 This is only one of the many courage- 

 ous examples that are now appearing 

 in our national press.. 



True, our contributions have not ma- 

 terialized as we expected, despite the 

 hard work of Secretary Young, George 

 Asmus, Chairman of the Finance Com- 

 mittee, and several other broad-mindeJ 

 members who undertook the thankless 

 task of collections, but I am sure it 

 you could see the opportunity that is 

 before us through the medium of puo- 

 licity, that every member would sub- 

 scribe to the limit of his resources 

 as a business investment.. 



Let us show the American public 

 that the florists of this country are far 

 from being "quitters" — that once they 

 put their hand to the plow, there is 

 going to be no turning back — that ws 

 intend to stick to our guns despite re- 

 strictions — that we intend to talk to 

 them on flowers frequently during and 

 after the war. and keep our business 

 going as best within us lies. 



I like to look upon this publicity 

 work in a much broader way than as 

 a means for selling flowers, though we 

 have proved the tremendous value of 

 national advertising in this connec- 

 tion, but we haven't scratched the sur- 

 face in our efforts to interest the 

 American people in our business. We 

 will need public good will in large 

 measure after the war and this is the 

 time of all times when we should be 

 laying the foundation for that good 

 will which will teach the American 

 people the importance of the florist 

 business, with all the money, energy 

 and labor that is invested in the in- 

 dustry. 



People's buying habits are changing 



fast. A few years ago it was only the 

 well-to-do who ever came into a 

 florist's, but now the masses are pat- 

 ronizing us more and more, and if we 

 stick to our publicity persistently, we 

 will have the masses with us solidly, 

 and every branch of our business will 

 see a still more tremendous growth 

 after the war. 



But we must get in our hard work 

 now while the general public is pros- 

 perous, open to conviction and ready 

 to buy more mierchandiise than the 

 country is able to produce. The pro- 

 duction of flowers and plants, of 

 course, is costing much more today, 

 but my belief is that national adver- 

 tising will create such a demand for 

 flowers, that we can adjust our prices 

 to meet the increased costs of produc- 

 tion, and decrease in volume of goods 

 available for market due to govern- 

 mental restrictions. Let us spend 

 every penny we can possibly raise 

 this fall in national advertising so to 

 keep up with the demand for flowers, 

 and build up a prestige for the future 

 which is bound to benefit every mem- 

 ber of our Society. 



The reading of the report was fol- 

 lowed by a lively discussion. A strong 

 speech was made by J. Fred Ammann 

 advocating that there be no let-up of 

 the publicity activity. In time of war 

 prepare for peace and when peace 

 comes It will bring business. Addi- 

 tional subscriptions to the publicity 

 fund by members present totalled 

 $750.00 Major O'Keefe of Boston also 

 made a telling address on the subject 

 of Advertising and received a vote of 

 thanks as did also Henry Penn. 



In closing the report of Wednesday's 

 proceedings we would call attention 

 especially to the unselfish broad-mind- 

 ed act of A. L. Miller in declining to 

 enter the contest for the honor of the 

 presidency. Mr. Miller felt that two 

 men from practically the same neigh- 

 borhood should not directly follow 

 each other in that position. A very 

 creditable attitude. 



Secretary Young spoke in high 

 terms of the work done by J. H. Pep- 



