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BRINGING BACK BIRDS 

 BRINGS BUSINESS 



The popular propaganda for tlie preservation of birds is producing 

 a demand for a class of merchandise that is peculiarly suitable as a side 

 line for florists. Aviaries are being featured by aggressive florists, who 

 have been quick to cash in on a movement that bids fair to become national 

 in scope. 



T MAY be said that the 

 good people of this coun- 

 try are highly susceptible 

 to fads, whether the fads 

 or popular hobbies be of 

 the indoors or outdoors, 

 whether sensible or non- 

 sensical. John Smith and 

 Henry Jones, for instance, 

 their wives, daughters and 

 sons, for reasons sufficient to them- 

 selves, but also to have the satisfac- 

 tion of knowing that they are in the 

 running socially and not occupying back 

 seats, are liable to surrender to any 

 worth-while fad that happens along, the 

 only essential being that the fad ar- 

 rive at a psychological moment and that 

 the Smiths' and the Joneses' pocket- 

 books be sufficiently lined. 



Fortunately, most fads and hobbies 

 live and die in the districts in which 

 they originate and never become na- 

 tional in scope; but sometimes a capital 

 idea starts rolling and does not stop un- 

 til it has the entire 

 country in its clutch, 

 and then continues in 

 vogue and is followed 

 with more or less ex- 

 aggerated zeal until it 

 has lost its novelty. 

 Most of us remember 

 the years when bicy- 

 cling was ' ' the thing, ' ' 

 and recently we were 

 at the tail end of what 

 once was the great tan- 

 go dance craze. 



Fads Sell. 



Now, while fads 

 may provide interest- 

 ing subjects for soci- 

 ologists, they are of 

 greater importance to 

 business men. The 

 commercial aspect is 

 that a widespread pro- 

 paganda of any sort 

 creates a large demand 

 for the clasp of mer- 

 chandise required in 

 its fulfillment. It has 

 been said, by those 

 qualified to speak, that 

 a fad of national pro- 

 portions, as a selling 

 factor for the given 

 merchandise, is greater 

 than any other form of 

 sales promotion, save 

 advertising. Further, 

 it is intimated that the 

 commercial effects of 

 such a fad are on a 



par with those engendered by a nation- 

 ally conducted advertising campaign, 

 the only difference being that the for- 

 mer is free of charge. 



Two Well Known Fads. 



That a popular movement of any kind 

 has a latent selling power is demon- 

 strated by an incident some years ago, 

 when certain manufacturers of a nov- 

 elty tried to devise a fad that would 

 produce a quick distribution for their 

 goods. Their idea, however, was not 

 novel enough to catch the fancy of the 

 fickle public and, therefore, failed. The 

 comic statuette commonly known as 

 "Billikin" is said to have found a 

 quick sale, because it became a fad 

 through efforts on the part of the mak- 

 ers. 



From the business axioms established 

 in this direction it would be reasonable 

 to assume that the tango surely accel- 

 erated the sale of dancing pumps, 

 gowns, floor wax, graphophones, etc. 



'Bring Back the Birds" Window of Holm & OIsoo, St. Paul. 



The sum total of business created by 

 that fad, if it could be computed in 

 dollars and cents, certainly would be 

 astonishing. 



Heretofore there does not seem to 

 have been any fad or country -wide hob- 

 by that directly benefited florists com- 

 mercially, not considering in this con- 

 nection the customary heavy spring 

 buying on the part of the people, Moth- 

 ers' and Memorial day business and 

 other plant or cut flower holidays. Now, 

 however, there is under way a propa- 

 ganda that florists, by means of a side 

 line, can cash in on. During the late 

 winter there has been and at present 

 is in operation a so-called "Bring Back 

 the Birds" movement. Each spring 

 there has been an alarming decrease in 

 the number of birds, a condition that 

 of late has been the subject of frequent 

 editorials in the public press. As a re- 

 sult, many people have affiliated them- 

 selves with societies for the protection 

 and care of birds. Of course, there al- 

 ways have been Audu- 

 bon clubs and ornitho- 

 logical societies, but 

 this year the efforts of 

 the bird lovers are tak- 

 ing the form and force 

 of a propaganda, and 

 it is likely that next 

 year and the year after 

 the thing will become 

 wider in scope. 



Bird Homes. 



The argument of the 

 bird lovers is that the 

 birds must be provided 

 with specially made 

 houses for nesting pur- 

 poses, that they must 

 be fed and shielded 

 from all agencies of 

 destruction. This nat- 

 urally creates a de- 

 mand for bird houses, 

 bird baths and bird 

 foods and, as these are 

 more or less associated 

 with gardens and flow- 

 ers, it is fitting that 

 florists should reap the 

 profits from their sale. 

 Here is a side line for 

 florists that a fad or 

 propaganda will help 

 to sell. 



Window box manu- 

 facturers and a well 

 known Detroit florist, 

 in anticipation of the 

 boost given the sale of 

 bird houses, etc., by 



