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JuND 8, 1920. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



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WHO PUSHES UP PRICES? 



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STOP PASSING THE BUCK. 



In The Review May 20 Frank Smith, 

 in commenting on a letter of mine 

 which appeared two weeks previously, 

 asks whether I can suggest any better 

 method for solving the problem of high 

 prices than that the retailers should 

 refuse to buy when growers charge un- 

 reasonably high prices. 



I have no definite method to offer, 

 except in a general way, and that is 

 that retailers and growers should cease 

 passing the buck to each other and in- 

 stead get together and evolve a con- 

 structive policy, whereby our business 

 might be stabilized and the good will 

 and confidence of the public fully won. 

 This can be easily accomplished if we 

 go about it in the right way. 



J. Fred Ammann is doing great work 

 in bringing about the organization of 

 the growers' association. A similar 

 nation-wide organization of retailers 

 might be undertaken and accomplished 

 by some progressive, broad-minded and 

 wide-awake retail man. What we need 

 is harmony and cooperation. 



Verily in union there is strength. 



S. S. Skidelsky. 



MISS JABVIS AND A FUND. 



Before we let this affair about Miss 

 Jaryis and Mothers' day go to sleep 

 until next year comes, or before we 

 raise that fund suggested by Max 

 Schling to use against her propaganda, 

 which was not tactful of her, let me 

 say that I should like to see a fund 

 raised — I cannot think of a better 

 method than that suggested by Mr. 

 Schling — but put to a different purpose. 



I do not know the lady, but her idea 

 is doing everybody some good and peo- 

 ple do get paid for good ideas. Perhaps 

 she is not particularly broad-minded, 

 but do not the florists act in the same 

 way? 



I cannot head this list with $100, 

 because we have only a small business, 

 but I will head it if there is the slight- 

 est inclination on the part of a few 

 others to join in. 



Barbara Koethe. 



MOTHERS' DAY MEMORIES. 



Grower Guilty; Retailer Responsible. 



Now that Mothers' day has become a 

 matter of record and memory and the 

 claims and denials relative to inflation 

 of value in carnations and other flowers, 

 gouging of the public by mercenary 

 florists, holdups, profiteering and what 

 not, have been made, upheld, refuted 

 and disputed, one little parting shot 

 may clarify the smoke-laden atmos- 

 phere of the battle field and permit a 

 clearer perspective of the matter in 

 general. 



The retailer feels that the grower 

 and the wholesaler are the responsible 

 partK's 111 the causation of ill-advised 

 inflation of flower values for Mothers' 

 day. And the retailer is right. To no 

 other source can the root of the evil be 

 traced. As a grower and wholesale dis- 

 tributor I speak, and in making my 



charge general enough to include every 

 grower and wholesaler in the country, 

 I do so feeling I know whereof I speak. 

 But the guilt chargeable to the grow- 

 er and wholesaler is the effect of a con- 

 dition and not the cause of it. The 

 condition is the tendency of the aver- 

 age retailer to take advantage of cir- 

 cumstances and events to add to the 

 price away over that warranted by the 

 cost price of the flowers he purveys. 



Mouth of Abundance. 



For instance. May is a month of 

 abundance in flower production under 

 glass. Growth is rapid and luxuriant 

 and general production soars upward 

 and over the peak of the records of 

 other months. Prior to the period in- 

 clusive of Mothers' day prices, values 

 of all flowers are deprived of profit by 

 the adverse influence of a supply in ex- 



The Editor is pleased when 

 a Reader presents his ideas 

 on any subject treated in 



As experience is the t>est 

 teacher, so do we learn 

 fastest by an exchange of 

 experiences. Many valuable 

 points are brought out by 

 discussion. 



Good penmanship, spelling and 

 Krammar, though desirable, are not 

 necessary. Write as you would talk 

 when doing your best. 



WE SHALL BE GLAD 

 TO HEAR FROM YOU 



cess of demand. Down, away down, go 

 wholesale prices and the records of the 

 commission houses too often contain 

 that phrase so bitterly hated by the 

 grower, "Job lot — so much;" generallv 

 the "so much" is so little that the 

 express and commission charges almost 

 cancel it. All this time, however, the 

 retailer blithely pursues the even tenor 

 of his way with $1, $2, $3 and $5 per 

 dozen as prices on roses and $1.50 and 

 $2 per dozen on carnations. This pro- 

 cedure, and I speak advisedlv, does not 

 conduce to the promotion of the "peace 

 on earth, good will to men" spirit in 

 either grower or wholesaler. No, sir! 

 To them the eternal fitness of things has 

 received an awful jolt and all is wrong. 

 The dog-eat-dog and everybody-for-him- 

 self policy finds lodgment in his mind. 

 Then comes Mothers' day. "Oh, boy! 

 Now we can soak it to the retailer— 

 and, believe me, we'll do him up brown. 

 What did carnations sell at last vear at 

 Mothers' day? What? At $10 per 

 hundred! That was not enough! Make 

 it $15 this year. Yes, make it $15 and 

 even though they kick they will pav 



it." And they sure do pay it. Some 

 without a word, others with a kick or 

 two, others with threats, but — they pay 

 it, all of them. Then the dear public is 

 walloped right behind the car. The 

 brunt of the whole misunderstood rela- 

 tionship between grower, wholesaler 

 and retailer is foisted on to the long-suf- 

 fering public. Detrimental to the mu- 

 tual interest of all branches of the 

 florists' trade? Surely it is, but how 

 are you going to remedy it? 



Cream to go Around. 



I, as a wholesaler, would be tickled 

 to sell carnations and roses Mothers' 

 day for a flat price of $80 per thousand 

 straight through, regardless of grades. 

 But will I do it? No! Not unless I am 

 quite sure that the retailer will not 

 value my goods at more than $2 per 

 dozen. I am not going to let him lap 

 up the cream and myself be satisfied 

 with the milk — not in this day and age 

 of the world. If he intends to get the 

 public, believe me, I am going to get 

 him. But if he plays fair with me and 

 the public, I'll play fair with him. But 

 he must not capitalize my credulity and 

 play me false. 



There is a wide gulf separating the 

 wholesaler and retailer in commercial 

 floriculture, a gulf that must be bridged 

 with good will built on the solid founda- 

 tion of mutual confidence. The prob- 

 lems of the trade at large are the prob- 

 lems of each individual in the trade, 

 whether he be grower, wholesaler or 

 retailer, and i)ublic service is the goal 

 of our asj)iratioiis. Our success will 

 always be in direct ratio to the service 

 and satisfaction we give. 



Fair Play. 



A price of $15 per hundred whole- 

 sale for carnations Mothers' day is $5 

 too much. And $3 per dozen retail is 

 too much. Equalization of demand 

 among all available flowers will render 

 unneces.sary a consideration of the fine 

 fallacy of "demand in excess of supply 

 warranting expansion of value.'"' 

 Adroit salesmanship consistentlv em- 

 ployed will wean the public from the 

 idea that the carnation is emblematic 

 of motherliood veneration. Fair play 

 and confidence in the trade will work 

 miracles where chicanery and sharp 

 practice have failed. 



It behooves us to eliminate greed 

 from our consideration of the demand 

 for flowers that springs from the filial 

 love in tlie hearts of men and women. 

 Let us be satisfied with small profit 

 that grows large in the volume of busi- 

 ness that comes to us Mothers' day. Let 

 us show the people of the country that 

 the petulancy of Miss Anna Jarvis and 

 her associates is born of anger at the 

 fact that the fine practice they en- 

 couraged has grown so general as to 

 become too preponderant for one frail 

 woman to nourish as her own. 



But, most important of all, let it be 

 agreed upon, by all in the trade— grow- 

 er, wholesaler and retailer — that a set 

 profit based on cost will be honorably 

 adhered to; by so doing our trade will 



