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ARMISTICE DAY 



^ AUTUMN'S INFANT 



Including sentiments of both a memorial and a thanksgiving day, 

 Armistice day, at its second anniversary, presents possibilities of great 

 development by florists. Some urging through newspaper advertising, 

 window displays and other means of publicity will result in strong public 



response to this new flower day. 





U L L of opportunity t o 



F florists, Armistice day, 

 November 11, is again at 

 hand. Perhaps sometime, 

 when the exigencies of 

 politics permit, there may 

 ftl^^A be a Peace day, but so 

 (j^^\ji long has Congress dallied 

 =i that little enthusiasm is 

 , likely to be demonstrated 

 on that occasion. Certainly there will 

 not be that universal and penetrating 

 appeal to the emotions on any other day 

 that there is on the anniversary of 

 November 11, 1918. The appeal of 

 Armistice day is twofold. It is both a 

 thanksgiving day and a memorial day. All 

 over the country, families and indi- 

 viduals once more wiqh to express the 

 feeling of profound relief which came 

 with the cessation of actual hostilities. 

 While peace among nations is still a 

 most uncertain state, November 11, 1918, 

 brought peace to many a home, where 

 now a renewal of gratitude will eagerly 

 seek expression in flowers on its anniver- 

 sary. 



Flowers Express FeeUn^^s. 



Thousands of families, however, will 

 remember with reawakened sorrow the 

 father or son, the husband or brother, 

 whom the war took and did not return. 

 In those homes Armistice day will be a 

 time of teconsecra- 

 tion, of renewed de- 

 votion to the spirit 

 of the one who is 

 gone and to the 

 lives of those who 

 remain. Here, too, 

 flowers will serve, 

 better than any- 

 thing else, the need 

 of making tangible 

 those feelmgs which 

 so often defy the 

 ordinary powers of 

 language. 



This double as- 

 pect of the day will 

 play its part in the 

 trade's planning of 

 advertising and of 

 store arrangement. 

 And, young though 

 Armistice day is, 

 its history can al- 

 ready give sugges- 

 tions. 



When the signing 

 of the armistice 

 reached this coun- 

 try, The Eeview of 

 November 14 was 

 on its way to press; 



its Fall number was appropriately made 

 a Victory number, with fitting special 

 cover, and its publication was perhaps 

 the earliest celebration of the event in a 

 trade paper. But the discussion of the 

 significance of the armistice was natu- 

 rally concerned at that time more with 

 the modification of war-time restrictions 

 than with the possible development of 

 the occasion into a prominent flower 

 day. In 1919, however, the trade was 

 reminded that its use of the opportuni- 

 ties offered by Armistice day that year 

 would largely determine what might be 

 possible in later years; the event was 

 described as "a ground-floor occasion." 

 Subsequent reports indicate that many 

 got in on the ground floor. Presumably 

 they will go up at least one flight this 

 year. Varied Appeal. 



As suggested by the double meaning 

 of the day, flowers will be used partly 

 in cemetery and other memorial designs 

 and partly in orders for special celebra- 

 tive functions and for personal gifts to 

 friends and relatives. But not all ad- 

 vertising will be a direct appeal for that 

 business. In some cities, the local or- 

 ganization for cooperative publicity will 

 doubtless organize a "Say It with 

 Flowers" week which will include that 

 day, as is planned in Chicago and was 

 done last year in Buffalo and Boston. 



Window Decoration that Brought Business Last Armistice Day in Salt Lake City. 



At that time, in Boston, after a parade 

 through the downtown district, thirty- 

 five automobiles distributed approxi- 

 mately 20,000 blooms and 1,000 potted 

 plants among the various hospitals of 

 Boston, as the florists' gift to the 

 patients. 



As with Mothers' day and Memorial 

 day, much of the publicity for Armistice 

 day flowers will come, more or less un- 

 sought, from organizations interested in 

 the celebration of the day. The various 

 societies of war veterans will do much 

 to arouse popular thought to the mean- 

 ing of the day, and some have recom- 

 mended the wearing of flowers. The 

 women's clubs and organizations of the 

 mothers of veterans will strengthen the 

 demand for flowers on that day. Boards 

 of trade and business men's clubs will 

 find Armistice day an appropriate time 

 to express their patriotism. Where the 

 governor of the state or the mayor of 

 the city has declared Armistice day an 

 ofKcial holiday, further impetus is given 

 to all the forces working toward the use 

 of flowers at that time. 



Promoting the Day. 



While much good for the trade is cer- 

 tain to come from the spontaneous activ- 

 ities of these various outside organiza- 

 tions, that good may, of course, be in- 

 creased by definite cooperation between 

 them and the local 

 florists' club or pub- 

 1 i c i t y committee. 

 This cooperation 

 may find expression 

 in parades, in which 

 flowers are the deco- 

 rative feature, the 

 blooms afterward 

 being given to the 

 patients in hos- 

 pitals; in commem- 

 orative meet ings, 

 where flowers are 

 similarly used; in 

 system atic floral 

 decoration of all 

 the soldiers' graves 

 in the city, or in 

 other equally effec- 

 tive ways. 



For direct adver- 

 tising, window dis- 

 plays and newspa- 

 pers will probably 

 be found the most 

 profitable means. 

 Both the display 

 and the advertising 

 c opy m ay have 

 cither a peace ap- 

 peal or a memorial 



