FORTUNATE FLORISTS 



FACE FINE FUTURE 



Nezv season starts with every promise of many months of continuous 

 prosperity, with the highest rewards for those able to maintain a maximum 

 production of good quality stock. Not higher prices, but an increased output 

 of first-class plants and flowers is ivhat the trade needs to make business boom. 



^s=^^^|BADE opinion has swung 



Tlike a pendulum, forward 

 and back, illustrating in a 

 way the operation of one 



* ^ of Newton's well known 

 IV.^ "laws." Yes, the Newton 

 ^■■v who discovered gravity — 



• • P^ t*i6 rule that what goes up 

 ^si^^sJl must come down — but this 



illustration is his law of 

 opposite and equal reactions. From be- 

 lieving that last season's unexampled 

 prosperity was impossible of duplica- 

 tion, opinion swung, about the time of 

 the S. A. F. convention, to the idea that 

 'this season would beat last season, but 

 now opinion is swinging back to the 

 middle ground. 



The sanguine view has been affected 

 by the fact that, in the principal cut 

 flower markets of the country, October 

 has started with average prices below 

 those of last year. 



Values Must Be Maintained. 



It is a curious fact that in this trade 

 nearly everybody seems best satisfied 

 when stock is scarce and orders diflScult 

 to fill. Retailers as a class did not sub- 

 scribe to that view prior to last season, 

 but they were the loudest 

 protestants when last 

 spring 's inevitable glut 

 threw roses onto the bargain 

 counters of the department 

 stores. Then and vocifer- 

 ously they asserted their 

 wish for the maintenance 

 of wholesale prices we once 

 would have called high. 



But it is not for the best 

 interests of the florists' 

 business that high prices 

 put flowers out of reach of 

 all except a few; nor should 

 florists wish to see condi- 

 tions which lead to the in- 

 creased use of artificial 

 material in funeral and 

 other work. What we all 

 should wish to see is a broad 

 demand to consume a large 

 production and the adoption 

 of business methods in the 

 trade to assure us that our 

 work and risk will not be 

 without commensurate re- 

 ward. 



Although the pendulum of 

 trade opinion recently has 

 swung backward from the 

 point of highest optimism, 

 there is no reason to believe 

 th'at the present season will 

 be otherwise than extremely 



active. Indeed, there is every assurance 

 that there will be the broadest general 

 demand for flowers ever known. 



Absolutely the only unfavorable fac- 

 tor is the unrest growing out of the con- 

 tinued rise of prices and the disturbances 

 caused by labor. Every florist knows, 

 usually from experience, that no matter 

 who gains from a strike, it spells nothing 

 but loss for him. 



Work Will Win. 



The health authorities and the medical 

 profession have been warning the public 

 of a recurrence of the flu. Most happily, 

 their forebodings have not come true; 

 there is nothing as yet approaching an 

 epidemic and we shall not need it to 

 make business good^ The use of flowers 

 at funerals has increased and the aver- 

 age size of the sale has risen, for a 

 well defined reason: First, flowers say 

 perfectly what the average person can- 

 not at such a tipie express in words, 

 with the result that both the quantity 

 of funeral flowers and their value in- 

 crease in proportion to the purchasing 



iiity of the people. 



There are several sound reasons why 

 the flower business will increase and, if 



LET'S ALL GO TO WORK 



IFrom a Trade Paper Advertiaement.] 



One hundred million Americans are singing the Anvil 

 Chorus. Put your ear to the ground and you will hear 

 it plainly. The first stanza, repeated three times, is 



We Want More Wages! 



About ten million people are singing that stanza. 

 Then comes another line, sung mostly by the pro- 

 fessional leaders of organized labor, 



We Want Shorter Hours! 



Then comes a great booming swell of sound from the 

 united voices of a hundred million people giving back 

 the response — 



We Want Lower Prices! 



And then comes one 

 voice of the war-torn 



Wi 



rngle voice- 

 7or\d — 



-the sad soprano 



Need More Production! 



properly managed, prosper: We all 

 know that the use of flowers has in- 

 creased continuously from the begin- 

 ning. The rapidity of the increase has 

 depended on the supply and on the pub- 

 lie 's means to purchase. Last year the 

 people had the means, but the supply 

 was so inadequate that many went with- 

 out. It is estimated that in 1914 the 

 money in circulation in the United 

 States was $23 per capita, while in 1919 

 there is $55 of money in circulation for 

 every man, woman and child. The re- 

 striction of production because of labor 

 scarcity is the only thing which will keep 

 people from gratifying a desire for 

 flowers. . 



To Make New Buyers. 



One of the greatest merits of the 

 trade's slogan, "Say It with Flowers," 

 lies in its appeal to all classes. He is a 

 short-sighted florist who does not see 

 that the slogan is kept before his com- 

 munity. To it we owe the development 

 of thousands of new flower buyers. Take 

 the case of two friendly families of the 

 large non-flowcr-buying class. In one, 

 a death occurs. The other feels the need 

 of action, but lacks the power of expres- 

 sion. "Say It with Flow- 

 ers." "The very thing!" 

 The message gives consola- 

 tion to one, satisfaction to 

 the other, and two new flow- 

 er-buying families are added 

 to the nearest florist's list. 

 It is only a step from 

 sending flowers or receiving 

 flowers to buying them for 

 oneself. 



This season we have 

 working for us the greater 

 appreciation of flowers, the 

 increased ability to buy 

 them, growth in the popu- 

 lation, the resumption of 

 social activity and the re- 

 laxation of patriotic econ- 

 omies after the war. 

 Against these factors for 

 better business than last 

 season there is only one off- 

 set, a death rate reduced to 

 normal. And there is no 

 marked increase in produc- 

 tion of stock. 



The scarcity and cost of 

 labor is the chief reason 

 why production has not in- 

 creased. It is true that 

 greenJiOuse building^jen at 

 high'*c'08t, has been heavy 

 this summer, but the new 

 glass scarcely offsets the de- 



