November 22, 1919 



II l!T 1 l I I. T I 1 K K 



439 



AS TO BILLBOARDS 



More Interesting Letters on 

 the Subject 



Air. McFarland has stated to Hoim- 

 CTJLTURE that he does not want to be 

 placed in a false position as regards 

 billboard advertising and that he does 

 not oppose the use of signs on one's 

 own property. Some correspondence 

 which he has been having with W. R. 

 Plerson sets forth this fact and also 

 shows where Mr. Pierson stands. Mr. 

 Pierson's letter and Mr. McFarland's 

 reply follow: 



Cromwell, Conn., 



Oct. 25, 1919. 

 My dear Mr. McFarland: 



I want to thank you for your very 

 interesting letter of the 20th with re- 

 gard to the affairs of the American 

 Rose Society. 



I also want to tell you that I dis- 

 agree entirely with you on the ques- 

 tion of billboards — not billboards as 

 you see them, but billboards as we In- 

 tend to use them in the "Say It With 

 Flowers" campaign of the Society of 

 American Florists. Your very sarcas- 

 tic comments upon the action of the 

 Committee in recommending the use 

 of billboards containing merely the 

 slogan of the Society, and your state- 

 ments that the funds are to be taken 

 out of the contributions made to the 

 Publicity Fund are all wrong. In the 

 first place, there is no intention of 

 touching the money contributed to the 

 Publicity Fund. These billboards are 

 to be purchased by the florists. They 

 are not unattractive and are to be 

 erected only on property owned by 

 florists in connection with the front of 

 their establishments. We are going 

 to use them and I believe we are right 

 in doing so. I think your attitude in 

 the matter is all wrong. 



I want to have the privilege of tell- 

 ing you occasionally that I disagree 

 with you, and that is my reason for 

 writing you as above 



Very truly yours, 



W. R. Pierson. 



Harrisburg, Pa., 

 Oct. 27, 1919. 

 Dear Mr. Pierson: 



Surely you are proper in disagreeing 

 with me, and frankly friendly in tell- 

 ing me so. 



What I wrote about the signs was 

 altogether on the information that I 

 had. That is, I commented on what 

 had been published. I have never ob- 

 jected to a respectable sign on a man's 

 own property advertising the things 

 he had there to sell. How could I ob- 



WiffiamWE49 ap6 °' 



WAVERLEY, MASS. 

 "THE HOUSE OF" SERVICE" 



Call S3 «_- I m o r-» * 600 



SEASONABLE FLOWERING PLANTS 



Cyclamen, Begonias, Primulas, Chrysanthemums, Peppers, Jer. Cherries, Paper Whites, etc. 



Visitors Always \A/olcom© 



tjnmiimii witmiiii iiiuiii i m mi mini iinatiHiisiiii uniiiiimiuinmnaiHnu mil n*iiniiMinii*iiinimiiMiuiii»ii»jiiuni « mumihium mmiimjikh^ 



THOMAS J. GREY CO. 



16 SO. MARKET ST. BOSTON, MASS. 



JUST ARRIVED 



I LILIUM GIGANTEUM | 



Will Have Cold Storage Giganteum 



Later 



fiiiiiHiiMiiiitiiiiiiiiiil.titiiii in HiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiUJiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiMiimm ill IUUIIII tiniiiiiiim iiitiiiiiimiiiiimimi iiiiiiiiimii nT 



O A IM IM A S 



A large stock of several varieties. PRICES RIGHT. Let us book your order 

 now for shipment at any time. 



PARKER BROS. NURSERY CO. 



PAVETTEVILLE - - ARKANSAS 



ject unless I was either a prig or a 

 fool? 



You may see, therefore, that my atti- 

 tude is not exactly what you assume 

 it to be. I do object to the character 

 of signs about which I wrote, and 

 which were the sort of signs implied 

 in the announcement printed to which 

 I took exception. 



I guess we are not very far apart, 

 after all. 



Yours truly, 



J. Horace McFarland. 



STILL MORE LETTERS 

 The following correspondence ex- 

 plains itself: 



Nov. 16, 1919. 

 Dear Sir — The enclosed is copy of 

 a letter from Mr. F. T. Hopkins of the 

 National Outdoor Advertising Bureau. 

 I thought you might be interested in 

 reading it. Yours very truly, 



P. F. O'KEEFE. 



Fifth Ave. and Broadway, 

 New York, N. Y., Nov. 8, 1919. 

 Dear Major O'Keefe: 



Your letter to the Editor of Horti- 

 culture, in reply to the letter of J. 

 Horace McFarland, leaves nothing for 

 me to add. It is surprising that Horti- 

 criniiK would publish a letter which 



is so obviously vicious and written 

 without even a tinge of truth- 

 It is a pity that legitimate business- 

 es should be defenseless against such 

 vicious and uncalled for attacks by un- 

 scrupulous radicals of this character. 

 The statements in Mr. McFarland's 

 letter are so palpably and obviously 

 false as to need no refutation, al- 

 though I suppose it is a fact that some 

 uninformed individuals might be influ- 

 enced by this sort of dirty propaganda. 

 Certainly every individual has a per- 

 fect right to his own personal opinion 

 and his own standard of ethics, busi- 

 ness, etc., but too many individuals 

 today are making a living through 

 their capacity to spread a propaganda 

 destructive to the constructive efforts 

 of those who are really responsible 

 1 for the development of American busi- 

 ness. 



We are very glad indeed to note the 

 interest you have taken in replying to 

 this unjustified attack and in all jus- 

 tice the Editor of Horticultire should 

 certainly give the prominence to your 

 reply that he has given to Mr. McFar- 

 land's letter. 



Yours very truly, 



F. T. Hopkins. 

 National Outdoor Advertising Bureau. 



