

28 



The Florists^ Review 



Auoui^* 26. 1920 



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Ertabllahfld. 1897. bj Q. L. aRANT. 



PabUshed every Thanday by 

 ThX FlOKISTa' PUBUSHINO Co., 



820-SflO Oaxton Balldlngr, 



608 Sooth Dearbum St, Ohicaco. 



Tele., Wabaah 8196. 



Reststered cable addrew, 



rioiTlew. Oblcaaro. 



Entered aa second claas matter 

 Bee. 8. 1897. at the poat-office at Ohl- 

 ttigo, UL, under the Act of Maroh 

 8,1879. 



Bnbocrlptlon price, flJtO a nu. 

 To Canada, $2JI0: to Europe, 18.00. 



Advertlalnar rate* quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 ▼ertlslnc accepted. 



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RESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Using the words of Major P. F. 

 O'Keefe regarding the trade's publicity, 

 it is now time to "fish or cut bait." 



Hotel accommodations are strained in 

 a city visited by the S. A. F. convention 

 nowadays. Cleveland, fortjinately, is well 

 equipped in that particular. 



Convention visitors last week saw the 

 steel framework of the huge municipal 

 auditorium which will house the national 

 flower show, to be held at Cleveland in 

 1922. 



Along with other textiles, chiffon 

 prices for several weeks have been below 

 the peak, perhaps as much as ten per 

 cent, but latest advices from France are 

 of renewed advances. 



Keeping in step, The Review published 

 its largest convention number last week 

 on the occasion of the trade 's largest con- 

 vention. The Review is the paper that 

 grows with the trade. 



To keep up with the rising cost of 

 growing, the board of directors of the 

 American Carnation Society, at Cleveland 

 last week, increased the amount of all the 

 premiums on its list for next January's 

 show. 



Though in many other lines prices 

 have a tendency downward, that of paper 

 is strongly upward, discouragingly so to 

 catalogue houses and to publishers. The 

 end of the frequent price boosts is not in 

 sight. 



An addition of $5 per week to printers ' 

 wages, effective in Chicago this week and 

 doubtless soon in other cities, will in- 

 crease printing costs markedly and make 

 the expense of issuing catalogues still 

 higher. This trade is feeling qo decline 

 in the cost of doing business. 



While there is widespread belief in 

 business circles that the peak of prices 

 has been passed and that the trend is 

 changing from a sellers' to a buyers' 

 market, florists as a class can see nothing 

 which points that way. None of the 

 things constituting a principal item of 

 expense, either in a store or greenhouse, 

 has fallen in price; indeed, coal and 

 labor tend to advance. It will cost more 

 to run a florist's business this winter 

 than it ever cost before. 



Now, if ever, it is needful to be slow 

 to grant credit and prompt to collect. 

 The florist who could not pay last sea- 

 son's bills as he went along scarcely can 

 be expected to do better next season 

 under conditions now confronting the 

 trade. 



The weekly review of R. G. Dun & 

 Co. says that * ' while no single i element 

 accounts for the continued hesitation in 

 business, it is even clearer now than re- 

 cently that the price question remains the 

 dominant factor. ' ' Commercial failures 

 in the United States last week were 152, 

 compared with 155 the preceding week, 

 and 104 the corresponding week in 1919. 



S. A. F. FINAKCES. 



The state of affairs in the treasury 

 of the Society of American Florists, of 

 which many gained an inkling for the 

 first time at Cleveland last week, is not 

 a perilous condition or one to occa- 

 sion alarm, though it should induce 

 greater conservatism in handling that 

 organization's funds. The steps that 

 led to the present situation are easy 

 of explanation and of comprehension. 

 The absence of a national flower show 

 during the last few years has deprived 

 the society of an important source of 

 income, one that usually added at least 

 $5,000 to its coffers. Last year, also, 

 the bargain offer of $25 for life mem- 

 bership, which now costs $50, induced 

 former annual members to change their 

 status. Over 1,000 life members were 

 added to the membership list. The 

 dues they paid, however, went into the 

 permanent fund, which almost doubled 

 in size. The general fund, which re- 

 ceived its income from annual dues, 

 suffered in consequence. So, although 

 the S. A. F, has plenty of money and 

 is stronger financially than ever be- 

 fore, its general fund is depleted. 



An unusually heavy drain on the 

 treasury was caused by the appropri- 

 ations of the last two years of $5,000 

 each to the national publicity cam- 

 paign. Other expenses, both of the 

 usual items and of new undertakings 

 of the society, greatly increased at the 

 same time. An unfortunate course of 

 events brought the period of greatest 

 expense in years that were, in face of 

 rising costs, lean ones. 



The Cleveland convention provided 

 funds enough to meet the society's 

 bills. A conservative expenditure of 

 its money will enable it to progress as 

 successfully as ever before. There is 

 no danger on that score. But no money 

 can be appropriated to the national 

 publicity campaign this year, though 

 it badly needs it, and the billboards on 

 the society's hands present a problem. 

 The Society of American Florists is 

 as strong as ever and is sound finan- 

 cially. But the publicity enterprises 

 which it has launched need more 

 hearty support than has been given 

 them thus far. 



COAL PRICES TO STAND. 



'* Although the Illinois mine workers 

 paid at a per diem rate will receive a 

 substantial increase in wages, there 

 will be no immediate increase in the 

 price of coal." This statement was 

 made last week after informal confer- 

 ences had heen held by a number of 

 leading mine operators. 



Following their determination to 

 break away from the central competi- 



tive district in making agreements wiih 

 the miners' union, the ^grators decid- 

 ed to put the drawing oifflt satisfactory 

 agreement squarely up to Prank F;ir- 

 rington, president of the Illinois mine is. 

 The Illinois operators will enter a con- 

 ference prepared to grant the miners an 

 increase of $1.50 a day, 50 cents loss 

 than the increase demanded. It is re- 

 garded as probable that if the miners 

 undertake to guarantee that the day 

 wage men will return to the productive 

 basis in effect prior to April 1, 1920, the 

 operators will do better than the $1.50. 



COAL PRODUCTION INCREASES. 



With the striking miners back at 

 work in Illinois and Indiana, production 

 of soft coal during the week of August 

 14 rose to the highest point attained in 

 any week since last January, the Unit- 

 ed States geological survey has report- 

 ed. Preliminary estimates place the to- 

 tal output at 11,728,000 net tons, an in- 

 crease over the last week before th« 

 strike of 848,000 tons, or eight per cent. 



Whether this increased rate of pro- 

 duction can be long sustained, the bu- 

 reau says, remains to be seen. One ele- 

 ment in the improvement was the accu- 

 mulation of empty coal cars during the 

 strike of the day men. 



ASK ANOTHER EXPRESS RAISE. 



The American Railway Express Co., 

 in a supplementary application filed 

 with the interstate commerce commis- 

 sion August 20, asked for authority to 

 increase all of its rates fifteen per cent, 

 in addition to the twelve and one-half 

 per cent already allowed by the com- 

 mission. 



The additional increase is asked to 

 meet the recent wage award of the 

 railroad labor board for employees of 

 the express company, which estimates 

 that the award will increase its oper- 

 ating expenses $44,258,903 annually. 

 Hearing on the application will be held 

 August 27 in Washington. 



BRIEF ANSWERS. 



J. E. S., Minn. — Aconitum Napellus, 

 commonly called monkshood. 



J. D. G., 111. — Begonias are called 

 beefsteak geraniums, and some other 

 species are known as beefsteak plants, 

 but the beefsteak begonia is not known 

 to us. 



FERTILE QROUND. 



The thoroughness with which The 

 Review covers the florists', seed and 

 nursery trades comes frequently as a 

 surprise to advertisers who are ac- 

 customed to the low percentage of 

 returns from publications not so care- 

 fully read and consulted by buyers. 

 They do not understand, until the proof 

 presents itself, that 12,000 readers are 

 scanning its columns each week with a 

 closer interest than they devote to any 

 other publication. So advertisers u^ed 

 to low returns from other periodicals 

 sometimes express themselves this way: 



We should like to mention to yeu that our 

 adTertlsement In The Reylew surely fell o" 

 fertile ground, for the inquiries and orders re- 

 sulting from it have been away beyond our •'*■ 

 pectations. — Fertile Chemical Co., ClevelaAl, 0-. 

 August 21, 1020. 



If you hear a man complain of the 



cost of advertising yoii can be pretty 



certain he spends a good bit of money 



elsewhere than in The Review. 





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