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Jolt 10, 1919. 



The Florists' Review 



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THE TEXAS CONVENTION 



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TEXANS GATHER AT AUSTIN. 



Opening Is Auspicious. 



The energy and enthusiasm with 

 which the members of the Texas State 

 Florists' Association have been boost- 

 ing their annual meeting showed results 

 when the convention opened at Austin, 

 July 9. For weeks, almost months, one 

 has heard, not only in Texas, but in the 

 neighboring states as well, declarations 

 of the live spirit and trade importance 

 of the convention. This advertising 

 has produced results, and, although at 

 present writing one cannot give accurate 

 figures on the attendance, indications 

 and opinions are strong that this gath- 

 ering will surpass all previous ones in 

 the south. 



Texas florists have prospered during 

 the last season, and they not only feel 

 that they can afford to take a little 

 holiday away from business, particular- 

 ly if they are combining business with 

 pleasure, but they have a strong desire 

 to get ideas on what another year holds 

 for them, and how they can best take 

 advantage of what it has in store for 

 them. 



There is still the suspicion, based on 

 the old belief that "what goes up must 

 come down," that the prices which 

 have been soaring upward are, now that 

 peace is established, due to come down 

 again. Though commercial and indus- 

 trial signs are against such a slump, in 

 the near future at any rate, florists 

 want to get their fellow tradesmen's 

 assurance on this score before they be- 

 gin to make actual dollars and cents 

 preparation for extensive business next 

 season. 



A Southern Organization. 



Then there have been efforts made to 

 promote an all-southern organization. 

 In so important an undertaking the flo- 

 rists of the section are especially inter- 

 ested. The south faces its own condi- 

 tions and its own problems, different 

 from those of the parts of the country 

 where the florists' business has been 

 longer and more strongly entrenched. 

 ^ Whether the peculiarities of the sec- 

 tion are of such moment that a large 

 organization to help its members cope 

 with them is warranted, and whether 

 the realization of such a need has en- 

 tered the minds of a sufficient number 

 of florists south of Mason and Dixon's 

 line to enable a thoroughgoing organi- 

 zation to be established, are not settled 

 in the minds of the majority. 



This question occupies a large place 

 in the minds of the men who have 

 gathered at Austin, and is much dis- 

 cussed by them. 



Opening Session. 



A large attendance was present at the 

 opening session Wednesday morning, 

 July 9, when Edgar Hall, president of 

 the Austin Florists' Club, which had 

 prepared plans to fill two busy days 

 for their visitors, called the meeting to 

 order. After the opening formalities. 

 President W. J. Baker, of Fort Worth, 



delivered his address to the members of 

 the association. He said: 



"It is with the greatest of pleasure 

 that I greet you here in our capital 

 city under the influences and almost 

 in the shadow of the building that 

 means so much to every Texan, The 

 spirit here represented is indicative of 

 that manifested all over this great Em- 

 pire state, and is the same spirit that 

 will make of our state association one 

 of the greatest, if not the greatest, in 

 this land of ours. 



* ' We have been passing through some 

 serious and trying times, both as Ameri- 

 cans and as business men and florists. 

 Fuel was short, stock was scarce, and 

 the labor situation has been serious be- 

 yond question, but with the return of 

 our boys and the general loosening up 

 of the trafic and other similar serious 

 problems, we should enter the arena of 

 business this coming season with con- 

 fidence and determination to make it far 

 and above the best season we have ever 

 experienced. 



National Organizations. 



"I want to speak a word in behalf 

 of the S. A. F. Not that the society 

 needs my recommendation, for every 

 Texas Association member, I am sure, 

 is acquainted with its work. But as 

 up-to-date florists we should be willing 



and anxious to affiliate with an organ- 



ization that is doing so much for the 

 florists' business in general. If it had 

 not been for this great organization, 

 there is little question but what flo- 

 rists would have been looked upon in an 

 entirely different light during the past 

 world war. We probably should have 

 been allowed no coal at all, and our 

 shipments would have likely been turned 

 down by the railroads as nonessential. 

 Let us rally to such an organization. 



"Let me ask that no florist leave this 

 convention without sending in his ap- 

 plication for membership in the Flo- 

 rists' Telegraph Delivery Association. 

 See the committee and get your name 

 in at once. It is the best paying invest- 

 ment a florist can make, and the cheap- 

 est advertisement in the country today. 

 Your name printed on the list sent out 

 every few weeks alone is worth the 

 price, and it brings results. Ask any 

 F. T. D. member. 



Publicity Campaign. 



"To my mind, the greatest single 

 thing ever done by the florists, as an 

 organization, was the launching of the 

 advertising campaign in the convention 

 at New York in 1917. The people are 

 waking up to the desirability and im- 

 portance of flowers through these good 

 advertisements, and the florist receives 

 the benefit. Tie your own ads onto the 

 general campaign, and send your sub- 



W. J. Baker, President of the Texas State Florists' Association. 



