84 



The Florists^ Review 



June 26, 1919. 



THE CHICAGO CONVENTION. 



lilarket Development the Theme. 



At the forty-fourth annual convention 

 of the American Association of Nursery- 

 men, which opened at the Hotel Sher- 

 man, Chicago, June 25, the subject of 

 prime interest was the plans for ampli- 

 fying the work of the organization for 

 market development, whose activity in 

 the last few months has attracted the 

 eyes of all the trade. 



There have been times when the nur- 

 serymen of the country stood in more 

 need of developing a greater market for 

 their goods than today. Several causes, 

 however, have brought about the pres- 

 ent favor, exceedingly enthusiastic on 

 the part of some individuals, of the 

 project for increasing the demand for 

 nursery stock. The success of the flo- 

 rists ' campaign and their famous slogan 

 has had something to do with opening 

 the eyes of nurserymen hitherto indif- 

 ferent to fellow tradesmen's attempts to 

 organize a publicity campaign. Then 

 the fact that all businesses, recognizing 

 the presence of high prosperty, are en- 

 deavoring to bo6st the demand for their 

 commodities, has created a contagion 

 that is catching. And, quite important, 

 the realization of a demand that is 

 strong enough to render quite unneces- 

 sary attempts to undersell one 's competi- 

 tors, gives the trade something in the 

 way of tone, and makes the individual 

 members readier to unite for common 

 cause and to part with the contributions 

 required for the support of an organized 

 campaign. Altogether the prospects 

 are rosy for a vigorous year in mar- 

 ket development. 



Mr. Kockwell's Prologue. 



In the nature of a prologue waa the 

 meeting of the "Subscribers' Organiza- 

 tion of Nurserymen for Market Develop- 

 ment," held on the afternoon of June 

 24, the day preceding the opening of the 

 convention. After John Watson, chair- 

 man of the directors of the organiza- 

 tion, had reviewed what already had 

 been done— chiefly the supplying of arti- 

 cles to some 750 newspapers during the 

 last three months— F. F. Rockwell, 

 manager of the service bureau, outlined 

 the plans for which he had made out a 

 budget for the coming year. 



Asking for a total of $50,000 to $60,- 

 000 for the year, Mr. Rockwell sum- 

 marized his proposed expenditures as 

 follows: (1) The contest in conjunction 

 with the Delineator magazine for beau- 

 tifying homes and towns, in which the 

 prize-money, $10,000, is to be paid by 

 the nurserymen; (2) the preparation of 

 illustrated lectures to be loaned to so- 

 cieties and clubs gratis; (3) a moving 

 picture for similar purpose, costing 

 $1,250; (4) advertising the "little blue 

 tag," at an expenditure of $20,000; (5) 

 advocating the planting of memorial 

 trees, to the extent of $5,000 in adver- 

 tising; (6) issuing free bulletins and 

 booklets on planting and care of trees 

 and shrubs. 



When the method of raising the $50,- 



000 or $60,000 came to be considered, 

 it was learned that estimates had been 

 prepared, based on the payments of 

 members of the American Association 

 of Nurserymen under the new system of 

 fee in proportion to business done, in- 

 dicating that about one-half of one per 

 cent would be ample to swing the cam- 

 paign, provided all got in th^ band- 

 wagon. The total volume of bilsiness of 

 the 322 members of the A. A. N. was, 

 in 1918, Mr. Watson said, $14,320,000. 



Only about half of the members of 

 the association are subscribers to the 

 market development campaign. But so 

 unanimous were they in accepting the 

 assessment as estimated, and so certain 

 that all the other nurserymen would 

 wish to participate, that they proposed 

 making their campaign an association 

 affair, and their subscriptions toward it 

 a part of the membership fee. To this 

 end the directors of the market devel- 

 opment organization were instructed to 

 meet with the executive committee of 

 the association, and fix a definite, equi- 

 table percentage of assessment. 



Opening Session. 



By the time the first session of the 

 convention of the American Association 

 of Nurserymen was called to order, 

 Wednesday morning, June 25, probably 

 the largest assemblage of nurserymen 

 ever in attendance at such a meeting 

 had gathered at the Hotel Sherman, in 

 Chicago. This hostelry had the day 

 before taken on a trade aspect, fairly 

 teeming with horticultural atmosphere, 

 for the seedsmen and nurserymen had 

 together crowded its corridors and lob- 

 bies with growers and dealers. When 

 President Mayhew called the meeting to 

 order about 200 nurserymen had regis- 

 tered, and more were at Secretary Size- 

 more 's desk. 



Following the opening ceremonies — 

 invocation by the Rev. G. L. Robinson, 

 D. D.; the address of welcome, by Wm. 

 R. Moss, of the Chicago Association of 

 Commerce, and the reply, by M R. Cash- 

 man, of Owatonna. Minn. — President 

 Mayhew read his address, which, cover- 

 ing a number of important subjects, waa 

 of some length. In reference to the pos- 

 sibilities before the association through 

 market development, he said: 



President on Prices. 



"At Detroit in 1915 the nurserymen 

 burned their bridges behind them and 

 launched out upon a comprehensive 

 business program, and every day since 

 has been one of progress. If the con- 

 ditions of the present had obtained in 

 1915, there would have been no occasion 

 for a reorganization, but history will 

 repeat itself, and conditions like those 

 of 1915 will return, like Banquo's ghost, 

 to haunt us. Our success of the pres- 

 ent, if not safeguarded, creates a men- 

 ace supreme. Good nursery stock for 

 the fall of 1919 and spring of 1920 will 

 sell at prices heretofore unknown. In 

 fact, it is no longer a matter of prices, 

 but rather a matter of procuring stock 

 at any price. This condition of short- 

 •0 



age will most probably obtain for two 

 or three years; then look out! Stimu- 

 lated by high prices, enormous plantings 

 will be made, and about the year 1922-23 

 the bottom will drop out, unless the 

 whole matter can be safeguarded. You 

 who believe "this thing will take care 

 of itself," mark my words. In about 

 the year 1923 you will be crying for 

 somebody to help you turn loose that 

 bear of overproduction. 



Secretary's Office. 



"A year ago your executive commit- 

 tee engaged the services of Chas. Size- 

 more as secretary and traffic manager 

 at a salary of $1,500 per annum. One 

 of the duties of his office has been that 

 of auditing freight and express bills of 

 the members, and in the discussion of 

 the possibilities of this feature of his 

 work with the committee, I stated that 

 if the membership would cooperate 

 with this new office by filing with Mr. 

 Sizemore their old freight and express 

 bills, under the proposed plan of fifteen 

 per cent of the claims collected to go 

 into our treasury, ten per cent to the 

 secretary and seventy-five per cent to 

 the member owning the claim, the 

 amount designated as the treasury's 

 funds would largely pay the secretary's 

 salary. How well my prediction has 

 been verified is best told by the figures 

 taken from the secretary's books June 1: 



Total claims oolleotPd $7,539.08 



Funds returned to the members 5,654.31 



Funds returned to the treasury 1,130,90 



Chas. Sliemore's commissions 753,87 



"In other words, June 1 the salary 

 for the year paid to the secretary had 

 been returned to the treasury with the 

 exception of $369.10, and only twenty- 

 nine firms out of a total of 400 had made 

 use of this service. It can readily be 

 imagined what the possibilities of this 

 office would be if the entire membership 

 would use the services offered, which, 

 by the way, are cheaper by ten per cent 

 than the same service offered by audit- 

 ing firms generally. 



Membership Firm. 



"Fear was expressed quite generally 

 a year ago that many of the larger firms 

 would forfeit their membership rather 

 than pay the advanced dues, and it is 

 gratifying to be able to report that not 

 only has this not been true, but a larger 

 per cent of the members have paid their 

 dues under the present schedule than on 

 corresponding date of recent years. The 

 last information coming to my office 

 June 16, was that only fifty-nine mem- 

 bers had failed to report, and not one 

 of these was among the large contribu- 

 tors." 



President Mayhew stated that the ac- 

 tions of the executive committee in re- 

 gard to Quarantine No. 37 had been in 

 conformity with the desire of the asso- 

 ciation as expressed in a resolution at 

 the convention of 1917, which, he be- 

 lieved, the officers of the organization 

 had to follow, whatever their personal 

 beliefs regarding the exclusion of for- 



