October 18, 1919 



HORTICULTURE 



331 



come to the front wonderfully in the 

 last twelve months, and ere another 

 twelve months goes by, we hope all 

 P. T. D. A. members and others will 

 bare all their automobiles, boxes, tags, 

 stationery, advertisements and in fact 

 everything labeled with the slogan, 

 "Say It With Flowers." 



The highest compliment that can be 

 paid to any individual or organization 

 is the fact that another organization 

 imitates them, so rather than feel 

 alarmed at other organization imitat- 

 ing us, I see in it an advantage, be- 

 cause in order to do any business they 

 will have to advertise, and by talking 

 flowers they will help us. However, I 

 see no need of any other organization 

 composed of retail florists, because 

 the F. T. D. A. with thousand of mem- 

 bers can cover the field and give such 

 service as it has in the past, service 

 that was never dreamed of years ago. 

 With the S. A. F. & O. H. in which 

 nearly all of our members hold mem- 

 bership, and with a thorough publicity 

 campaign, as is now organized and 

 conducted we have no fear for the 

 future. 



Let us dwell for a moment on the 

 sending and receiving of orders. That 

 we may have the full confidence of 

 the public, so that when called upon 

 to produce the original order we must 

 be ready and willing to produce the 

 same. It is vitally necessary that all 

 orders should be accurately written 

 and accurately relayed so that the 

 party receiving the order can correctly 

 book it and fill -the order for the full 

 amount, giving if possible, better at- 

 tention, in the way of service, than it 

 the customer came in the store and 

 ordered the flowers himself. 



As to Bills. 



In the matter of bills, there is much 

 to be desired. In forwarding an in- 

 voice promptly upon delivery of the 

 order and if for any reason the order 

 could not be delivered, notifying the 

 sender at once, giving the particulars. 

 Bills should be mailed the first of each 

 month and promptly followed up if not 

 paid. 



The clearing house under the leader- 

 ship of our very efficient Secretary 

 has done wonderful work in having 

 mmebers and others pay up more 

 promptly and also collecting bills that 

 have not been paid. This office has 

 done phenomenal work in the short 

 time in which it has existed. 



Our Officers. 

 Too much praise cannot be given to 

 our worthy Secretary, Mr. Albert 

 Pochelon, who has worked morning, 

 noon and night to push the F. T. D. A. 

 He has been such an engineer in the 

 workroom of our organization that we 



ALL IMPORTED BULBS 



DUTCH— FRENCH— JAPANESE AT TRADE PRICES 



Keep your Counter Display Alive 



Nothing Better than Bulbs and None Better than Ours 

 Moderate cost. Big Profits. No Loss 



Tulips, Hyacinths, Narcissus 



Finest in Cultivation 

 Write for "Book for Florists" 



43 Barclay 

 New York C 



; S it y Vaughan's Seed Store 



33 W. Randolph St. 

 Chicago, III. 



cannot help but esteem him highly. 

 All honor and praise to our Secretary. 



Much credit is due our Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Honorable Philip Breitmeyer, 

 for so ably officiating during my re- 

 cent illness. He was ever up and do- 

 ing, alert to attend to all matters 

 which would help boost the F. T. D. A. 

 Also our honored Treasurer, Mr. Wil- 

 liam L. Rock, who is ever ready with 

 good advice, prompt and correct in his 

 records as his report will show; and 

 also our past President, Mr. Irwin 

 Bertermann, to whom we owe a great 

 deal for putting the Association on 

 its feet, and who is ready and will- 

 ing to give good friendly and substan- 

 tial advice. 



To Mr. George Asmus, our former 

 Vice-President and President of the 

 National Flower Show Committee, who 

 has labored unselfishly for the florist 

 trade in general and the F. T. D. A. in 

 particular, and to the members of the 

 Board of Directors who . have been 

 ever ready and willing to do their 

 duty, I extend my cordial thanks and 

 best wishes. 



Orders. 



Small orders should be discouraged, 

 particularly on the rush days. How- 

 ever, if a party is willing to pay the 

 price, there should be no order too 

 small to relay and give the accom- 

 modation which the order deserves. 

 The question of whether it pays or 

 not should not enter into these 

 transactions, for who will say that it is 

 not a good advertisement. Often the 

 filling of a small order carefully is 

 worth many times the price of the 

 order in advertising. 



Publicity Fund. 



Everybody should contribute. It 

 matters not how much one gives, but 

 how many are giving. Just think 

 twenty thousand florists at five dollars 

 each would be a hundred thousand 

 dollars and surely we should aver- 

 age five dollars per florist. Our 

 publicity with our slogan, "Say It 

 With Flowers" has done wonders and 

 I cannot help, but feel that the florists 

 business is in its infancy and will go 



forward hy leaps and bounds, in fact 

 faster than some of us will be able to 

 keep up. In these days of the high 

 cost of living, and the high cost of 

 flowers, it behooves us all to make the 

 most of the least, to give our cus- 

 tomers perfect satisfaction in every 

 way so that when the time comes 

 when the great majority of people will 

 want flowers in their homes we will 

 know how to supply them. 



In every industry, we should re- 

 member that the government treated 

 us with great consideration during 

 the coal shortage, and men engaged in 

 their respective industries should bear 

 this in mind and remember that we 

 were shown a certain degree of 

 favoritism. At this time when the 

 government is making investigations 

 on all sides to inquire into the high 

 cost of living and the high cost of al- 

 most every article of merchandise, it 

 does seem to me that the growers, as 

 well as the dealers and commission 

 men should hold themselves down to a 

 reasonable margin of profit, so that if 

 they for any reason are investigated, 

 they could show by their records that 

 they are dealing with the public and 

 their fellownien on an absolutely 

 square basis. 



Associations are all too willing and 

 ready in times such as these to "get- 

 together" and set a minimum price and 

 value, and I am of the opinion that it 

 is a bad thing to do. And I would cer- 

 tainly counsel the advisability of let- 

 ting every grower, every wholesaler, 

 every dealer determine for himself 

 and according to his own records 

 what consitutes a fair and reasonable 

 profit, and at what price he shall sell 

 to the public. 



Association of members in any 

 given trade should be strongly coun- 

 selled, for there is no question in my 

 mind that every association can exert 

 a powerful influence for good, but it 

 must always be borne in mind that 

 the power of each such association 

 should not be abused, but always ex- 

 ercised for the general welfare of busi- 

 nesses. 



(Continued on page 336) 



