14 



The Florists^ Review 



October 16, ItlO. 



mann and W. J. Smyth were named as 

 a committee. 



Treasurer Wm. L. Eock presented his 

 thanks for reelection to office in his 

 absence from last year's convention. 

 After presenting his report, printed 

 elsewhere in this issue, he gave some 

 facts gleaned by comparing its figures 

 with preceding years, which showed how 

 remarkable had be?n the growth of the 

 F. T. D. These appear under the Kan- 

 sas City caption "Do You Know?" in 

 this issue. Mr. Rock urged members 

 to study the figures of his report care- 

 fully. 



Say It by Wire. 



Irwin Bertermann urged the sending 

 of flowers via F. T, D. to President Wil- 

 son in his illness. Later it was pro- 

 posed to send to the mayor of each city 

 represented by a florist at the Buffalo 

 meeting a basket of flowers. Under spe- 

 cial arrangement with a telegraph com- 

 pany, this was done. Similar gifts were 

 sent to King Albert of Belgium, the 

 Prince of Wales and Cardinal Mercier. 



During the afternoon session, within 

 three hours of the time the telegrams 

 were dispatched, came a reply from 

 Mayor Hylan of New York acknowledg- 

 ing receipt of the flowers and sending 

 his thanks for them. 



Pochelon Persuasive. 



Secretary Pochelon addressed the 

 meeting with his characteristic fervor on 

 behalf of F. T. D. betterment, giving 

 his ideas in homeopathic doses, as 

 they appear in this issue, with remarks 

 interspersed to drive home his points. 

 He urged the cooperative spirit and the 

 F. T. D. habit. 



In addition to the parables of the tin- 

 ware, he gave a challenge to critics in 

 the asseveration that no one could get 

 his goat easily any more, for he had a 

 mountain goat now and anyone would 

 have to climb high to get it. And M. 

 Bloy set the plaster goat on the presi- 

 dent's desk, where all might see how 

 hard to get it was. 



President J. F. Ammann and Secre- 

 tary John Young, of the S. A. F., were 

 called to the platform during the morn- 

 ing session. The veteran George M. 

 Stumpp, of Now York, was also given 

 a seat of honor there. 



Many Meeting Places Proposed. 



A long list of cities asked for the 

 F. T. D. convention for 1920. Among 

 them were Indianapolis, St. Louis, St. 

 Joseph, Mo., New York, Chicago, San 

 Francisco, Chattanooga, Atlantic City, 

 Albany, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and 

 Toronto. 



Since Indianapolis had been proposed 

 before and that seemed a good central 

 meeting place, that city received the 

 meeting's approval. 



Officers Nominated. 



Irwin Bertermann nominated Philip 

 Breitmeyer as president of the F. T. D. 

 for the coming year in glowing terms. 

 For in 1912, when the F. T. D. was a 

 hopeless affair in some minds, the ex- 

 mayor of Detroit steadfastly refused to 

 g^ve it up. He it was who nominated 

 a forceful young man of the name of 

 Albert Pochelon for secretary that year. 

 In the recent illness of President Gude 

 he had carried on the affairs of the 

 organization in a most capable manner. 

 So there was no dissenting voice, not 

 even a murmur, to his acclamation as 

 president. 



When nominated for vice-president. 



Irwin Bertermann firmly declined, stat- 

 ing that he had held office for ten years 

 and wished to give eomeone else a 

 chance. But-mo one would listen to his 

 protest. Albert Pochelon. said he must 

 be kept in office, as he had been when 

 he wished to resign in 1912. So the 

 meeting, without heeding Mr. Berter- 

 mann 's refusal, proceeded to nominate 

 directors for the three vacancies. 



Those nominated were Wm. J. Smyth, 

 Chicago; J. W. Graiidy, Norfolk, Va.; 

 Karl P. Baum, Knoxville, Tenn.; Max 

 Schling, New York; G. E. M. Stumpp, 

 New York; W. W. Gammage, Toronto, 

 pnt.; Geo. E. Schulz, Louisville, Ky.; 

 Fred C. Weber, Jr., St. Louis; Olaf J. 

 Olson, St. Paul, and Vincent J. Gorly, 

 St. Louis. Messrs. Smyth, Gammage 

 and Baum were elected. 



It was decided to meet at Indian- 

 apolis in 1920. 



Beferred for Action. 



Vincent J. Gorly presented his list 

 jof birthday flowers, as given in last 

 week's issue of The Review. His selec- 

 tions aroused some discussion, particu- 

 ^^ly from Chas. H. Grakelow, George 

 Asmus and Edward Sceery. The mat- 

 ter was eventually disposed of by Philip 

 Breitmeyer 's moving that it be left for 

 consideration by the board of directors. 



A committee composed of Chas. E. 

 Russell and Geo. M. Geraghty recom- 

 mended that traveling salesmen for sup- 

 ply houses be allowed associate mem- 

 bership in the association at a low fee, 

 or without fee, in recognition of their 

 services as boosters of the organization. 



When the committee departed to 

 judge windows, Chairman H. P. Knoble 

 asked for instructions as to method of 

 judging. Discussion led to a motion by 

 H. G. Dillemuth, of Toronto, that a scale 

 of points be prepared by the committee 

 which judged the windows thisyear. 



A letter containing many suggestions 

 on F. T. D. betterment from E. C. Lud- 

 wig, Pittsburgh, was deemed worthy of 

 submission to the committee on the 

 president's address for recommendations 

 for action at the same time. 



Secretary Gets Salary. 



The appeal of Philip Breitmeyer that 

 the secretary and treasurer of the or- 

 ganization should receive more than the 

 $12 per annum now allowed by the con- 

 stitution met prompt approval. Mr. 

 Breitmeyer suggested $2,000 for the 

 secretary and $500 for the treasurer. 

 While Mr. Pochelon was sent from the 

 room, strong eulogies of him were de- 

 livered. Finally the board of directors 

 was empowered to fix such remuneration 

 as it deemed just and reasonable. 



The paper of F. C. W. Brown, read 

 at the S. A. F. convention at Detroit, on 

 "Selling Flowers by Telegraph," was 

 reread before the convention by Mr. 

 Grakelow, Mr. Brown being in New 

 Brunswick on a hunting trip. The ad- 

 dress was recommended for study and 

 application by Philip Breitmeyer. It 

 was printed in The Review for Au- 

 gust 21. 



Hot Discussion of Problems. 



The question of a minimum price for 

 orders drew considerable attention. 

 Philip Breitmeyer 's assertion was that 

 the F. T. D. must stand for the public 

 and consider its pleasure, as well as the 

 florists' profit, in such matters. The 

 customer's satisfaction is worth the ex- 

 pense to the retailer, he said. 



Albert Pochelon urged a higher level 



for the trade, advocating prices that 

 would pay the growers for their labor 

 and skill and leave sufficient to 'hire 

 « store help of the high class necessary 

 for the flower business if it is to be 

 high grade. 



The subject of competitive organiza- 

 tions formed the basis of warm debate 

 in the latter half of the afternoon. The 

 matter of dealing with them was in the 

 end left to the board of directors. 



Past President a Director. 



Karl P. Baum offered a resolution em- 

 powering the board of directors to add 

 past presidents to its number. In his 

 anticipation of soon coming under the 

 rule, President Gude asked Treasurer 

 Rock to put the question, which was 

 strongly carried. 



In closing the afternoon session, a let- 

 ter to the family of Tom J. Wolfe, of 

 Waco, Tex., a director at the time of 

 his recent death, was ordered drafted. 

 The committee selected for this work 

 was Edward Sceery, Karl P. Baum and 

 Chas. H. Brown. 



Evening Session. 



On the evening of the opening day, a 

 session was called at 8 o'clock, prin- 

 cipally for the stereopticon presentation 

 of Cleveland's publicity work, shown 

 before at various trade society meet- 

 ings. Mrs. Ella Grant Wilson gave a 

 talk on publicity, using Cleveland's 

 achievements in this line as an example. 



Signs of the Times. 



Henry Penn occupied a considerable 

 part of the morning session October 15 

 with an address on publicity. He intro- 

 duced the "Say It with Flowers" bill- 

 boards and proceeded to take orders. 

 Buffalo and Cleveland members ordered 

 twenty for each city. Detroit took 

 five. Seventy-five were placed at this 

 session. J. F. Ammann also made a 

 strong talk for publicity. 



The Randall fountain given as a prize 

 for the window decorating contest was 

 shown on the floor of the convention. 



Window Display Awards. 



The window contest started by Sam 

 Seligman two years ago has developed 

 to an important feature of P. T. D. 

 conventions. This year twelve were 

 in competition. The prizes assumed 

 such proportions that Mr. Seligman 

 wiAdrew his $25 and asked that it be 

 applied to other purposes of the asso- 

 ciation. The A. L. Randall Co., Chi- 

 cago, offered a $225 electric fountain 

 for first prize. Paul Klingsporn offered 

 for the Chicago Flower Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, Chicago, a check for $100, and 

 Henry A. Dreer, Inc., Philadelphia, also 

 gave a check for $100. 



Two windows were entered by W. J. 

 Palmer & Son and by S. A. Anderson, 

 and one by Felton's Flower Shop, Colo- 

 nial Flower Shop, A. T. Reichart, Matt 

 Karpenski, Wm. Scott Co., John Kra- 

 mer, Stroh's Flower Shop and W. H. 

 Grever. 



The committee which judged the win- 

 dows, on the afternoon of October 14, 

 was composed of H. P. Knoble, Cleve- 

 land; Ira S. Harper, Pittsburgh; Henry 

 Penn, Boston; Miss Amelia Gude, 

 Washington, D. C, and Miss Gammage, 

 London, Ont. 



Their awards were extremely difficult 

 to make, since all twelve windows were 

 of high quality. First prize was given 

 to the window of S. A. Anderson, at 

 440 Main street, a globe on wkich the 



