October 13, 1917 



HOHTICULTURE 



399 



FLORISTS' TELEGRAPH DELIVERY ASSOCIATION 



The annual meeting of this hustling 

 organization, held at Detroit, Mich., 

 on Tuesday and Wednesday of last 

 week was a record breaker in attend- 

 ance and interest. The opening ses- 

 sion in the Board of Commerce Build- 

 ing on Tuesday morning, October 2, 

 was called to order by President E. A. 

 Fetters, of the Detroit Florists' Club, 

 who voiced a welcome on behalf of the 

 local florists and was followed later 

 on by Mayor Marks, who e.xtended 

 greetings for the City of Detroit. 

 President Gude then ' delivered his 

 address. 



Abstract of the President's Address. 

 It is gratifying to state that in the past 

 year our association has made splen- 

 did strides. However, being naturally of 

 a progressive disposition, the progress 

 made has not been as rapid as we 

 might hope for. This, however, is not 

 due to any lack of enthusiasm or de- 

 ficiency in the secretary's office or on 

 the part of the other officers and direc- 

 tors, but rather to an apparent feeling 

 among our members of "let the other 

 fellow -Ao it" but I entertain no doubt 

 that with more of such meetings as 

 this and the one we had a year ago 

 we can and will engender the feeling 

 In every individual member that by 

 serving the association generally the 

 Individual will benefit himself. On 

 account of the strenuous war times we 

 are contending with today, as the 

 months go on we must expect to have 

 still harder problems confronting us; 

 so for these reasons It would seem 

 there Is more need than ever for real 

 earnest heart to heart talks and active 

 co-operation. With all the knotty 

 problems that we have confronting us 

 today Incident to the war conditions 

 we must use them as an incentive to 

 spur U8 on to greater work for the 

 P. T. D., and with a strong pull, a long 

 pull and a pull altogether, the results 

 will be nothing short of marvellous. 



Publicity. 

 At our annual meeting held In New 

 York on August 21st last the day pre- 

 vious to the meeting of the S. A. F. 

 convention, much good was accom- 

 plished In a get-together way and 

 many thoughts and ideas were brought 

 out that should produce some sub- 

 stantial results at this meeting 

 To my mind, a publicity cam- 

 paign should be entered into whole- 

 heartedly, speaking from a national 

 standpoint by amalgamation and 

 closer co-operation in the e.xpen- 

 ditures of money for general adver- 

 tising. At present, we find some firms 

 who are contributing to five or six 

 general advertising campaigns. I be- 

 lieve this money could be better spent 

 If it all went through one channel. In 

 these days of high cost of everything 

 connected with our business, economy 

 being the watchword, we should have 

 before us a maximum of results and a 

 minimum of expenditures, and as the 

 retail florist is the final barometer of 

 all, wholesaler, grower, greenhouse 

 builder, and in short, every man that 

 produces anything for the florist busi- 



ness, not excepting the trade papers 

 and advertising experts, it would seem 

 that all interests should co-operate by 

 centering on the retail florists for the 

 maximum publicity, because when 

 there is no outlet for the stock pro- 

 duced by the grower, it will imme- 

 diately affect all other lines of the al- 

 lied Industry, who, in any way, may 

 be catering to the public through the 

 retail florists' establishments. So, the 

 one big problem is letting the public 

 know in the most effective and force- 

 ful manner possible that we have flow- 

 ers and art to sell. If we do this, the 

 growth of our business will be little 

 short of marvellous. 



The wonderful possibilities and op- 

 portunities that are passing by our 

 doors daily would be seized by some 

 other live trade concerns and used for 

 an advertising lever it they had but 

 the opportunity. I refer particularly 

 to special show days, F. T. D. Days, 

 Thanksgiving Day, McKlnley's Birth- 

 day, Washington's Birthday, Lincoln's 

 Birthday, St. Valentine's Day, Palm 

 Sunday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, 

 Memorial Day, etc. So, we might go 

 on and have one or two special days 

 a month; publicity would bring these 

 about. Surely, the liberal use of flow- 

 ers at present at such holidays as 

 Christmas, Easter and Decoration Day, 

 was not brought about by the florists, 

 but Is due to the public demand for 

 flowers. Now, why not let the retail 

 florist take the Initiative, for what 

 greater incentive would we need than 

 the small efforts put forth In exploit- 

 ing Mother's Day and the wonderful 

 results we have already attained. 

 While speaking of publicity, let me 

 say that there Is no better publicity 

 than satisfied customers. 



An Emblem. 



Let us at this session, thor- 

 oughly discuss every phase of our 

 profession and go home feeling that 

 we have done something for the bene- 

 fit of mankind, as well as for our 

 business commercially, and then adopt 

 a sign or emblem for every F. T. D. 

 member to place In his window, on his 

 boxes, on his letters, labels ^nd pack- 

 ages. What a wonderful effect this 

 would have on the public. We know 

 what an F. T. D. fiorlst means but 

 there are at least 99,000,000 people 

 who do not. Why not assist in edu- 

 cating them in every way possible, 

 letting them know that the sending 

 of flowers is now an easy matter and 

 that there is a florist in every town 

 or city that can be trusted to execute 

 their orders. Such an emblem or 

 motto as we might adopt should be 

 copyrighted so that a penalty under 

 the law might be Imposed upon any- 

 one not entitled to use this sign. 

 .Mong this line, I cannot too strongly 

 urge a strict adherence to our By-laws 

 in the matter of collection and paying 

 obligations. Our membership has 

 increased largely in the past twelve 

 months but if we had four times as 

 many members we could do far more 

 effective and better work. I ask you 



all to cooperate In securing more 

 members. 



Express Service. 

 The shipping of flowers by ex- 

 press at the present and for 

 months to come is no doubt the most 

 serious matter to confront us at this 

 time, and, therefore, the prompt execu- 

 tion of orders by telegraph or tele- 

 phone is all the more important be- 

 cause under certain conditions as they 

 now exist, it is not wise to ship flow- 

 ers by express, no matter how short 

 the distance. In justice to the express 

 companies and the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission, 1 want to say this 

 is no criticism or reflection on their 

 willingness to serve us. It Is simply 

 a condition beyond human control at 

 this time. Another reason why you 

 should boost the P. T. D. 



W. L. Bock, treasurer, aiid Albert 

 Pochelon, secretary, presented their 

 respective reports, both very optimistic 

 in tone and received with demonstra- 

 tions of approval. H. P. Knoble made 

 a comprehensive detailed report for 

 the committee on modern business 

 methods, which brought out an inter- 

 esting discussion. Practical addresses 

 were made also by Philip Breitmeyer, 

 George Asmus and others and cordial 

 messages from many members re- 

 motely located were read. 



Officers were elected on Wednesday 

 as follows: President, Wra. P. Gude, 

 W'ashington; vice-president, Philip 

 Breitmeyer, Detroit; directors, H. G. 

 Dillemuth, Toronto, Ont., H. P. Knoble, 

 Cleveland, O.. Ed. Sceery, Paterson, 

 N. J., W. J. Smyth, Chicago. Albert 

 Pochelon and W. L. Rock were ap- 

 pointed secretary and treasurer re- 

 spectively. Cleveland was selected as 

 the next meeting place. 



Many spirited and progressive 

 addresses were made by enthusiastic 

 members during the sessions. A 

 paper on Publicity by Henry Penn of 

 Boston and one on The Spirit of 

 Salesmanship by B. C. O'Mara of De- 

 troit were especially impressive. Sub- 

 scriptions to the amount of $2,585 

 were added to the S. A. F. publicity 

 fund, also the sum of $2,500 from the 

 treasury of the Association. The prize 

 for window decoration was won by 

 •lohn Breitmeyer's Sons. ,1. H. Dun- 

 lop, Toronto, showed the new seedling 

 roses, Mrs. Henry Winnett, No. 6 

 and No. 7. Columbia and Double 

 Ophelia were shown by E. G. Hill Co. 

 An auto ride and banquet on Wed- 

 nesday afternoon closed the proceed- 

 ings. 



DES MOINES FLOWER SHOW. 



.1. S. Wilson, of Des Moines, Is 

 chairman and manager for the au- 

 tumn show of the Iowa Society of 

 Florists, which is scheduled to take 

 place on Nov. 7 to 10, proceeds to be 

 given to the Red Cross. The schedule 

 is liberal and embraces all depart- 

 ments of a first-class flower show. 

 Send to .1. S. Wilson for a copy. 



