Febkdaux 26, 1920 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



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I BEAT credit must be given 

 the members of the national 

 publicity committee for 

 their untiring efforts in in- 

 augurating and putting into 

 effect the national publicity 

 fund. The florists of this 

 country owe to the original members of 

 the national publicity committee a debt 

 which cannot be measured by monetary 

 value. It was the forethought and 

 perseverance of the members of this 

 committee which made the national pub- 

 licity fund possible. They worked 

 against obstacles which seemed almost 

 impossible to overcome. They started 

 this fund at a time when it was hard 

 to make even the most liberal-minded 

 florist believe that it was an opportune 

 time to start such a fund, especially at 

 a time when the demand for flowers was 

 greater than the supply. The writer 

 was one of those who did not believe at 

 that time that it was a wise move, al- 

 though our company fell in line and 

 subscribed to the original fund for four 

 years and last December paid the sub- 

 scription in full. Opposition to the 

 movement was strong at first and the 

 committee, I believe, was up against 

 it, biit hung on, and at last has been par- 

 tially rewarded for its efforts by the 

 formation of several local publicity 

 funds, which have sprung up in the last 

 two years in some of the larger cities. 

 It is due entirely to their great work 

 and foresight that 

 publicity has come 

 to be to the florists 

 of this country their 

 one greatest asset. 



At this time I wish 

 to publicly acknowl- 

 edge that I was mis- 

 taken in my theory 

 that the opportune 

 time had not ar- 

 rived to start such a 

 fund. I take off my 

 hat to these gentle- 

 men. Every florist 

 in this country 

 should stand back of 

 this committee in 

 their great work and 

 subscribe liberally to 

 this fund, in order 

 that they can carry 

 on this great work 

 of publicity. 



Beginning. 



In the last year 

 the writer gave local 

 publicity a great deal 

 of thought and study. 

 I had read about Mil- 

 waukee 'b plan and 

 later about that of 

 St. Louis, but to me 

 these plans did not 

 seem practical for the 

 city of Buffalo. 



A little less than a 

 year ago the Buffalo 

 Florists* Club invited 

 Henry Penn, of Bos- 

 ton, to iipeak before 

 the club on national 



By WALLACE H. EISS. 



publicity. His remarks sank deep into 

 the hearts of some of the Buffalo florists, 

 especially those who did some individual 

 advertising. The ice was cracked, but 

 not broken. 



Some time before this, John Young 

 visited Buffalo in the interests of the 

 national publicity fund, but the results 

 he obtained must have been discourag- 

 ing. 



A short time after Mr. Penn was in 

 Buffalo I wrote to- Mr. Young, asking 

 for information regarding the Milwau- 

 kee and St. Louis plans. In this letter 

 I stated that I thought it possible to 

 start a fund for local publicity in Buf- 

 falo. After studying the other plans I 

 did not think they would work out suc- 

 cessfully in Buffalo, not that I had any 

 serious objections to those plans, but be- 

 cause conditions were so much differ- 

 ent here. 



Local Conditions. 



There are in Buffalo a great many 

 growers of plants who sell their stock 

 direct to the retailers, and the whole- 

 sale house would have a diflBcult time 

 to check up on this stock. Therefore, 

 the assessment plan, in my mind, was 

 not an equitable proposition, as some 

 would be paying their full share, while 

 others would be paying less than their 

 share. Several of the retail florists were 



Wallace H. Eiss. 



(Chalima-i Western New York Publicity Committee.) 



interested, but nothing materialized. 

 In October the F. T. D.— that bunch 

 of live wires — held the annual meeting 

 in Buffalo, and through a little publicity 

 on the part of the local committee, a 

 number of the retail florists in Buffalo 

 and a few growers attended these meet- 

 ings. It was at this time that the idea 

 of publicity was revived in the minds 

 of a few of the local retail florists. 



As stated previously, the writer had 

 studied this problem to a considerable 

 extent and finally hit upon the plan of 

 voluntary subscriptions. But the one 

 great difficulty was to present it in a 

 forceful way to the growers and retail- 

 ers. I had no doubt as to the support 

 of the retailers, but was somewhat 

 doubtful as to how the growers would 

 take to the proposition. 



At the F. T. D. meeting I had the 

 pleasure of meeting J. F. Ammann, 

 then president of the S. A. F., and after 

 hearing him speak to the members of 

 the F. T. D. I came to the conclusion 

 that here was the man who could, with 

 telling effect, bring home to the grow- 

 ers and retailers the message of local 

 and national publicity. At the meeting 

 of the growers and retailers of Buffalo 

 held October 23, 1919, Mr. Ammann 

 splendidly presented to them the value 

 of cooperative local and national ad- 

 vertising. This was the beginning of 

 the Buffalo campaign. Too much credit 

 cannot be given to Mr. Penn, who 

 really started the idea 

 of publicity in Buf- 

 falo, to the F. T. D. 

 meeting, which re- 

 vived interest, and to 

 Mr. Ammann, who 

 really finished the 

 work and made pos- 

 sible the Western 

 New York Florists' 

 Publicity Fund, 

 which has grown un- 

 til it now exceeds 

 $10,000. 



Organization. 



Interest now had 

 been created, and Oc- 

 tober 30 another 

 meeting was held, 

 when $6,500 was sub- 

 scribed by thirty-two 

 growers and retail- 

 ers. At this meeting 

 a permanent commit- 

 tee was elected by 

 the subscribers to this 

 fund, comprising, be- 

 sides the writer as 

 chairman, Harold 

 Brookins as secre- 

 tary, Mark Palmer as 

 treasurer, C. F. 

 Treichler, Ed. Lehde, 

 Robert Scott and 

 Arthur Kowalski. 

 Since that time sub- 

 scribers have been 

 added until ninety 

 per cent of the retail- 

 ers in the city and of 

 the growers who mar- 

 ket their products in 



