378 



HORTICULTURE 



November 1, 191? 



BILLBOARDS AND ADVERTISING 

 IN GENERAL 



Dear Sir — Your editorial note in is- 

 sue of Oct. 25th seems a direct invita- 

 tion to speak out about billboard ad- 

 vertising. The question at issue 

 should not be confused. Posters and 

 billboards in certain places may be de- 

 fensible, but billboard advertising as 

 I believe the phrase generally under- 

 stood seems to me entirely reprehensi- 

 ble, and should be eliminated by pub- 

 lic opinion enacted into such laws as 

 may be, and further exerted in tlie 

 form of influence. This applies to 

 signs on roofs, fences, etc., and any 

 glaring publicity of the sort along 

 highways and railroads. In some 

 places I hear that organizations en- 

 courage refusal of patronage to those 

 who advertise in this way. I can add 

 nothing to Mr. McParland's good letter 

 on the subject except to touch upon 

 another phase of it, an economic phase. 



It is obviously true that our cost ot 

 living, now and lately thrusting itself 

 into a foremost position in public at- 

 tention, is in part due to our increased 

 wants. The luxuries of a previous 

 generation become the natural require- 

 ments, if not the real needs, of the 

 present. It is this tremendous rush 

 for things our grandfathers knew not 

 that keeps us employed, in spite of 

 the greater productivity due to better 

 organization and to the use of labor 

 saving machinery — the latter phrase 

 being a misnomer, for no machine is 

 used to save labor but only to produce 

 more. This tremendous output — tre- 

 mendous compared to former times — 

 must be unloaded on the consumer, 

 and a great aid to this distribution 

 process is advertising. In pushing a 

 new article advertising Is often in- 

 voked to create a demand where none 

 had existed. This process may of 

 course be entirely salutary and bene- 

 ficial to the public — but on the con- 

 trary it may also be only finally use- 

 less because only an encouragement 

 to buy what we were as well or better 

 off not to own. A very large percent- 

 age, (is it a third?) of our work is in 

 the production of articles which are by 

 no means among real assistance to 

 "Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happi- 

 ness." Can anyone doubt that to stop 

 this and devote our work more to real 

 needs would effect a reduction in 

 prices? Of course advertising is not 

 wholly to blame for any of this sort of 

 thing — it only helps it along. 



Another feature of advertising is im- 

 portant and almost wholly forgotten. 

 It is presumed to increase the volume 

 of sales, thus distributing fixed 

 charges over a greater business, result- 

 ing in a smaller percentage of fixed 



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charges. In other words the supposi- 

 tion is that a purchaser can buy any 

 heavily advertised article at least as 

 cheaply as any other. The answer to 

 this implied question involves other 

 elements, such as a consideration of 

 how large a business can become be- 

 fore certain forms of its organization 

 become entirely top heavy. But still 

 there would remain instances where it 

 would be very interesting to know if 

 an article is costing more because 

 of high fixed charges due to heavy ad- 

 vertising. On the other hand advertis- 

 ing may increase demand so that 

 prices may be raised. In either case 

 the advertising benefits the producer 

 but is paid for by the consumer. Ad- 

 vertising to increase prices is clearly 

 proper, but advertising which by any 

 conditions increases prices is ques- 

 tionable, is it not? 



Yours truly, 



Fred A. Wilson. 

 Nahant, Mass., 

 October 27, 1919. 



MR. RATHGEBER ON DAHLIAS. 



At the recent meeting of the Ameri- 

 can Dahlia Society in New York, Mr. 

 William Rathgeber of New Haven, 

 Conn., made some remarks which ex- 

 cited much attention and comment, 

 but which seem to have been very in- 

 adequately reported. For that reason 

 Horticulture wrote Mr. Rathgeber, 

 asking for a statement as to what he 

 said. His letter in reply is as follows: 

 New Haven, Conn., Oct 7, 1919. 



Dear Sir: — Replying to your esteem- 

 ed favor referring to my remarks at 

 the annual meeting of the American 

 Dahlia Society in New York, I said: 



"I wish to take advantage of this 

 opportunity to bring before this so- 

 ciety for consideration an evil that is 

 gaining practice and that will mitigate 

 against the popularity of the Dahlia if 

 persisted in. I refer to the over- 

 propagation of new seedlings, result- 

 ing in much weakened plants. A 

 grower produces a fine new Dahlia, 

 the second year it improves and he 

 has several plants that produce beauti- 



ful blooms in the fall, and is exhibited, 

 taking prizes and certificates. A de- 

 mand for plants and roots is im- 

 mediately created, and a good price 

 can be obtained. In order to meet 

 this demand the roots are lifted after 

 the frost and grown on in the green- 

 house. As soon as the new sprouts 

 are a few inches long they are cut off 

 above the two lower leaves and rooted. 

 The rooted cuttings as soon as grow- 

 ing nicely are again cut and a new 

 plant made, and so on ad-infinitum. 

 They never produce as good as the 

 original. 



"My contention was that it was 

 not fair to the purchaser to sell him 

 this weakened stock. At this point a 

 gentleman interposed saying that if he 

 produced a new flower it belonged to 

 him to do with as he pleased and no 

 society or anyone else should dictate 

 to him how far he should propagate 

 it. I replied that the gentleman evi- 

 dently misunderstood my point, and 



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