30 



The Florists^ Review 



August 21, 1919. 



eeivc any F. T. D. orders, therefore does 

 not go after any himself: Please pon- 

 der the answers in the previous state- 

 ment. 



Duty to Customers. 



To the florist who is big enough and 

 independent enough not to join: Are 

 you fair? Are you fair to your fellow 

 craftsmen? Are you fair to your cus- 

 tomers? Remember you are part and 

 parcel of a great democracy for the sell- 

 ing of flowers and not alone. If you 

 do not care to participate in our suc- 

 cess, do not try to hamper us. Remem- 

 ber that our customers are visiting your 

 cities and towns, and as we are teach- 

 ing them the advantage of conveying 

 their wishes to other cities by flowers, 

 we want, and they when going into 

 your establishment demand, the right to 

 use the medium we are building so fast. 



If you will not give our customers that 

 privilege they will go elsewhere, but 

 pause a moment in your assurance of 

 security. How about your customers 

 when they come to us? And they will 

 come. Can you afford to have the great 

 majority of keen, bright business men 

 in the same line, in your home town as 

 well as abroadj offer advantages to your 

 customers that you, because of some 

 conceit or perverse idea of your own, 

 refuse them? If you persist in your ob- 

 stinate stand you may find it too late 

 when you make your decision to change. 

 The damage to your reputation may be 

 beyond repair. This is not a threat, 

 but an honest appeal for your considera- 

 tion. Be fair to the rest of us. 



Where Rumors Rise. 



We hear rumors of dissension, separa- 

 tion, and of new societies, always in or- 

 ganizations such as our F. T. D. Rumors 

 that usually emanate from those who 

 are not within the fold or from mem- 

 bers who, from grievances fancied or 

 real, just bubble over with periodical 

 effervescence of their ego. Flattering 

 indeed are such breaks, for they prove 

 the value of our association and truly 

 cement the ties already holding us. 

 They also increase publicity of "the thing 

 we wish to advertise. Make a memo, 

 of these, Mr. Secretary, as they come 

 along and be sure to place them on the 

 list with the fellow who is going to re- 

 sign unless his individual views are al- 

 ways accepted and the man who freely 

 admits he would make a better execu- 

 tive than the one in office. 



We want to know these birds. No, 

 Al, they are not blue birds of happiness 

 and content, but black birds of uncer- 

 tainty, always hunting for the well built 

 nest of their more industrious cousins, 

 in which to lay their eggs of discontent. 

 But the advantage is ours, for we recog- 

 nize them. We knew them in their 

 childhood, wlien their favorite lullaby 

 was, ' ' I don 't want to plav in vour 

 yard. " 



The Farmer and His Bull. 



To those contemplating such breaks I 

 think the story of the farmer, his little 

 red bull and the railroad train is fitting. 



In this instance, the railroad train is 

 our F. T. D. Association, the farmer our 

 dissenting florist, and the ^ittle red bull 

 his vehicle of attack. 



The story: To continue its progress, 

 the railroad had to pass through the 

 farmer's land. The farmer passively 

 fought its progress, but, being well paid 

 for the slice of land needed, tolerated 

 its presence. But he was not a progres- 



sive farmer. He could not see how the 

 value of his land had been increased. 

 So he vowed a vow never to ride on 

 "one of them blamed contraptions." 



It wouldn't have been so bad had he 

 let it go at that, but he then set to work 

 to try to stop the train. Afraid of it 

 himself, he trained his little red bull to 

 stamp and bellow whenever the train 

 passed through. One day, when he 

 thought the time was ripe, the farmer 

 removed part of the fence and let his 

 little bull on the track. The bull, with 

 much noise, stamping and lowered head, 

 waited to prove that he was the match 

 for any such thing as a railroad train. 

 Had he not challenged the thing again 

 and again without reply? He felt he 

 was better and intended to prove it, but 

 alas, the railroad train, with a warning 

 whistle, passed on without a pause. 

 Poo;- little bull! 



The farmer had expected that even if 

 he did lose his bull he might wreck the 

 train, but he did not take into considera- 

 tion the modern cowcatcher (our col- 

 lective ownership), or the efficient con- 

 ductor (our president), or the steady- 

 handed engineer (our secretary), or the 

 train crew (our worthy directors). 



So buy your ticket (a membership) 

 ajid climb aboard our train of success, 

 bound for the valley of profits and big- 

 ger business, and don't be classed with 

 the man who says, "The old hoss and 

 rig has the auto skun a mile." 



Individual Effort Counts. 



Selling flowers by telegraph is a mat- 

 tor of individual effort in its final analy- 

 sis. The magnitude of the business to- 

 day is largely the result of individual 

 effort. The means to attain the end are 

 as diversified as the mind can imagine. 

 For me to try to tell you how would 

 make me look ridiculous. We are prone 

 to think that occasionally we meet some 

 bright fellow who is almost as intelli- 

 gent ;is ourselves. I have-no desire for 

 that distinction. 



The work of our jtublicity campaign 

 is producing wonderful results. The 

 slogan, "Say It with Flowers," is the 

 greatest and most effective slogan of 

 words ever assembled for business. 

 More power to the campaign! May we 

 not stop, nor even hesitate, until it has 

 been doubled and quadrupled. But all 

 those efforts will lose their power with- 

 out the backing of you individuals. 



Our societies are doing their share. 

 You do yours. Our associates are devot- 

 ing their time and effort to better your 

 business. Wliat are you doing.' 



The vehicle to bigger business is wait- 

 ing at your door. Climb al)oar(i. The 

 road to success is paved, not with un- 

 certain good intentions, but smoothed 

 and rolleil to a level by your publicity 

 managers. Many are riding its course 

 successfully and happily, but each ma- 

 chine requires its own pilot. 



To the thousand who are already 

 members of our great association I 

 would say: 



Would you sell flowers by telegraph? 

 Then sell your organization to the flo- 

 rists and when you have doubled your 

 membership, double it again and yet 

 again. We, the members of the F. T. D., 

 own and control the organization; it is 

 not the property of an individual, nor a 

 small group of individuals. It increases 

 its owners by one, as each new member 

 is added to the roll of progressive flo- 

 rists already on the lists. It increases 

 its value to the old members by each 

 nfw member elected. Get busv. 



GLADIOLUS SOCIETY MEETS. 



The exhibition of the society was held 

 in the balcony of the auditorium, where 

 a row of tables was placed on each side 

 of the hall. The blooms were well de- 

 veloped and the stock was all of good 

 quality. The commercial growers' 

 classes had much larger competition 

 than the amateur classes. 



The principal exhibitors and prize- 

 winners in the open classes were C. 

 Zeestraten, Bemus Point, N. Y.; United 

 Bulb Co., Mt. Clemens, Mich.; Joe Cole- 

 man, Ravenna, O.; H. E. Meader, Dover, 

 N. H.; E. C. Ludwig Floral Co., Pitts- 

 burgh; J. F. Munsell, Ashtabula, 0., and 

 Madison Cooper, Calcium, N. Y. 



In the amateur classes Madison Cooper 

 was almost the whole show, bu.t the St. 

 Thomas Horticultural Society, St. 

 Thomas, Ont., staged a good collection. 



Jelle Roos, Milton, Mass., received 

 honorable mention for baskets of Gla- 

 diolus Mary Fennell, Mrs. Dr. Norton, 

 and Peace. The Pittsburgh Cut Flower 

 Co. received honorable mention for an 

 artistically arranged basket and the 

 Grullemans Co. was given honorable 

 mention for its splendid achievement in 

 hybridizing primulinus. 



The Gladiolus Society held its annual 

 meeting at Hotel Statler, electing the 

 following officers: President, H. E. 

 Meader, Dover, X. H.; vice-president, C. 

 R. Hinkle, St. Joseph, Mich.; secretary, 

 A. C. Beal, Ithaca, N. Y.; treasurer, 

 Madison Cooper, Calcium, N. Y.; execu- 

 tive committee, Joe Coleman, L. R. Bon- 

 newitz and I. S. Hendrickson, The meet- 

 ing next year will be at Cleveland, with 

 the S. A. F. The secretary reported 

 high-water mark in the membership at 

 280, and $100 was voted to the S. A. F. 

 publicity fund. 



FLORISTS' HAIL ASSOCIATION. 



At the annual meeting of the Florists' 

 Hail Association, held at Detroit, Au- 

 gust 20, all the officers were reelected, 

 except that Anders Rasmussen succeeds 

 J. J. Hess as a director. 



The report of Secretary John G. Esler 

 showed 1,604 members August 1, 1919, 

 with insurance on 45,131,271 square feet 

 of glass. An equivalent of 201,819 

 square feet of single thick glass was 

 broken by hail during the year, for 

 which the association paid $10,090.93. 

 An equivalent of 240,914 square feet of 

 double thick glass was broken, which 

 cost the association $16,863.98, making 

 total losses paid aggregate $26,954.01. 

 At the close of the report there were un- 

 adjusted losses not exceeding $1,300. 

 The total receipts for the year ending 

 August 1, 1919, and including last year's 

 balance, as per treasurer's report, were 

 $70,860.79. The total expenditures, as 

 per treasurer's report, for the year end- 

 ing August 1, 1919, have been $39,648.27, 

 of which $26,954.01 was for losses, 

 $4,884.04 for expenses and the balance 

 for investments. The cash balance on 

 hand is $31,212.52, of which $875.79 be- 

 longs to the reserve fund. The reserve 

 fund now amounts to $47,875.79, of 

 which $47,000 is invested in Liberty and 

 municipal bonds, together with $875.79 

 in the hands of the treasurer. The 

 amount of interest collected on reserve 

 fund investments is $2,370.60. Over 

 2,800 losses have been adjusted since the 

 organization of the F. H. A., involving 

 a total expenditure of over $465,000. 

 There has been a large accession this 

 year to the hazardous risk class, which 

 will be materially felt in the thirty- 

 second assessment. 



