22 



The Rorists^ Review 



OCTOBBB 14, 1020 



the address. The committee consisted 

 of George Asmus, chairman; S. A. An- 

 derson, Max Schling, W. W. Gammage 

 and Charles Henry Fox. 



Treasurer W. L. Rock presented his 

 report for the last year, reprinted on 

 another page, and called attention to 

 the excellent condition of the associa- 

 tion's finances. He emphasized the need 

 of a good balance in the bank and the 

 wisdom of keeping the guaranty fund 

 intact permanently. 



Secretary Fochelon Up. 



Next on the program was Secretary 

 Pochelon, who proceeded to enliven it 

 in his diverting way. First, he directed 

 M. Bloy to bring the insignia of the 

 wooden wedding, since this was the 

 fifth annual independent meeting of 

 the association. A truly remarkable 

 bouquet of shavings, showered with 

 wooden kitchen utensils, was displayed. 

 Then, in return for the silver service 

 presented him by the association last 

 year, Mr. Pochelon passed out a silver 

 spoon to each one present, bearing on 

 the handle the inscription, "F. T. D., 

 1920." These were Mr. Pochelon 's per- 

 sonal gift. The notes that Mr. Pochelon 

 was going to speak from for his secre- 

 tary's report were overlooked in the 

 excitement of the new F. T. D. roll call 

 and the passing of the hat for the pub- 

 licity campaign. 



For the roll call cards were passed 

 out, to be filled with each person's 

 name, address, firm connection and 

 other data. When they were collected, 

 the cards were read by M. Bloy through 

 his megaphone while each individual 

 stood up to the audience's view as his 

 name was called. 



The hat was passed by Max Schling, 

 Charles H. Grakelow and W. W. Gam- 

 mage, who demonstrated their ability 

 as collectors by turning over to Treas- 

 urer Rock a total of $1,719. 



PubUcity. 



Before the morning session closed 

 the floor was given to George Asmus, 

 chairman of the publicity finance com- 

 mittee of the S. A. F., who related the 

 history of the publicity campaign and 

 stated in frank terms the present posi- 

 tion of the publicity committee. He 

 appealed more particularly for support 

 in disposing of the slogan signs, which 

 the committee prefers calling them to 

 the term "billboard." The publicity 

 committee, which had been in session 

 in Indianapolis October 10 and 11, had 

 made arrangements whereby these 

 signs are now offered at $40 f. o. b. 

 Fort Wayne, instead of $50 as formerly. 

 Having 350 of them on its hands, the 

 committee made appeal through Mr. 

 Asmus for their speedy disposition. His 

 stirring remarks were forcibly backed 

 up by Herman P. Knoble, chairman of 

 the 8. A. F. finance committee. So 

 effective was their appeal that at the 

 afternoon session 150 slogan signs were 

 reported sold. 



Afternoon Session. 



The afternoon session October 12 was 

 opened by President Breitmeyer's read- 

 ing President Woodrow Wilson's let- 

 ter in response to the basket of flowers 

 sent him last year by the association at 

 Buffalo. Secretary Pochelon read tele- 

 graphic greetings and expressions of re- 

 gret on account of absence from J. W. 

 Grandy, of Norfolk, Va., Chas. P. Muel- 

 ler, of Wichita, Kan., and others. He 



began reading telegrams from Toronto 

 florists urging the F. T. D. to convene 

 in that city in 1921. The sentiment, re- 

 enforced by expressions from the floor, 

 seemed so strong that, upon the motion 

 of W. W. Gammage, seconded by A. F. 

 Borden, of Los Angeles, the order of 

 business was changed to permit the 

 naming of the Canadian city as the 

 1921 meeting place, which won a most 

 vociferous chorus of ayes. 



Nomination of Officers. 



The nomination of officers being the 

 next item of business, William F. Gude 

 declared that the association was com- 

 posed of men wide-awake enough to 

 know a good man when they saw him 

 and to keep him when they had him in 

 office. That, he declared, was good rea- 

 son for the reelection of Philip Breit- 

 meyer as president. The association 

 agreed with him and nominated the ex- 

 mayor of Detroit unanimously. 



Karl P. Baum placed the name of 

 H. G. Dillemuth, of Toronto, in nomina- 

 tion for the vice-presidency. This was 

 seconded by A. F. Borden and then by 

 Irwin Bertermann, the retiring incum- 

 bent of that office. Despite Mr. Dille- 

 muth 's inclination to withdraw, he was 

 unanimously nominated for the office. 



For the position held by Mr. Dille- 

 muth on the board of directors, William 

 F. Gude nominated Max Schling, of 

 New York. The other retiring directors, 

 Herman P. Knoble and Edward Sceery, 

 he nominated to succeed themselves. To 

 tnis the members acceded, closing the 

 nominations and virtually electing those 

 named. The treasurer and secretary 

 are named by the board of directors, 

 who will doubtless continue to repose 

 faith in William L. Rock and Albert 

 Pochelon respectively. 



Splendid Address. 



The business of the session concluded, 

 Ira C. Harper, of the A. W. Smith Co., 

 Pittsburgh, delivered his address on 

 "Credits and Bookkeeping Systems for 

 Up-to-date Flower Shops, also the com- 

 mercial end of our industry from the 

 eyes of the man behind the books." 

 This was chiefly an exposition — and a 

 most illuminating one — of the voucher 

 system employed by the Pittsburgh 

 company, given with the aid of chalk 

 and a blackboard. It is given in full, 

 though necessarily without the black- 

 board illustrations, on another page of 

 this issue. 



Mr. Brown, representing the Western 

 Union Telegraph Co., told of the com- 

 pany's appreciation of florists' business 

 and expressed hope of constant im- 

 provement in the service given them. 



Closing the session, Herman P. Knoble 

 gave the report of the committee on the 

 cost of doing business, which appears 

 on another page. 



Movies. 



The session Tuesday evening consist- 

 ed chiefly of motion pictures and a take- 

 off on a minstrel show. The former were 

 of several sorts. First E. G. Hill de- 

 livered an interesting talk to the ac- 

 companiment of colored slides of Eng- 

 lish gardens and roses, showing the large 

 estates and elaborate gardens across the 

 water. 



W. A. Moore showed motion pictures 

 of the Hollywood Farms, about twenty 

 miles from Seattle, where, in addition to 

 about 150,000 feet of glass, are the most 

 modern sorts of poultry and dairy farms. 



Carnations and roses were shown in the 

 firm 's greenhouses, and a view at Easter 

 time exhibited splendid lilies, hydran- 

 geas, hyacinths, tulips, etc., which were 

 sold through the beautiful new store in 

 the city of Seattle. 



An artistic film presented views of 

 the exterior and interior of the green- 

 houses of Gude Bros. Co., at Anacostia, 

 D. C, and also of the store in Wash- 

 ington. The methods of work were 

 watched with interest, and the pictures 

 of Misses Amelia and Esther Gude and 

 of William F. Gude, president of the 

 company, and of Adolphus Gude, vice- 

 president and general manager, drew ap- 

 plause from the spectators. 



The short S. A. F. advertising film,, 

 entitled "Her Birthday," was run 

 through. 



Then followed a demonstration of re- 

 tail work by Max Schling, of New York. 

 He made bouquets, baskets and center- 

 pieces, giving hints as to arrangement 

 and as to inexpensive aids to novel ef- 

 fects. This he followed with lantern 

 slides of his work, as given at the S. A. 

 F. convention at Cleveland. 



Minstrels. 



The close of the long evening was de- 

 voted to a minstrel form of entertain- 

 ment. Interlocutor was Charles H. 

 Grakelow. On the platform were G. E. 

 M. Stumpp, H. P. Knoble, Geo. M. 

 Geraghty, George Asmus, A. F. Borden, 

 Max Schling, Karl P. Baum, Fred C. 

 Weber, J. Fred Ammann, Charles Feast, 

 William Phillips, Irwin Bertermann and 

 H. G. Dillemuth. 



The interlocutor read his questions re- 

 garding examples of F. T. D. problems 

 in concrete instances, such as small or- 

 ders, long deliveries, return postcards. 

 Pacific coast prices, misdirected orders^ 

 telegraphic errors, etc. To these the 

 others read the responses, solutions to 

 such typical problems. This feature was 

 the idea of Albert Pochelon and was his 

 novel way of impressing the F. T. D. 

 principles on members. 



Wednesday Morning Session. 



At the morning session October 13 the 

 amendments to the by-laws recommend- 

 ed at Buffalo were read by William L. 

 Rock and all adopted unanimously. Chief 

 among them was the creation of asso- 

 ciate memberships for the travelings 

 salesmen and foreign correspondents, 

 the creation of bonds, many of which 

 already have been sent to members; the 

 addition of all past presidents to the 

 board of directors, and the change of 

 the association 's fiscal year. 



A. F. Borden, of Los Angeles, read his 

 paper on "Prices on the Pacific Coast, "^ 

 which is printed on another page of this 

 issue. He was accorded a rising vote 

 of thanks. 



An outline of the plans of the Na- 

 tional Flower Growers' Association was 

 given by J. Fred Ammann, with an ap- 

 peal to the F. T. D. for support. 



Secretary Pochelon gave a further 

 piece of his message as secretary, which 

 had been curtailed the day preceding. 



After remarks by E. G. Hill and a 

 talk on Pacific coast prices by Fred 

 Seulberger, of Oakland, Cal., Major 

 O'Keefe spoke on the publicity cam- 

 paign. His reference to the slogan 

 signs or billboards led to requests for 

 additional ones from the floor. A total 

 of eighty were sold. Further interest- 

 ing points on publicity were given in a 

 short address by Henry Penn. 



