24 



The Florists^ Review 



Sbptbmbeb 2, 1920 



fl 



Established, 1897. by O. L. aiUNT. 



Published every lliaraday by 

 The Flobists' Pitblishino COh 



820-660 Oaxton Bnlldlner, 



S08 South De&rbura St., OhicaffO. 



Tele., Wabash 8196. 



Befflstered cable address, 



Florrtew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897. at the post-office at Ohl< 

 ofegro. lU., under the Act of Muroh 

 i, 1879. 



Subscription price, tlJSO a year. 

 To Canada, $2.60; to Europe, $3.00. 



Advertislngr rates quoted upoo 

 request. Only stricUy trade ad* 

 vertlslng accepted. 



i 



Eesults bring advertising. 

 The Eeview brings results. 



If you can not ship, return the check; 

 ilon't cash it. 



The trade must work for better average 

 stock rather than more stock. 



Help, though not of an experienced 

 sort, will be easier to get the coming sea- 

 son. 



There are getting to be so many trade 

 societies they are in danger of treading 

 on each other's feet. 



Keadjustments of wages on a lower 

 level have already spread from the textile 

 industries to some other lines of manu- 

 facture. 



For low sales expense on moving sur- 

 plus carnation plants, the Classified col- 

 umns of The Review have proved them- 

 selves unrivaled. 



It is better to shut down glass rather 

 than cut prices. The trade can not sus- 

 tain itself, until coal and labor fall, on 

 lower prices than were received last year. 



The approach of frost finds the trade 

 full of Boston and other ferns. It is a 

 condition common in ante-bellum days. 

 There no doubt will be a sc^ircity again 

 before spring. 



Seven new retailors appear in the 

 Pink Part this week. The telegraph de- 

 liver}' section of The Review, now printed 

 regularly on rose-pink paper, is growing 

 faster than at any previous time since 

 it was started. 



The application for an additional in- 

 crease of fifteen per cent in express rates 

 to cover increased wages, presented by 

 representatives of the American Railway 

 Express, will be submitted without delay 

 to the Interstate Commerce Commission. 

 September 1 the increase of twelve and 

 one-half per cent already allowed the 

 t^xpress company became effective. 



The national association of the sweater 

 and knitted textile industry is the latest 

 to start a publicity campaign. Its pur- 

 pose is to "keep up the interest and de- 

 mand for knitted manufactures and to 

 stiffen the backbone of the buyers in the 

 trade." Over $27,000 is reported to have 

 been pledged. One-tenth of one per cent 

 of the current sales, to be paid monthly, 

 is the contribution asked for the fund 

 and no part is to be spent until at least 

 $50,000 has been pledged and subscribed. 



Like the squirrel, are you storing nuts 

 in the fall? Collections that you make 

 now will afford capital for winter's busi- 

 ness. 



Rising rents afford another problem 

 for city retailers. Those whose leases 

 expire next year face, in almost every 

 case, a sharp advance. 



Coal costs real money now, but it is 

 necessary to buy a certain amount as in- 

 surance against the possibility of having 

 to shut down in midwinter. 



Paul J. Mandabach, editor of the 

 National Drug Clerk, says many drug 

 storea have gone into the flower business, 

 some of them to the extent of wanting to 

 join the F. T. D. 



Growing conditions have been so fa- 

 vorable that carnation plants from the 

 field are much more abundant than was to 

 have been expected, especially in view of 

 last spring's comparative scarcity of 

 rooted cuttings. 



The trade in the national capital have 

 a busy year ahead. In November the 

 Chrysanthemum Society of America meets 

 there, in January the American Carna- 

 tion Society and next August the Society 

 of American Florists. 



The editorial matter in the August 

 number of the S. A. F. Journal was pre- 

 pared with a view to its being read before 

 the convention, but reached members after 

 that event was past and gone, not getting 

 into the mails till the end of the month. 



It will not do to neglect collections. 

 The trend of the times may be seen in 

 this: "R. G. Dun & Co. report 160 com- 

 mercial failures in the United States last 

 week, compared with 152 in the preceding 

 week and 99 in the corresponding week in 

 1919." 



When florists compare the quotations 

 now given them on calendars and other 

 such printed matter for next season with 

 what they paid last year, they realize 

 more poignantly how paper and printing 

 costs have jumped in the last twelve 

 months. 



Further trouble in the hard coal fields 

 may result from the seventeen per cent 

 raise awarded by the anthracite wage 

 commission, which was below even the 

 minimum demand of the miners. Presi- 

 dent Wilson supports the award and de- 

 fies the threat of a strike. 



It has been a wonderful summer for 

 the trade. Business has been much better 

 than in other years and growing condi- 

 tions have been so good that the supply 

 of stock has boon much larger than in any 

 other summer. Greenhouses are being 

 filled with stock of unuffually good qual- 

 ity. 



Send $50 to John Young, secretary of 

 the S. A. F., 4.3 West Eighteenth street, 

 New York, and he will send you one of 

 those great blue and gold signs that are 

 beginning to bloom along the roadside. 

 Put it on the side of your boiler-house, if 

 vou have no more conspicuous place for it. 

 bo your bit to tell the world to ' ' Say It 

 with Flowers. ' ' 



COAL TENDENCIES. 



Now that a downward tendency has 

 been reported in prices on bunker coal, 

 with strong indications that a further 

 decline may be expected, greenhouse 

 men are wondering if the effect will 

 spread to the fuel they use. In Balti- 

 more the drop was sharp, and in New 

 York quotations fell off noticeably. It 



should be remembered, however, that 

 the imperative demand for fuel at the 

 Atlantic ports caused many to engage 

 in speculative buying when coal was 

 scarcest. Now that conditions seem 

 easier, the outside speculators have 

 ceased activities. The drop to lower 

 figures in bunker coal represents, there- 

 fore, a return to a fair level from 

 profiteering prices and for that reason 

 is not to be expected to an equal extent 

 in other sorts of coal. 



There is, nevertheless, a feeling that 

 better transportation and steady work 

 at the mines will have an effect on coal 

 prices. Dun's said in last week's re- 

 port, "One trade feeling the effects of 

 improved transportation is bituminous 

 coal, which reported easing last week in 

 some regions and notes further weak- 

 ness this week." 



On the other hand, retail prices on 

 coal in Chicago were boosted when 

 freight rates went up, August 26. The 

 increase ranged as follows: Southern 

 Illinois coal, handled entirely within the 

 state, 53 cents a ton; the same coal 

 handled over an interstate route, 65 

 cents a ton; Indiana coal, 53 to 57 cents 

 a ton; Pocahontas and all other eastern 

 bituminous coals, $1.05 a ton. 



"Pocahontas coal," explained a Chi- 

 cago coal dealer, "costs $4.50 a ton at 

 the mine. The original freight charge 

 was $2.60 a ton plus three per cent war 

 tax. This has been increased by forty 

 per cent, bringing it up to $3.75 a ton. 

 This makes the cost to us $8.25 a ton. 

 It costs $2 a ton to pay cartage, yard 

 expenses, sales expenses and adminis- 

 tration. The cartage alone is $1.15 a 

 ton. Pocahontas coal bought on the 

 open market today cannot be delivered 

 at less than $12.50 if a dealer is to make 

 a fair profit." 



From the present outlook it seems as 

 though the grower must pay high prices 

 for his coal, since coal he must have, 

 and make the returns on his crops next 

 winter yield enough to cover the in- 

 crease. 



BEWARE SOLICITORS! 



In those communities where The Re- 

 view has an accredited representative, 

 he is a member of the trade who is 

 well known in the locality. No sub- 

 scription agents or traveling solicitors 

 are employed. So an unknown person 

 who seeks to take subscriptions to The 

 Review, especially in agency combina- 

 tions, is one with whom florists should 

 not deal. He is operating under false 

 pretenses in an endeavor to defraud 

 members of the trade. 



Report comes of one such case of 

 fraud in Cleveland recently. Perhaps 

 the same individual may attempt to 

 work the same scheme elsewhere. If 

 so, refuse to deal with him. Have 

 nothing to do with unknown persons 

 soliciting for The Review and keep 

 vour money. 



GLAD YOU THINK SO. 



Every now and then someone writes 



to The Review that he has received a 



service out of all proportion to the 



paper's charge for it. Like this: 



Enclosed find chock to pay for my little p«ony 

 nd. Have had better results from this than from 

 .any other advertisinK I liave ever done and your 

 charge is ridiculously low.— E. A. Riehl, Alton, 

 111., August 19. 1920. 



If you hear a man complain of the 

 cost of advertising you can be pretty 

 certain he spends a good bit of money 

 elsewhere than in The Review. 



"' 



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