24 



The Florists^ Review 



Mat 16, 1919. 



Efltablished, 1897, by a. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Poblishinq Co., 



019-MO Oaxton Building. 



SOBSoatli Dearbora St., Ohicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195. 



BnMstered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dee. 8. 1897, at the poet-office at Ohi- 

 Cfego, Ili., under the Act of March. 

 Sri879. 



Subscription price, $1.60 a year. 

 S* Canada, $2.80; to Europe. $3.00. 



Advertislngr rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad> 

 Tertisln? accepted. 



BeBults Yn^g advertising. 

 The Beview bringa results. 



OliSA* Idbe ^eckt for action I There will 

 be pleaJl^.^round Memorial day. 



If all HipweBBes were as prosperous as 

 that of OgjjjhL there would be no unem- 

 pk^Bient problem. 



^^JNIiBUi no dottbt Will be a world-wide 

 Memation when peice is proclaimed, 

 why not find a way to make popular the 

 use ot flowers in (iotinection with the cele- 

 bration f 



T» jign, "(Sold Out," on a flower 

 ■tajKlnnr does £ot, these days, mean that 

 tfar^riflt has gone out of business, but 

 tlutt he has for the moment more orders 

 than he can All. 



How does it make you feel to learn 

 that coal in Germany which sold for 13.50 

 marks per ton before tt^ war commanded 

 58.85 marks last January and now is 

 quoted at 88.85 marks f 



Do you remember when carnations were 

 5 and 6 cents for Mothers' day and how 

 some retailers protested at the "extor- 

 tionate" prices! They were glad to get 

 them at double, or more, this year. 



Memorial day is one on which all kinds 

 of flowers are used. Without the white 

 carnation problem of Mothers' day and 

 the Easter lily problem of Easter, the 

 trade should be able to make the most of 

 the occasion. 



Why not suggest to the public that 

 Esperanto, Volapuk and other aspiring 

 universal languages are not necessary! 

 The language of flowers is much more ex- 

 pressive and simple, and already is used 

 all over the world. 



A GOOD many growers have planted out 

 the lily bulbs from which they have been 

 cutting flowers this spring. The prob- 

 ability is that a year of this practical test 

 will accomplish more than anything which 

 has yet been done toward the growing of 

 lily bulbs in America. 



A GREAT improvement, both in business 

 done and in the general attitude, is noted 

 in the coal industry. According to the 

 Black Diamond, this is due to the realiza- 

 tion that there is bound to be a coal short- 

 age next fall and winter. Mines have 

 been running from one to three days a 

 week, liiners who have been working 

 have not been producing their limit. 



As observant readers are aware, The 

 Review has carried more advertising this 

 spring than ever before. It has become, 

 during and since the war, more than 

 ever the trade 's market place.* 



A WELL-KNOWN retail florist made the 

 statement, the other day, that the tele- 

 graph delivery department of his busineas 

 represented as much to him as his four 

 largest local customers, and is still gprow- 

 ing. Is it any wonder he thinks it worth 

 pushing t ^ 



IS BUSINESS GOOD WITH TOU? 



He is the wise man who can profit by 

 the experience of others, mOM is the 

 marvel, for the- path frequently is plain, 

 like this: 



The largest lot of drMMaftirf fmr grew has 

 been exhausted by the oiMi nttiB'^' ^^ ^^® 

 little ad In The Beview. W tott JB^Pce. Oreen- 

 Tille. 0., May 9, 1910. li^HP 



When you hear ft mtU^HpTplain of 

 the cost of advertising yo^BBr be. pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of< money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



MOTHERS' DAT. 



Mothers' day has become an accepted 

 and established institution; even the 

 United States army recognized it this 

 year by a general order for the display 

 of flags. And a flower is the badge of 

 Mothers' day; in the program for a pa- 

 rade in Chicago it was stated that 

 "custom calls for bright blossoms in 

 honor of living mothers and white for 

 those passed away." 



How greatly the times are changed 

 will be realized if it is remembered that, 

 when Mothers' day first came to atten- 

 tion, the trade welcomed it as dated at 

 a time when we had been having a sur- 

 plus of flowers, as providing a means 

 of lightening the load carried between 

 Easter and Memorial day. But this 

 year the shortage of stock was such 

 that prices in many instances were close 

 to the highest of the year. It was not 

 possible to push the business of the 

 day as it should be pushed because 

 stock was not available to take care of 

 an increased demand. 



It was an undesirable condition, but 

 one not likely soon to be met again. 



MAKING THEM THINE. 



Of the many benefits directly attrib- 

 utable to the S. A. F. publicity program, 

 perhaps none has been of greater value 

 than that which has come from turning 

 each individual florist 's thoughts toward 

 the means by which the sale of flowers 

 could be increased in his community. 

 Flowers have been advertised locally, as 

 well as nationally, to a greater extent 

 the last few months than ever before. 



To this day, however, few florists have 

 any thought-out plan of pushing their 

 sales. The advertising is spasmodic. 



Only a few of the leading florists have 

 determined on the expenditure of a cer- 

 tain sum of money, representing a per- 

 centage of their sales, and have figured 

 out how it should be done. 



The big department stores in the cities 

 usually set aside about two and one-half 

 per cent of their enormous sales, the 

 money to be used in printers' ink. In 

 stores where the turnover is not so large, 

 a higher percentage is set aside for this 

 purpose. Some florists now use for ad- 

 vertising as much as six or seven per 

 cent of their sales and find that the ex- 

 penditure of the money in printing care- 



fully considered advertisements has the 

 resi;ilt of increasing the business each 

 year. 



It would be a mistake for any florist 

 to spend the money merely to use up an 

 appropriation. The plan should be care- 

 fully thought out to see that the right 

 nM^Hima are used and that the offers 

 ma^ are such as will appeal to the peo- 

 ple reached. 



CUSTOM. 



It was only a few years ago that the 

 Mothers ' day demand centered on white 

 carnations, with the result that white 

 carnations were unobtainable at a time 

 there was no extra demand for other 

 flowers. To meet this situation. The 

 Review coined this couplet: 



For Mother at home, flowers bright; 

 For Mother's memory, flowers white. 



It was suggested that these lines be 

 included in every Mothers' day adver- 

 tisement and the trade almost unani- 

 mously adopted the idea, with this re- 

 sult: 



Under a display head, "White for 

 dead, pink for living, flower symbol of 

 day," the Chicago Tribune said: 



Chicago, through the efforts of the women who 

 wear the gold star, will have a large and unique 

 demonstration in honor of mother. A monster 

 parade will march up Michigan avenue and 

 through the loop. Flowers will be worn in coat 

 lapels and in corsages. Custom calls for pink 

 blossoms in honor of living mothers and white 

 for those passed away. 



Thus easily did The Review and its 



readers make "custom" for the 110,- 



000,000 Americans. 



TO PAY EXPRESS CLAIMS. 



The Adams Express Co., faced by an 

 accumulation of 100,000 loss and dam- 

 age claims on shipments made prior to 

 July 1, 1918 — when it was included in 

 the American Railway Express Co. 

 merger — has announced a plan to ex- 

 pedite the payment of a great number 

 of these long-standing claims by offer- 

 ing 60 cents on the dollar and immediate 

 settlement. C. W. Stockton, of Stockton 

 & Stockton, general counsel for the 

 Adams Express Co., stated recently 

 that he is making this offer on claims 

 where it is shown that the company re- 

 ceived the goods and there is no record 

 of delivery, or where the investigation 

 to show delivery has not been completed. 



The greater number of the 100,000 

 claims that have accumulated are held 

 by shippers in New York, Philadelphia, 

 Pittsburgh and Boston^ as the Adams 

 Express Co. engaged largely in the 

 short-haul express business, serving the 

 Long Island, New Haven and Penn- 

 sylvania railroad systems. 



The express companies which were 

 merged into the American Railway Ex- 

 press Co., July 1, 1918, with a capitali- 

 zation of $33,000,000, are now succeed- 

 ing in getting upon their feet again, 

 according to officials of the various com- 

 panies. However, it is admitted that 

 the big combined express company, 

 which is operating under an agreement 

 with the government, is losing money 

 constantly. The rates have been in- 

 creased twenty per cent over the pre- 

 war charges, but only the other day 

 another advance in wages was an- 

 nounced by the authorities. This in- 

 crease, one prominent figure in the ex-' 

 press business estimated, will add $25,- 

 000,000 a year to the running expenses 

 of the American Railway Express Co., 

 and another advance in rates probably 

 will follow. 



