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The Florists^ Review 



Januabt 29, 1920 



ed by the incoming president to serve 

 with the president, secretary and treas- 

 urer. 



Association's Flans. 



In his address, President W. J. Kei- 

 mel outlined the plans of the society 



for resumption of its old activities now 

 that the war period was over and re- 

 strictions no longer fettered the trade. 

 He said: 



' ' Since our meeting last March, the 

 florists' industry has passed through a 

 [Continued on page 72.] 



PROBLEM IN PRICES 



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EFFECT OF HIGH PEICES. 



A Header Predicts Keactlon. 



Betail florists who buy their flowers 

 in the wholesale markets have been pro- 

 testing long and loudly — except when 

 they were in the presence of their source 

 of supply. Then they said, "Please, Mr. 

 Wholesaler, won't you let me have some 

 Toses and carnations today?" — there 

 was no discussion of price. There is no 

 question that a rapid rise in prices in 

 any line, from any cause, puts a lot of 

 buyers "up against it," but complaint 

 is carefully guarded so that it shall not 

 result in completely cutting off a source 

 of supply. 



Perhaps it was with some such fore- 

 thought that a reader whose letter is 

 postmarked Louisville wrote The Ee- 

 view the following anonymous state- 

 ment of a quite widely held view: 



" 'Why are all cut flowers so high?' 



"This is the question that is heard in 

 every retail flower store, everywhere. 



"What are we retailers going to tell 

 the public? Can we tell them that flow- 

 ers are not high at all, that they just 

 imagine flowers are high? Or are we 

 to tell them that the flowers are so much 

 better than they were last November or 

 the first of December, as in the article 

 in the last Review, or must we tell them 

 the plain truth, that the wholesaler has 

 simply raised the prices so high that we 

 must charge these prices in order to 

 come out even? 



A Betailer's Experience 



"Most times here lately wc have 

 been losing on every sale of cut flowers 

 we make. 



"Take carnations, for instance, sell- 

 ing in Chicago for 12 and 15 cents. 

 Packing charges and express bring the 

 flowers up another cent. And what can 

 we get for carnations now? I will say 

 $2 per dozen is about the top price. 



"Where does the retailer come in? 

 He must furnish his ferns and box and 

 then deliver them anywhere. If we 

 make them up in sprays, how much do 

 we get for that? About 25 or 50 cents 

 for our time in making them up, deliver- 

 ing them, furnishing our ferns, greens, 

 etc, 



"Take roses. They are out of *ight. 

 We pay anywhere from 15 to 25 cents 

 for ordinary roses. What can we get 

 for them? A dozen at $3 is a good price 

 to ask for this stock. Sometimes we 

 can get $4 for some, but it is seldom. 



The Retailer's Idea. 



"Now, why not bring down the prices 

 to where they ought to be and sell what 

 you have and then stop? This business 

 of saying that stock is scarce and then 

 jumping the prices is simply ruining the 

 whole florists' business. 



"The public will not pay Christmas 

 prices at this time of the year and the 

 result is that the retailer is pushing his 

 potted plants instead of cut flowers. If 

 the prices do not come down soon, the 

 work for funerals will also stop on ac 

 count of high prices, and if the whole- 

 salers do not wake up in the near future 

 they will find that they will be left out 

 in the cold with a bunch of high prices 

 for their assets and no call for cut 

 flowers. 



"Think this over, Mr. Grower and 

 Mr. Commissionman, and look into this 

 matter. You will find that I am about 

 right." 



Another Angle. 



The Eeview in this case breaks its 

 rule of not printing anonymous com- 

 munications because it seems desirable 

 to put all points of view before the 

 trade. Each man looks at it from his 

 own angle. 



First of all, let it be said that for at 

 least the last three weeks transient 

 buyers have stood ready to take at 

 higher prices every flower the regular 

 buyers have been willing to pass up. 

 That still is the condition at this writ- 

 ing; there are many opportunities to 

 make sales at prices higher than those 

 at which most of the stock actually is 

 billed out. The reason for not making 

 those sales is that the wholesaler wants 

 to keep all his steady customers buying 

 regularly, in anticipation of the early 

 day when there will be enough stock to 

 go around. 



The Growers' View. 



It may be difficult for some retailers 

 to believe, but there are growers not 

 satisfied with recent prices; they say 

 they should be pushed as far as the de- 

 mand will carry them. These growers 

 point to the unquestioned fact that un- 

 til the end of the chrysanthemum sea- 

 son, which was unusually late in 1919, 

 wholesale prices were so low growers 

 made little if any money. They say, 

 also, that prices are almost sure to fall 

 rapidly as the spring cuts come on, and 

 point out that there are only a few 

 weeks in which the seller can set his 

 prices without regard to competition. 

 These growers believe they should not 

 be deprived of their brief opportunity 

 and that the price should be passed 

 down the line to the consumer. In sup- 

 port of their contention that still higher 

 prices should be charged, these growers 

 point to the fact that demand at present 

 prices, although they are the highest of 

 the season, still exceeds the supply. 



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S. A. F. DIRECTORS. 



Meet at Cleveland. 



The directors of the Society of Amer- 

 ican Florists held the annual midwinter 

 meeting at Cleveland, the 1920 conven- 

 tion city, January 23 and 24. It was the 

 most largely attended meeting of di- 

 rectors in the history of the organiza- 

 tion, as a result of affiliation and the re- 

 cent growth of the society. Those pres- 

 ent were: 



Prpsident A. L. Miller, Jamaica, N. Y. 



Vice-president F. C. W. Rrown. Cleveland. 



Secretary John Young. New York. 



Treasurer J. J. Hess, Omaha. 



Director C. E. Critchell. Cincinnati. 



Director C. C. Pollworth. Milwaukee. 



Director H. P. Knoble, Cleveland. 



Director Paul R. KlinRspom. Chicago. 



Director .Joseph A. Mandn, West Orance. N. J. 



Past-president J. F. Ammann, Edwardsvillo. 

 III. 



Washington Representative W. F. Gude, Wash- 

 4njrton, D. C. 



Chairman George Asmus. Chicago, of the na- 

 tional flower show committee. 



Chairman Henry Penn, Boston, of the public- 

 ity committee. 



Philip Breitmeyer, Detroit, Mich., president 

 Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association. 



C. W. Johnson. Chicago, president American 

 Carnation Society. 



E. O. Hill, Richmond, Ind.. president Florists' 

 Bail Association. 



T^rchibald M. Henshaw, New York, president 

 N«w York Florists' Club. 



A. T. Pvfer, Chicago, vice-president Chicago 

 Florists' Club. 



H. P. Mfcrrick. Cleveland, 0., president Cleve- 

 land Florists' Club. 



August H. Hummert. St. Louis. Mo., president 

 St. Louis Florists' Club. 



L. P. Jensen, St. I/wis. Mo., president Na- 

 tional Association of Oardenors. 



W, J. Keimel. Elmhnrst. III., president Illi- 

 nois State Florists' Association. 



W. F. Ekas, Baltimore, presldeat Baltimore 

 Gardeners' and Florists' Club. 



Major O'Keefe, advertising agent employed on 

 the national campaign. 



A. F. Poehlmann, Chicago; B. Allan Pelrce, 

 Waltham, Mass., and W. R. Pieraon, Cromwell, 

 Conn. 



The headquarters were at the HoUen- 



den hotel, which is the meeting place of 



the Cleveland Florists' Club. 



Two Busy Days. 



The real work of the S. A. F. is done 

 at the meeting of the directors. De- 

 tails of the society's affairs which would 

 bore those at the August convention are 

 here given careful consideration, and 

 the work of officers and committees is 

 outlined. At the Cleveland meeting two 

 solid days were put in on routine mat- 

 ters connected with the society 's rapidly 

 ramifying activities. 



Publicity of .course was the chief con- 

 sideration outside convention arrange- 

 ments and financial affairs. The re- 

 port of the publicity committee was con- 

 sidered higi^y satisfactory insofar as re- 

 sults are concerned, but there was shown 

 to be need of more effective means of 

 raising money. It is understood that 

 arrangements have been made to trans- 

 fer a part of the work of the promotion 

 bureau to Chicago, where it will be in 

 charge of Hilmer V. Swenson. 



F. T. D. DIRECTORS WORK HARD. 



Attendance at the F. T. D. directors' 

 meeting at Detroit January 19 and 20 

 was not far from 100 per cent. A. F. 



