﻿April 15, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



21 



GROWERS' ORGANIZATION 



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IVERYONE knows that the 

 average grower comes 

 from a hard-working, in- 

 dustrious class of people, 

 who by their hard work 

 and love of independence 

 acquire some land that will 

 some day start them "out 

 on their -own hook," as 

 the saying goes. It is evi- 

 dent to most of us that the grower is 

 just a grower. No opportunity was 

 ]>laced before him to be anything else, 

 ;iiiil in justice to him as a grower, a life- 

 tiiiio is too short to know it all. His 

 mind is largely concentrated to succeed, 

 as a good grower confines himself most- 

 ly to his greenhouses, losing sight of the 

 fact that he should be a good business 

 man as well. If some of us growers had 

 been better business men, our success 

 as a whole would have been far greater. 

 Many of the leading growers learned to 

 grow stock, but attribute their progress 

 to having applied up-to-date business 

 mctliods to their greenhouse manage- 

 ment. It was not 80 long ago tKat it 

 was often said that the less the grower 

 knew about business as it concerned 

 liim as a consignor the better for him. 



The growers all over the country have 

 been like a sleeping giant. As long as 

 they did not wake up, they would not 

 claim something of 

 which they had 

 been deprived in 

 years gone by. 



Conditions for the 

 grower in this mar- 

 ket until the grow- 

 ers organized were 

 going from bad to 

 worse. Ambition 

 was throttled, since 

 the grower was not 

 able to get the need- 

 ed improvements as 

 an individual, and 

 all the time his 

 thoughts were far- 

 thest from a grow- 

 ers ' organization — 

 the very thing he 

 needed most. 



In Chicago. 



Alone, I could 

 '1"^ nothing to have 

 "ly wishes brought 

 ^f the attention of 

 |':e trade. My time, 

 'ahor and equipment 

 '■\' c r e practically 

 placed at the mercy 

 ^f_ the success or 

 '■''lure in market- 



"K— wholly depend- 

 :7;t upon outsiders. 



'■th any griev- 

 ■,''f'cs or complaints 

 ■ 'ad, I stood alone 



-to keep them to 



'ysclf. There was 



" organization I 

 ;"^''d go to, either 



" eonvince myself 



"^ my faults or to 

 '■^I'npare my work 

 ^"h other grow- 



The address of Josepli Kohout, president of 

 the Commercial Flower Growers of ChicaBO. de- 

 livered at the meeting of the Chicago Florists' 

 Club April 8, 1920. 



ers'. If I could only be side by side 

 with other growers in a body to counsel 

 with, to talk about our problems, to 

 meet other growers as friends in a com- 

 mon cause so as to better our business 

 for you and me and somehow for all 

 of us in an associated capacity! The 

 small grower was particularly isolated 

 from the affairs of the Chicago market. 

 In 1916 a beginning was made to- 

 wards a growers' organization by peti- 

 tion. I just wanted to see what could 

 be done that way toward getting to- 

 gether. This petition led to the organi- 

 zation as we have it today. Since its 

 inception the Chicago market has seen 

 more action than it had seen in twelve 

 years past. . 



Organization Did It. 



When we first started we had limited 

 encouragement from the growers, sneers 

 and slander from others, just as if by 

 force of habit or custom the growers 

 had no right to speak for themselves as 

 an organization. The sales agent or 

 commission merchant offered no en- 

 couragement, being firmly entrenched 

 to stand for higher prices or for such 



Joseph Kohout. 



prices 0.S he could get. The retailer had 

 no sympathy for us, as he has always 

 stood for the lowest prices. But we 

 are now org9.nized to do things and here 

 to stay. As an organization we have 

 not scratched yet, but we will continue 

 to keep pace with the opportunities as 

 they open to the grower. Our organiza- 

 tion has a purpose, tp«^how a better 

 service alike to the grower, wholesaler 

 and retailer. 



Our organization represents the high- 

 est percentage in membership and the 

 greatest in financial strength. Our or- 

 ganization represents the wishes of the 

 majority, so that a small grower like 

 myself stands shoulder to shoulder, in 

 voting power at least, with the largest 

 grower, on the principle that what is 

 good for the big grower is good for the 

 small grower. Alone as a grower I 

 could do nothing, but with him in our 

 organization we get the results we hope 

 for. From the interchange of ideas, of 

 improvements, of successes and of fail- 

 ures we each one learn something to 

 better his own condition at home. 

 Strong in our membership, we can co- 

 operate as our needs require. We can 

 protect the retailer from the encroach- 

 ments of a wholesaler upon the con- 

 sumer direct. We can check such abuses 

 as may arise that ''re detrimental to the 

 general welfare of 

 our industry. In 

 fact, the preserva- 

 tion of our business 

 lies within the ac- 

 tivities of our ovra 

 organization. As 

 growers, of course, 

 we have differences 

 of opinions that 

 make for competi- 

 tion, which is good 

 for all of us. Such 

 competition 

 thrashes out ques- 

 tions raised among 

 ourselves, that lead 

 to better business 

 for all of us. 



For the Future. 



Through our or- 

 ganization we can 

 pave the way to a 

 future inheritance 

 to hand down to our 

 children for them to 

 continue our work. 

 As it is, there must 

 bo something wrong 

 when our sons re- 

 fuse to follow the 

 stops of their 

 fathers in the grow- 

 ing of floricultural 

 products, as is 

 noticed on many 

 occasions. There 

 must be something 

 wrong when we at- 

 tract the lowest 

 type of labor or the 

 overflow from other 

 industries. The 

 hard, steady grind, 

 with little recupera- 



