WEDDING 



Celebrating its tenth year, the F. T. D. drciv to Buffalo the hirgest 

 gathering of retailers in the trade history. Discussion so keen as to require 

 evening sessions yielded rich returns in pointers on zvire orders and retail 

 flower store business methods to rezvard attendance from all parts of country. 



UST an even decade ago the 



J Florists' Telegraph Deliv- 

 ery Association had its in- 

 ception — or perhaps con- 

 ception — at a flower show 

 in Boston. This week the 

 organization c e 1 e b r ated 

 the strength it had ac- 

 quired in those ten years. 

 The form of the celebra- 

 tion was a tin wedding. Albert Poche- 

 lon first introduced it when he produced 

 a bouquet which had for showers a tin 

 vegetable grater and other household 

 utensils. There seemed to be some 

 doubt as to whether Mr. Pochelon was 

 presenting this to himself or President 

 Gude or the F. T. D. Association, The 

 question was finally solved by bestow- 

 ing it on little Wilhelmina Gude when 

 she closed the morning session with a 

 recitation calculated to bring out the help- 

 ful spirit of F. T. D. atmosphere, entitled, 

 "Is Everybody Happy f" 



Schling's Speech. 



But Max Schling put the real savor 

 of a wedding anniversary when he 

 brought forward a centerpiece composed 

 of tin washbasins, tin horns and roses 

 and asparagus. He stated that Mr. 

 Pochelon had been called the nurse of 

 the F. T. D. and also the mother of the 

 F. T. D., adding that when it came to 

 fighting for the child "mother had the 

 pants on." He surmised that if Secre- 

 tary Pochelon was the organization's 

 mother, then President Gude must be 

 the father, and he therefore presented 

 the centerpiece as a wedding anniver- 



OFFICERS ELECTED 



President 

 Philip Breitmeyer Detroit 



Vice-president 

 Irwin Bertermann Indianapolis 



Secretary 

 Albert Pochelon Detroit 



Treasurer 

 W. L. Rock Kansas City 



Directors 



W. J. Smyth Chicago 



Karl P. Baum Knozville« Tenn. 



W. W. Gammage London» Ont. 



1920 Meeting Place 

 Indianapolis 



sary gift to "Mr. Bill Gude and Mr. 

 Push." 



The spirit of fun gradually assumed 

 the serious when Albert Pochelon held 

 up the tin vegetable grater and said 

 its four sides represented the varying 

 degrees of roughness of the florists' lot, 

 which the F. T. D. was making smoother. 

 Next he produced a sieve, which he 

 said would some day be used on F. T. D. 

 members, to the further improvement, 

 of the organization. At length he pro- 

 duced a huge tin basin, which he said 

 was the largest to be found in Detroit. 

 This he gave to Chas. H. Grakelow, 

 H. P. Knoble and W. W. Gammage, with 



the injunction to pass through the au- 

 dience and fill the basin for the national 

 publicity fund. 



This the trio did, Max Schling start- 

 ing proceedings with a $100 check. The 

 count of the basin of bills of all de- 

 nominations totaled $685. Mr. Grake- 

 low in reporting this at the afternoon 

 session asked the meeting to make it 

 $700 and offers were so thick that the 

 total delivered to Mr. Eock was $720. 



Opening Session. 



But the fun of the proceedings liv- 

 ened up an earnest meeting. The open- 

 ing session, at 9:30 a. m., October 14, 

 after an invocation by Dr. Gordon, of 

 Buffalo, began with welcome speeches 

 by W. H. Eiss, of the Wm. F. Kasting 

 Co., representing the Buffalo Florists' 

 Club, and by Mayor Buck, who won ap- 

 plause by characterizing the F. T. D. 

 members "as live as the wires over 

 which they send their messages." Then 

 S. A. Anderson followed the slogan, 

 "Say It with Flowers," by presenting 

 Dr. Gordon and Mayor Buck some of 

 the Mme. Butterfly roses on exhibition 

 in the room. Chas. H. Grakelow, of 

 Philadelphia, said it in words with his 

 usual effectiveness. 



President's Address. 



President Gude, wearing his servic* 

 iioss presented at Detroit, delivered hi* 

 address, printed in full on followinir 

 pages, which was stated by Philip Breit- 

 meyer to be the best ever offered t»» 

 such a body. To consider its sugges- 

 tions, Philip Breitmeyer, Irwin Berter 



Members of the Florists' Telegfraph Delivery Association at the Buffalo Convention, October 14, 1919. 



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