January 18, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 



Before After 



Showing What G. E. M. Stumpp Did With an Old Long Island Residence When it Came into His Possession. 



to themselves, their customers, or their 

 competitors? 



Quality and service are becoming 

 greater factors in the field of merchan- 

 dising. Long after the price of a prod- 

 uct is forgotten the quality is remem- 

 bered. 



The man who does not know his true 

 costs is the man who prices his goods 

 foolishly and thereby impairs the busi- 

 ness of his sound competitors at the same 

 time that he ruins his own. 



Please understand me, the menace is 

 not in underselling, for a business con- 

 cern must expect to face the low prices 

 that are due to eflSciency. But even the 

 most eflScient concern is not always able 

 to meet cut-throat prices based on ig- 

 norance. 



A Hint for the S. A. F. 



The Federal Trade Commission has 

 urged upon business men the importance 

 of installing adequate cost accounting 

 systems. "We have sent out to the busi- 

 ness men of the country, both manufac- 

 turers and retail merchants, approxi- 

 mately 350,000 cost accounting pamph- 

 lets, and thousands of letters have been 

 received in reply commending the com- 

 mission for this work. \Ve have, 

 through our expert accountants, co- 

 operated with trade associations whicli 

 are endeavoring to work out uniform 

 and adequate cost accounting systems 

 for their entire industry. Each particu- 

 lar industry must work out its own plan, 

 and in its own way. When the men in 

 a given industry, however, have found 

 a system that is uniform and satisfac- 

 tory to them, and this system is pre- 

 sented to the Federal Trade Commission, 

 the commission will consider the plan 

 carefully and if it is sound will approve 

 it as the standard system for that par- 

 ticular industry. 



Making a Statement. 



Supplemental to our cost accounting 

 work, we have asked the Institute of 

 Public Accountants to draw up a set of 

 rules which will govern the making out 

 of certified statements as well as guide 

 all accountants and auditors in the mak- 

 ing up of balance sheets. Our hope is 

 to reach some uniform basis for the han- 

 dling of depreciation and other items so 

 that balance sheets upon which bankers 

 base their credit risks will be sound and 

 reveal the true state of the business 

 upon which they are based. It has de- 

 veloped that, even in the case of reports 

 made by certified public accountants, the 

 reported values of assets are frequently 

 misleading, because depreciations have 

 not been propcrlv allowed for, and no 



statement made in the report from 

 which the bank, using it as a basis of 

 credit, can form any correct idea of the 

 value of the plant as a going concern, or 

 its value as an asset in case of the fail- 

 ure of the owner. 



I predict that within five years there 

 will be little money loaned by any 

 banker in the United States to anyone 

 who does not present a statement show- 

 ing detailed information not only re- 

 garding his true assets and liabilities, 

 hut also indicating that he is conduct- 

 ing his business in an efficient manner 

 and that he absolutely knows his true 

 costs. 



BEFORE AND AFTEB. 



The accompanying illustrations are 

 interesting as affording two examples 

 of the resourcefulness of certain of the 

 younger men in the business. The 

 scenes are on the property of George 

 E. M. Stumpp, the New York retailer, 

 at Southampton, L. I. When this old 

 home, with its acre and more of ground, 

 came into the possession of this ener- 

 getic young man it showed the neglect 

 it had received. Today it shows the 

 care of one who knows how. The out- 

 doors has been transformed, and no 

 loss has the mansion. The house is 

 said to have been 115 years of age when 

 Mr. Stumpp acquired it — you will ad- 

 mit it looked it. Today it looks like 

 a modern residence in the colonial 

 style. The window boxes are a feature. 

 On the lawn there are many novelties 

 in plant and aquatic life. 



But the transformation of the resi- 



dence and grounds is not all Mr. 

 Stumpp has accomplished. Southamp* 

 ton is a community of the summer 

 homes of prosperous city people; it af- 

 forded an opening for a business that 

 would be best at the time the activity 

 at the Fifth avenue store is at its low- 

 est ebb. So Mr. Stumpp built a some- 

 what unusual structure, 50x75 feet, 

 shown in another of the illustrations, 

 where there now is a highly profitable 

 summer business. The formal rose 

 garden adjoining the store calls many 

 visitors during the blooming season. 



COTTAGE GABDENS CHANGES. 



Charles Willis Ward, founder and ma- 

 jority owner of the Cottage Gardens 

 Co., of Queens, Long Island, N. Y., has 

 sold the majority of his holding of stock 

 in that corporation to his son, David S. 

 Ward, who will succeed his father as 

 majority owner and president of the 

 company. 



The new president, David S. Ward, has 

 for the last three years occupied the 

 position of superintendent of the green- 

 house department. 



R. T. Brown, vice-president and gen- 

 eral manager for the last fourteen years 

 at Queens, will probably remove to Cali- 

 fornia to assist Mr. Ward in completing 

 the organization of the Cottage Gardens 

 Nurseries at Eureka. 



W. D. Eraser, formerly with the Lilly 

 Co., of Seattle, Wash., and the Luther 

 Burbank Co., of Santa Rosa, Cal., is 

 slated to take 'Mr. Brown's place at 

 Queens. 



Store of G. E. M. Stumpp, of New York, at Southampton, L. L 



