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Septbmbee 2, 1920 



The Florists' Review 



17 



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GETTING GROWERS TOGETHER 



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T THE meeting of the Na- 

 tional Flower Growers ' 

 Association at Cleveland 

 the time given on the pro- 

 gram was limited, and so 

 it was decided best not to 

 undertake too much detail 

 work, but rather to con- 

 fine our deliberations to 

 just a few of the most 

 important matters. The first was the 

 report from the committee on organi- 

 zation, which was printed in the con- 

 vention number of The Eeview. The 

 chairman then called for a brief re- 

 port from each delegation present, with 

 a view of getting the sentiment for or 

 against the formation of a growers' 

 association. There were fifteen dis- 

 tricts that reported. Of these, twelve 

 were enthusiastic in favor of organiz- 

 ing and ten of them were 

 entirely in accord with the 

 unit plan, having already 

 organized, or started to or- 

 ganize, locals. In all about 

 one hundred growers were 

 present. There was no op- 

 position to organizing from 

 any community. There was 

 question in the minds of a 

 few as to the best plan to 

 adopt, and the question was 

 raised by some as to just 

 what such an organization 

 proposed to do or could ac- 

 complish. This only goes 

 to prove that some of these 

 more conservative com- 

 munities want first to be 

 shown before they are will- 

 ing to enter into the plan 

 in full force. 



By J. FRED AMMANN. 



best points in favor of organizing, es- 

 pecially in favor of the unit plan. One 

 speaker said the average growers were 

 80 constituted that they could not 

 agree on burning the same grade or 

 kind of coal; hence to purchase coal in 

 units would not work. 



To Find What Can Be Done. 



It was also said that the grower knew 

 nothing about marketing his stock and 

 that the regulating of prices was out 

 of the question, since supply and de- 

 mand are and always will be the only 

 means of regulating prices. Now, this 

 man, I am quite sure, was entirely sin- 

 cere in his remarks and did not say 

 this with a view of preventing organi- 



Spur and Check. 



Well it is that such a con- 

 dition of conservatism does 

 exist, for it will help to 

 do two things that will be 

 of much benefit in the end. 

 One is to spur on those who 

 do favor organization to- 

 wards getting real, tangible 

 results therefrom. The 

 other is to hold in check an 

 element which may become 

 too radical in its tendencies towards 

 organization. 



Let us briefly review a few of the 

 principal reasons for this organization 

 and for the unit plan as adopted. First 

 of all, after making a careful estimate 

 of the amount in dollars and- cents rep- 

 resented at this meeting I do not hesi- 

 tate to put the amount of capital in- 

 vested by growers at a sum in excess 

 of $25,000,000, and it is not exaggerat- 

 ing to say that with earnest efforts on 

 the part of those interested the organi- 

 zation can be made to represent an in- 

 vestment of over $100,000,000. Would 

 anyone be willing to go on record as 

 saying that it would be unwise and not 

 good business to bring the growers with 

 such a large volume of assets into closer 

 cooperation t 



Let us review some of the best points 

 brought out by a few individuals 

 against accomplishing actual results 

 and see if they are not after all the 



During the discussion at the 

 meeting in Cleveland when the 

 National Flower Growers* Associa- 

 tion was formed, August 1 9, various 

 questions arose which could not 

 then be fully answ^ered. Here the 

 man who, more than any other, has 

 been responsible for the first growth 

 of the new organization, draws these 

 loose threads together and thus 

 strengthens this new cord of 

 cooperation into something with 

 which growers will more and 

 more wish to tie up. 



to themselves, but also to the other 

 branches of the trade; namely, the 

 wholesalers and retailers. For there 

 are and always will be many grow- 

 ers who sell their own stock and 

 who could be much benefited them- 

 selves and through whom the trade 

 at large would benefit if more uniform 

 methods were adopted in the selling. 

 Especially does this apply to plantsmen 

 and propagators of plants. So here we 

 have an argument again in favor of 

 organization and especially for the unit 

 plan, for conditions vary so much in 

 various parts of the country that the 

 problems of the growers can best be 

 solved by organizing in district locals. 

 We all, I am sure, agree that supply 

 and demand are great factors in the 

 regulating of prices, but I am quite cer- 

 tain most of us also agree that a de- 

 mand can be created by 

 judicious advertising whicla 

 will help to adjust condi- 

 tions caused by oversup- 

 ply. If there is anyone 

 who doubts such to be the 

 ease, I would refer him to 

 the notes giving the pro- 

 ceedings of the S. A. F. 

 convention just held and 

 urge them to read the re- 

 marks made by E. S. Lat- 

 shaw on cooperative adver- 

 tising. 



Worth While. 



zation. What he did mean was that 

 these are some of the things that could 

 not be changed and that he wanted to 

 know of something tangible which could 

 be done besides these which would bene- 

 fit the grower. 



If it is a fact that there are com- 

 munities where there are growers who 

 could not agree on using the same kind 

 or grades of coal when it would be to 

 their best individual and mutual in- 

 terests to do so, it does seem that, if 

 they could be brought into an organiza- 

 tion and could be shown that it is be- 

 ing done successfully elsewhere for 

 mutual benefit, such an organization 

 would be a great benefactor. As to the 

 grower knowing nothing or little of 

 how to market his product, it again 

 seems that if there are such growers — 

 and I know there are many — then if 

 such men can be brought together into 

 an organization and educated along 

 these lines it would be a boon not only 



We have at least a large 

 number of florists, many of 

 whom are growers, who by 

 their contribution to our 

 national publicity fund 

 during the last three years 

 have proved that they do 

 believe in advertising to re- 

 lieve an oversupply and we 

 have, I am sure, few con- 

 tributors to this fund who 

 think that the plan of col- 

 lection is equitable and fair 

 to each. Now then, if the 

 growers ' organization can 

 do no more than solve to 

 some extent these problems 

 which some think insoluble 

 and also bring about a uni- 

 form and equitable system of collect- 

 ing funds for advertising, surely it will 

 be well worth while. Before I go into 

 this last subject at length, do not un- 

 derstand from this that I consider pub- 

 licity the main object of this organiza- 

 tion, for, as I have again and again 

 stated, while it is one of the prime aims 

 and objects, it is only one of many, and 

 I am only using it to help to illustrate 

 the plan because it is the one big thing 

 which we have undertaken in recent 

 years. The time is here, however, when 

 a more equitable plan of raising the 

 funds for this purpose must be put into 

 effect or national publicity of flowers 

 will fail. I am quite sure that the 

 growers back of this organization 

 movement are determined that it shall 

 not fail; hence we included this in our 

 considerations when organization was 

 proposed. 



This, then, brings us to another reason 

 for organizing on the unit or local plan. 



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