October 23, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



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DEBATE LABOR AT BUFFALO 



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F. T. D. SEEKS SOLUTION. 



Question in Various Forms. 



Appearing in different forms and 

 turning up from various angles, the 

 problem of obtaining help occupied a 

 good deal of time during the second 

 day of tlie F. T. D. convention at Buf- 

 falo last week. Profit-sharing plans, 

 Sunday closing, better hours and a 

 frank appeal of distress in obtaining 

 efficient employees all bore on the sub- 

 ject uppermost in many members' 

 minds. So desirous were they of getting 

 one another's help on it that, although 

 the meeting was to have ended with 

 Wednesday morning's session, the 

 gathering was called together again in 

 the afternoon. 



Vincent J. Gorly, of St. Louis, took 

 the floor for a plain statement of his 

 firm's difficulties in securing employees 

 of the proper sort and asked what 

 others in the trade had done toward 

 meeting the problem. 



Sunday Closing Will Help. 



Although the difficulty was more 

 poignant in some places than others, 

 the general opinion was that conditions 

 must be bettered to make employment 

 more attractive. Shortening of hours 

 and Sunday closing were advocated as 

 two of the most satisfactory methods 

 of improving the situation. 



No sooner was the subject of Sunday 

 closing broached than there were a 

 number of enthusiastic supporters on 

 their feet ready to push it along. To 

 those who wished to close Sunday but 

 did not know how to get the other flo- 

 rists in town to fall in line, George M. 

 Geraghty, of Toronto, emphatically re- 

 plied: 



"You say you're going to try to get 

 the other fellows to do it. Good Lord, 

 man, do it yourself! " 



Miss Getz, of Weatman & Getz, Cleve- 

 land, said that when the firm started 

 business seventeen years ago with a 

 strict Sunday closing policy, gloomy 

 prognosticators gave them six months 

 in which to fail. Without ever having 

 opened on Sunday in that time, she de- 

 clared, the firm was still "giving the 

 others at least a run for their money." 



In St. Louis, stated Fred C. Weber, 

 Jr., the Retail Florists' Association is 

 working for a municipal ordinance 

 compelling closed shops on Sunday. 



So stirring became the speeches that 

 at length Herman P. Knoble rose to say 

 that, though he had had doubts in his 

 mind before, he was going home to 

 Cleveland from the convention to close 

 the store of Knoble Bros, the next 

 Sunday. 



A letter was read from the Chicago 

 Retail Florists' Association, signed by 

 L. R. Bohannon and E. Wienhoeber, 

 advocating Sunday closing. 



Proflt-Sliarlng Plans. 



In regard to various plans for shar- 

 ing profits with employees, those who 

 had tried them expressed dissatisfac- 

 tion, either because their own plans 

 were, they thought, in need of improve- 



ment, or because they believed the ob- 

 ject, that of producing a feeling of con- 

 tent among employ^-es, was not ob- 

 tained. 



Max Schling declared the system pro- 

 duced dissatisfaction instead of satis- 

 faction, because if the employer's prof-, 

 its were good the employees believed 

 their share should be larger. Unrest in- 

 stead of content, he stated, was the re- 

 sult. 



As all plans were experimental, no 

 definite system could be outlined. In- 

 deed, it was not certain that any would 

 be a success. 



The question of employees was one 

 that required foresight, declared Philip 

 Breitmeyer. Those who foresaw the 

 present conditions several years ago 

 are benefiting now, and those who be- 



BITS FROM BUFFALO. 



Sunday Closing. 



' ' You say you 're going to try to 

 get the other fellows to do it. Good 

 Lord, man, do it yourself!" — 

 Geo. M. Geraghty. 



League of Nations. 



"I'd rather have a League of 

 Florists, telling people all over 

 the world to 'Say It with Flow- 

 ers,' than I would a League of 

 Nations! ' ' — Albert Pochelon. 



UpUftlng the Trade. 



"We will accomplish more by 

 education than by rebuke. Rub- 

 bing shoulders with our fellows 

 will wear our rough edges off." — 

 Chas. H. Grakelow. 



Splendid Speeches. 



"I'm a little jealous lest wo 

 shoot all our powder at this meet- 

 ing and have none left for next 

 year's convention." — President- 

 elect Breitmever. 



gin to ameliorate working conditions 

 and train help now will benefit in com- 

 ing seasons. 



Recommendations on Address. 



The committee on the president's ad- 

 dress, after commending it highly and 

 as worthy of more than one reading, 

 made several recommendations. Inas- 

 much as Canada had so strongly at- 

 tended this meeting, there being four- 

 teen from Toronto alone, and the Cana- 

 dians were so desirous of entertaining 

 the F. T. D. in Toronto, the committee 

 recommended that place for the 1921 

 meeting. 



The subject of publicity was em- 

 phasized and the members of the F. T. 

 D. urged to greater support of the na- 

 tional publicity campaign. 



A tabulation of the results of "Say 

 It with Flowers" week in the cities 

 where it is held this year was urged, in 

 order to provide aid to still further 

 adoption of the project next season. 



The committee also advised that the 

 secretarv should send out to members 



such suggestions for the improvement 

 of sales as should come to his notice. 

 In this way his office would be a clear- 

 ing house of ideas for the retailers. 



Shipping Problem to Fore. 



Calling attention to the large number 

 of complaints in regard to express and 

 freight shipments of flowers and plants, 

 Ira S. Harper, of the A. W. Smith Co., 

 Pittsburgh, urged the necessity of fair 

 dealing between consignor and con- 

 signee. He stated that the, seller, since 

 his responsibility ended when he turned 

 the goods over to the carrier, did not 

 sufficiently consider the purchaser, 

 whose disappointment and loss were not 

 confined to the actual Value of the ship- 

 ment but often amounted to far more 

 in the way of meeting urgent needs and 

 rendering satisfactory service. 



Mr. Harper proposed that the trade 

 adopt a contract by which the purchaser 

 and seller should agree to bear jointly 

 such carriage losses as might be in- 

 curred. Thus both parties would make 

 claim against the carrier companies and 

 therefore seller as well as purchaser be 

 vitally concerned in proper packing and 

 shipment. 



Bargain Sales Helpful? 



While Henry Penn was speaking on 

 the subject of publicity, Paul R. 

 Klingsporn, of the Chicago Flower 

 Growers' Association, Chicago, asked 

 his opinion as to the benefit or hurt to 

 the trade of department stores' bargain 

 counter sales in the time of a glut. Mr. 

 Penn gave it as his opinion that the 

 buyers of such stock were not likely to 

 be florists' patrons, and therefore such 

 sales had an educative value. 



This, said Mr. Klingsporn, was in ac- 

 cord with his opinion, that de[)artment 

 stores did actual missionary work in 

 such cases and took not a nickel 's worth 

 of trade from the flower store. 



"Sajr It with Flowers" Week. 



Z. r)v Rlackistono. president of the 

 Florists' Club of Washington and pro- 

 moter of "Say It with Flowers" week, 

 brought the project before the associa- 

 tion, asking for such action as would 

 spread its adoption in v.-irious cities of 

 the country. 



In sujjjiort, Charles H. (Jrakelow took 

 the floor for a lengthy exposition of 

 how Philadel])lua carried out this week 

 while the convention was in progress. 

 By means of billboards, none smaller 

 than 10x40 and some 20x;')0; by cir- 

 cularizing lists of customers; by news- 

 paper advertising and feature articles; 

 by distribution of flowers during the 

 home-coming week j)aradp, to the 

 churches on Sunday and to the hospitals 

 Wednesday; by the use of 10,000 poster 

 cards and 10,000 stickers; by pennants 

 and decorations, the florists of Phila- 

 delphia carried home the slogan "Say 

 It with Flowers" to all the citizens of 

 the community. The added phrase, 

 "Ask Your Florist," and the employ- 

 ment of the phrase "up-to-date flo- 

 rist" in connection with the event 

 served to unite the trade and bring the 

 slower ones up with the rest. In the 



