July 5, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



13 



ships. I have ordered them to furnish 

 the coal at a price to be fixed in the 

 future. ' ' 



Representing the Council of National 

 Defense in the conference with the coal 

 operators was the coal production com- 

 mittee of the council, of which Francis 

 S. Peabody, a Chicago coal dealer, is 

 chairman. It is now suggested, with- 

 out any attempt to impugn Mr. Pea- 

 body's motives, that a committee com- 

 posed of coal producers and dealers 

 is naturally in sympathy with the coal 

 trade and its members unconsciously 

 take the coal operators' viewpoint of 

 the situation. It would appear that it 

 would be fairer to the public if disin- 

 terested men were on the committee. 



Until the Federal Trade Commission 

 has made its report there appears no 

 possibility of the government interfer- 

 ing with the prices fixed by the coal 

 operators. If the report comes as 

 quickly as most reports of such investi- 

 gations do, there will be no change in 

 the coal prices for several months, at 

 least. 



In the meantime, growers will be re- 

 quired to pay the announced prices if 

 they want to buy coal. 



COAL FREIGHT RATES GO UP. 



The Interstate Commerce Commission 

 made a ruling June 25 whereby the 

 application for a suspension of the in- 

 crease in freight rates on coal was re- 

 fused. This action put into effect July 

 1 an increase of 15 cents per ton on coal 

 shipped from the bituminous fields of 

 West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, 

 Ohio and Kentucky to points north of 

 the Ohio river and east of the Missis- 

 sippi river. 



The decision will increase the price 

 of Pocahontas and New River semi-bi- 

 tuminous, or so-called smokeless coal, 

 15 cents per ton to the grower. How- 

 ever, the all but prohibitive price the 

 producers are now charging for this 

 class of fuel has turned many consum- 

 ers in the trade to other fields for their 

 supplies. 



The permission for an advance in 

 rates is based upon the showing made 

 before the commission by the railroads 

 that the increased cost of labor and sup- 

 plies makes the raise necessary. 



HAIL AT OTTUMWA. 



The heaviest hail ever known at Ot- 

 tumwa, la., fell June 27. It was not 

 thick, but it fell intermittently for a 

 quarter of an hour and in many places 

 pellets went through any glass it struck. 

 C. Kranz, who has 6.3,000 feet of green- 

 house exposure, suffered the breakage 

 of two-thirds of it, and in the houses the 

 plants which were struck by the ice and 

 glass were badly broken down. Mr. 

 Kranz says it was much the worst hail 

 he ever has seen and that it was a ven- 

 ture of great danger to go outdoors at 

 his place, while utterly impossible, to 

 stay in the greenhouses. He is reglaz- 

 ing. 



HAIL AT CANTON, O. 



Canton's heaviest hail storm in re- 

 cent years, accompanied by a minia- 

 ture cloudburst, June 24, did serious 

 damage to glass of greenhouses in the 

 west and northwest sections of the city. 

 About two-thirds of the 7,000 square 

 feet of glass operated by O. M. Vail 

 are said to have been demolished, and 

 many panes in the house of C. W. Vail 



Box Cars Loaded with Coal Because of the Shortage of Gondolas. 



nearby also were broken. About 125 

 lights were broken in the house of 

 Charles Lindacher, on Tuscarawas 

 street, the storm in that vicinity not be- 

 ing severe. Other losses were suffered 

 by the Brown Floral Co. and Charles 

 F. Blane. 



PLENTY OF SURPLUS STOCK. 



In response to an appeal inserted in 

 The Review by our secretary, Mr. Am- 

 mann, of Edwardsville, I wish to say I 



could have had ten times the stock I 

 generally use of mums and everything. 

 This to me shows that we florists are 

 close together and are willing to help 

 each other in a time of trouble. It also 

 shows that The Review is read by the 

 trade and is an excellent medium to get 

 in touch with each other. 



Please publish this, and I extend my 

 thanks and best wishes to all for their 

 kind sympathy aiid help. I shall re- 

 build at once. 



Mattoon, 111. A. D. King. 



ODEN LETTER^-^-' KEADED6 



"PLEASE OMIT FLOWERS." 



I have scrutinized the columns of The 

 Review to find out what florists think 

 of the request frequently seen in pub- 

 lished death notices that flowers be 

 omitted at the funeral. I always have 

 wondered what are the actual reasons 

 for such requests, and of late I have 

 taken the pains to inquire. One woman 

 said she did not like the practice be- 

 cause it invariably obligated tlic family 

 to return favors to people whom they 

 did not care about. Another said she 

 did not favor the custom because it 

 was too expensive; also because it fre- 

 quently made the bereaved, in cases 

 where the decedent had not been well 

 known, feel badly when there were not 

 so many tributes to their dead as at 

 tlie burial of another. A woman who 

 had a ' ' please omit flowers ' ' notice said 

 that, despite the published reminder, 

 she had received many flowers. She in- 

 formed me that she placed the flowers 

 in the cellar at the time of her hus- 



band's funeral, and that as the flowers 

 wilted upstairs she replaced them with 

 otliers from downstairs, the source of 

 supply not becoming exhausted until 

 two weeks after the burial. In this 

 case, and probably in many others, the 

 "please omit flowers" did a right- 

 about, and from all appearances 

 ' ' omit ' ' may as well have read ' ' send. ' ' 



In many cases the replies to my in- 

 quiries along tliese lines have been 

 weak, evasive, with nothing to stand 

 on; but perhaps others in the trade who 

 have sounded the matter have other 

 views. 



On several occasions I have heard 

 clergymen in their sermons over the 

 dead say something like this: "The 

 departed was a stranger to me, but from 

 the many beautiful floral tributes be- 

 fore me he must have been esteemed 

 and loved by many." Why should a 

 relative sock to prevent other relatives 

 or friends from paying their last re- 

 spects to the dead, by means of flowers? 



L. W. Alt. 



