>26 



HORTICULTURE 



March 8, 1919 



paign, and I hope that as this time 

 goes on we will find some method of 

 educating the public i<> patronize those 

 retail florists who display the sign 

 "Say it with Flowers" just as the 

 United Cigar Stores and other institu- 

 tions are enabled to direct people to 

 their establishments. 



In closing, I wish to repeat what I 

 have said before, that I believe one of 

 the best things we have done as busi- 

 ness men during my connection with 

 the Society of American Florists, has 

 been the carrying on of this publicity 

 campaign, and I feel that its benefits 

 will become more evident and that we 

 will all be glad to be identified and 

 have it known that we are engaged in 

 the business that we all love so well. 



Mr. Penn then announced the decis- 

 ion of the Publicity Committees to 

 make an effort to raise $100,000 this 

 year for the Campaign Fund. 



Report of Publicity Finance Com- 

 mittee. 

 Chairman George Asmus of this com- 

 mittee reported as follows: 



I am going to make some remarks 

 verbally, and ask the secretary to sub- 

 stantiate them from the records. You 

 have heard from Mr. Penn that there 

 has been given to this committee the 

 task of collecting $100,000. It will be 

 a big job; but I think we can do it. 

 Had it not been for the unusual con- 

 dition experienced in October, there 

 is not a doubt in my mind that I would 

 have pulled over the $50,000 campaign 

 as we figured, and which we came 

 close to doing. I am going to report to 

 you that yesterday we again contract- 

 ed with the O'Keefe Agency to carry 

 on our work for the coming year; and 

 we have appropriated the sum of $20,- 

 000 to start this work. The report of 

 the secretary will show you how the 

 people of this country have appreciat- 

 ed this publicity by coming across 

 with their second subscriptions, and 

 you will hear some of the nice things 

 that have been said by the people that 

 did come across. 



I want to ask the presidents of the 

 affiliated organizations in this Board 

 to take every opportunity to spread 

 the gospel of publicity, and get con- 

 tributions from every brother florist 

 in their communities to carry on this 

 important work. I want to impress 

 that upon the various officers of the 

 organization who are a power in their 

 communities and in their organiza- 

 tions. 



It is true that in some instances 

 wonderful work has been done; but 

 in other cases we have met with a 

 very lukewarm reception. Of course, 

 the plan that we adopted of sending 

 the Secretary about the country is 

 possibly the greatest thing that we 

 did. In considering it among our- 

 selves we figured that the average 

 cost per day in traveling expenses of 

 the man who went out — Mr. Young 

 accepted this job — would be from $10 

 to $15 a day. Mr. Young will sub- 

 stantiate what I am telling you now, 

 that there were but very few days 

 that we did not average from $200 to 

 $400, and in some instances $600 a day 

 receipts. Now any ordinary mer- 

 chant in selling goods has to figure on 

 a margin of about five or six per cent 

 profit, or perhaps ten per cent on his 

 merchandise, and he thinks that does 

 not seem much. But we have realized 

 one hundred per cent. If the Secre- 



tary went into a town and secured 

 the membership of but one man who 

 signed up for $lo for four years, that 

 meant $40 collected from that man; 

 and if he secured $500 or $600 worth 

 of subscriptions — which in many cases 

 he did you should multiply that by 

 four years. Another thing that he did 

 was to get the money for the first 

 year's subscription right then and 

 there, which saved our committee a 

 lot of expense and trouble. 



It must have been surprising to you 

 gentlemen when you heard the Sec- 

 retary's report read to see what a 

 large percentage was sent in of the 

 amounts subscribed. He started out 

 receiving voluntary subscriptions, not 

 money; but those subscriptions were 

 all collected within a few hundred 

 dollars of $45,000 subscribed, which 

 was almost marvelous considering the 

 financial condition of most florists be- 

 fore the turn for the better came, 

 and when the results of our Publicity 

 Campaign showed up this year. 



Now this year we are going to aim 

 at a higher goal. Everybody is inter- 

 ested in our object; we have a won- 

 derful article to sell, and at cheap 

 prices. The talking points are so nu- 

 merous and so good that every one 

 of you gentlemen can well feel proud 

 to talk about them. Everything con- 

 nected with this Publicity Campaign 

 is above reproach. The expenses con- 

 nected with the work have been as 

 nothing when compared to the gratify- 

 ing results obtained. The man who 

 subscribes $100 a year, and pays $8 a 

 month, or $2 a week, most likely may 

 be a man that is doing one hundred 

 thousand or one hundred and fifty 

 thousand dollars' worth of business. 

 Just think how little he is paying, yet 

 how much he is doing; but the great 

 thing is that we are trying to get 

 everybody to pay their just share. It 

 is indeed unfair to expect some big- 

 hearted man in this country, like 

 Philip Breitmeyer, for instance, to sub- 

 scribe $500 to this fund, unjust in pro- 

 portion to what some of the other men 

 who are supposed to be good florists 

 are doing. Some do something and 

 others very little. It seems to me 

 that we ought to seek to find some 

 means whereby everybody shall par- 

 ticipate to the same extent as Mr, 

 Breitmeyer does in that fund, or in 

 proportion to their means. This trip 

 of the secretary has given us a fur- 

 ther opportunity. Taking the state of 

 California, before Mr. Young visited 

 there he had committees appointed in 

 every section. I had the state vice 

 president suggest the names, and we 

 tried in every way to get the livest 

 wires possible, men who had been for- 

 mer officials and correspondents: and 

 the first trip of the secretary around 

 the country proved its real benefit by 

 putting the question to men direct, 

 shaking them by the hand, and. in 

 nine cases out of ten, getting their 

 subscriptions. We hope to get the sec- 

 retary on such a trip again, to inter- 

 est the California section of the coun- 

 try, because we have only scratched 

 the surface. For that reason I do not 

 think our committee will hesitate to 

 say that we are going to increase the 

 fund to $100, 000. We expect all of you 

 gentlemen to be mouth-pieces whery 

 ever the secretary gets into your 

 neighborhoods. We want you to turn 

 out and help him, because he is doing 



your work, and I hope he will meet 

 with the response from all of you and 

 that you will all help us in this task 

 because it is some task to collect a 

 hundred thousand dollars. 



The Secretary's Report. 



Secretary Young then read the fig- 

 ures of receipts and disbursements, 

 accompanying the same by comments 

 on various items, stating that much 

 of the money had been received since 

 the first of the year, and that he did 

 not believe that there would be more 

 than $200 or $300 that would not be 

 collected, and that from the replies 

 that he had received from subscribers 

 he believed they would probably pay 

 two subscriptions at the same time. • 

 He stated that a great deal of the 

 postage had been incurred in sending 

 out "Dealers' Helps," which postage 

 naturally ran into an enormous 

 amount of money, the postage rates 

 having been increased; but the 

 "Dealers' Helps" had paid expenses 

 and showed just a little profit. It was 

 the intention of the Publicity Com- 

 mittee to make no profits on these 

 "Dealers' Helps." but it was required 

 that they should pay their way. The 

 more florists could be induced to use 

 stickers, glass signs, and so forth, the 

 better help it would be to general 

 business. In addition to the financial 

 report the secretary read the report 

 of the certified accountants, Edwards 

 & Bouton. 



Practical Enthusiasm 



It was after the reading of the re- 

 ports that the directors showed the 

 real enthusiasm before noted, and one 

 after another added sums to their 

 1919 subscriptions until the amount 

 previously mentioned was reached. 



Philip Breitmeyer's Views 

 Philip Breitmeyer, of Detroit, said, 

 in a hearty endorsement of the cam- 

 paign: "I feel that our slogan is the 

 most wonderful thing that has ever 

 been introduced in the florists' busi- 

 ness or any other business. To "Say 

 It with Flowers" is just exactly what 

 everybody wants to do. The florists' 

 business has been increased, as you 

 know, since this slogan has been 

 adopted, fully 25 per cent. The busi- 

 ness has been in a state of quiescence; 

 had not been doing anything in the 

 way of its advancement for the past 

 fifty years. It seems to me strange 

 that just at this time, when the people 

 need awakening, this should come to 

 us and should prove such a tremen- 

 dous success. I, for one, am very 

 grateful that this suggestion has been 

 made to us, and its good effects are 

 going to continue, I know, and will 

 mean prosperity which we older flor- 

 ists never dreamed of. I class myself 

 as one of the older florists because I 

 have been in it some forty years. The 

 last two years have brought about, by 

 this slogan, more business for the 

 florists than I ever dreamed was pos- 

 sible. I hope every florist in the 

 country, not simply those who are 

 here, shares in the sentiment of grati- 

 tude that I have given expression to, 

 and will contribute to the cause which, 

 in my opinion, is a privilege, not only 

 the advertising but the privilege of 

 tying up with and working with it to 

 make this business of ours ten times 

 what it has been in the past. 



The following subscriptions have 

 been received and are in addition to 



