<i^%^. 



WILL FOOD FAMINE 



AFFECT FLOWERS? 



The prices of food form the staple topic of conversation in the United 

 States, for even the well-to-do find many so-called necessities of life beyond 

 easy reach. Florists fear the mounting cost of food can go no farther with- 

 out affecting the demand for flowers. 



OW far can the price of 



M potatoes go before it cuts 

 down the demand for daf- 

 fodils? It is the question 

 the men of the trade are 

 asking each other, at flo- 

 rists' clubs and at chance 

 meetings, for the impres- 

 sion is general that the re- 

 cent sensational rise in the 

 cost of food is prejudicial to the inter- 

 ests oi those wlio deal in less necessary 

 things. The fact is ignored that the 

 florists' business always has been best 

 while prices elsewhere were soaring. 



"With potatoes at 6 cents a pound, 

 cabbage at 12 cents and onions at 18 

 cents," said a retailer in a factory sec- 

 tion, "my people will have nothing left 

 with which to buy flowers." But he 

 forgot the fact that all the workers in 

 his section are employed, for about the 

 first time on record, and that the earn- 

 ings per household are the highest ever 

 known. 



The flower business never has been 

 hurt by high prices for other things- — 

 somebody gets the money and that some- 

 body is almost sare to spend part of it 

 for flowers. 



True, present conditions 

 in the Ujiited States are 

 without parallel. Price 

 levels are higher than the 

 present generation ever 

 has known. Mr. Lugu- 

 brious Blue asserts with 

 truth that the cost of liv- 

 ing never was so high as 

 now, but Mr. Smiley Glad 



florist's ability to so manage his affairs 

 that he is able to retain a profit. 



What if potatoes are nearly a dollar 

 a peck? Does the dollar disappear from 

 the face of the earth! No; only the 

 potatoes! The dollar merely changes 

 from one man's hand to another's. And 

 if there be a little better than the usual 

 profit for the seller, so much the better 

 for the florist whose door is handy to 

 tlie spender of easy money. 



Deflation Is What We Fear. 



No. The trade need not be alarmed 

 by rising prices. So long as inflation is 

 in progress there will be brisk demand 

 for flowers. Dull times for us will come 

 with deflation — when our erstwhile free 

 spending customer is loaded up with a 

 lot of high priced merchandise and the 

 market is crumbling beneath his feet; 

 when the family that now has father, 

 two sons and a daughter all contributing 

 to the exchequer becomes dependent 

 on the earnings of one son and the 

 daughter. Then will come the time Old 

 Man Worry will displace some of the 

 people now around us. 



In the meantime we should practice 



points out with equal as- 

 .surance that never before 

 have so many people lived 

 so high. 



Active Money Helps. 



High prices should be 

 no bugbear to the florist 

 who has it in him to keep 

 the pace. Dull times for 

 our trade always have 

 come with periods of de- 

 flation elsewhere, never 

 with times of inflation. It 

 has been demonstrated 

 over and over again that 

 when money changes 

 hands with celerity our 

 trade can rely on handling 

 a portion of it, a portion 

 that grows greater or less 

 as general business activ- 

 ity rises or falls. 



It then merely is a 

 question of the individual 



Food costs are steadily rising, as indicated in price quota- 

 tions gathered by a Chicago newspaper, used here as indicative 

 of conditions in America's greatest food center. And the end 

 is not in sight, according to forecasts of dealers. The figures 

 (juoted below show advances of twenty-five to 100 per cent 

 over prices prevailing thirty days ago: 



Potatoes, per peck 80 



Butter, per pound 45 



Eggs, per dozen 45 



Roundsteak, per poiind 22 



Veal, per pound 28 



Pork chops, per pound 22 



Bacon, per pound 32 



Ham, per pound 24 



Lard, per pound 22 



Sugar, per pound 7V2 



Tomatoes, canned 13 



Com, cajined 15 



Peas, canned 12 



Cabbage, per pound 10 



Onions, per pound 12 



Cornmeal, per pound 4 



Hominy, per pound 12 



Navy beans, per pound 12 



Flour, 100 pounds $5.00 to $6.00 



the old precept and make hay while 

 the sun shines. The opportunities never 

 were better than now. Consider that 

 the high prices of food and most other 

 articles are caused by the fact that de- 

 mand is greater than the supply — but 

 there is no shortage of cut flowers or 

 spring plants 1 Indeed, there are plain 

 indications that the first few days of 

 spring weather, due any time now, will 

 bring on the market perhaps the largest 

 supply of cut flowers the trade ever has 

 been called on to merchandise. We are 

 not handicapped as many others are: 

 We have plenty to sell; we can sup- 

 ply anything wanted in our line, in any 

 quantity and at reasonable prices, in 

 fact at prices that are distinctly low 

 when compared with the prices asked in 

 other trades. 



Under the circumstances this is a 

 time for florists as a class to be of good 

 cheer. The long, hard winter is over 

 and the season of largest demand is 

 here. It will be larger than ever this 

 year, helped rather than hindered bv 

 high prices in other trades. It is a 

 time for all florists to hustle to turn the 

 heavy spring crops into cash. 



But it is no time to cut 

 prices. 



Hold Up Prices. 



Costs this season have 

 been much higher than 

 usual. Now is the time 

 to get the money back. 

 Charge more, rather than 

 less than last year. The 

 public is used to it. 

 Scarcely anyone will ob- 

 ject if you are reason- 

 able. Make the sales ef- 

 fort in the line of better 

 display, more newspaper 

 advertising, frequent di- 

 rect appeal to regular cus- 

 tomers, personal sales- 

 manship in the case of 

 hotels, restaurants, insti- 

 tutions and neighboring 

 stores. Push, but don't 

 cut prices. We must ask 

 for- what we want or we 

 stand no chance of get- 

 ting it. 



And don't for a moment 

 let any florist relax his 

 effort because of high 

 prices in other lines — 

 when money is changing 

 hands rapidly is our best 

 time to catch our share of 

 it. It's purel.r an indi- 



