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The Florists^ Review 



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POINTING A MORAL 



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FLOWERS IN BUSINESS. 



Sbowlng Us How. 



In The Beview for October 21 I spoke 

 of the greater use of flowers by busi- 

 ness men in their business. The article 

 referred to was under the title, "Open- 

 ing a Big Field. " It is my privilege in 

 this issue to give a practical example 

 of just how big a field it is, leaving my 

 readers to judge whether this business 

 is worth going after in a systematic 

 way. Before going into the story itself 

 I will cite an instance that occurred in 

 gathering data for this article; and it 

 is one that should bring the blush of 

 shame to the cheek of every florist who 

 is not doing all he can to boost the 

 national slogan of our industry. 



I called to interview one of the vice- 

 presidents of the Fidelity & Deposit Co. 

 about the event concerning which I am 

 going to speak. After a short conver- 

 sation, he decided to turn me over to the 

 publicity man, who could give me all 

 the data I desired, which he was only 

 too willing to do. As I was leaving his 

 office he remarked, "You florists have 

 got as great an asset in that slogan as 

 any industry in this country." I re- 

 plied that th^re was no doubt of that, 

 and then he came back at me with: 

 "And everyone realizes it except the 

 florists themselves." Is it any wonder 

 big industries have been in the habit 

 of looking on us as "pikers"? But 

 let us look for a moment at what ' ' Open- 

 ing a Big Field" really means and at 

 the same time note how other industries 

 do it. 



" Sar It -with Flowers. ' ' 



During the week of October 18 the 

 bankers of the United States were in 

 convention in Washington, D. C. The 

 Fidelity ft Deposit Co., of Maryland, the 

 first company in the world to do a bond- 

 ing business, has its home offices in Bal- 

 timore. As this company does business 

 with practically every bank in the coun- 

 try, it was its desire to have the mem- 

 bers of the convention visit Baltimore 

 as its guests. This was arranged for 

 October 23. The entertainment was 

 conducted on a scale that was most 

 elaborate. This required six Pullman 

 trains to bring the visitors from Wash- 

 ington and one train from New York. 

 Two of the largest excursion boats in 

 \ the harbor the Dreamland and Louise, 

 were secured. The excursion season was 

 over and these boats were laid up, but 

 they were put into commission, the ma- 

 chinery was overhauled and the boats 

 painted from stem to stern. But when 

 all this was done they realized that 

 something still was lacking. It was 

 then that one of the officers of the com- 

 pany suggested that they * ' Say It with 

 Flowers." This was a solution of the 

 entire problem, for, as the publicity 

 man told me, bunting would look too 

 cheap and there was danger of fire; 

 draperies would be too expensive. So 

 Samuel Feast & Sons were called up on 

 the phone, given carte blanche and told 

 to decorate the Dreamland in a manner 

 fitting the occasion. Robert L. Graham 

 was then called and told to do the same 

 with the Louise. 



The florists only had from Friday noon 

 until 8 a. m. Saturday for their tasks, 

 but with a staff of twenty men on each 

 boat, by working all night, it was ac- 

 complished. The main decks were 

 treated with banks of palms and ferns, 

 southern smilaz and autumn foliage. 

 The saloon decks were massed with 

 baskets of dahlias and mum^s, with 

 pretty baskets of plants and huge 

 vases of mums about the large mirrors; 

 it was on these decks that most of the 

 cut flowers were used. Then on the 

 hurricane decks the rails and lifeboats 

 were all covered with southern smilax 

 and foliage. The pilot houses, the most 

 conspicuous part of the ships, were cov- 

 ered with greens and plants. , 



And here is where I got an idea of 

 how a business man observes things, for 

 in my talk with the publicity man he 

 made this remark: "We must learn by 

 experience, for had we consulted the 

 florists first we could have saved a big 

 bill for painting." I, of course, re- 

 minded him that it was the fioral deco- 

 rator's business to cover unsightly ob- 

 jects. 



There were over 1,000 ladies in this 

 party; each one received a corsage 

 bouquet of roses. 



Let us sum up: Take the cost of the 

 seven Pullman trains and the charter of 

 two boats, to say nothing of renovating 



them. I can tell you that the caterer 's 

 bill, for taking care of 4,000 people, 

 was $15,000 for the day. '^en there 

 were the florists, aircraft and music. 

 The trains were all run direct to the 

 wharf terminals, which called for fartt 

 dentals, such as moving freight ears, 

 rolling rough cinders with steam rollers 

 so that the women could walk from the 

 cars to the boats with the least incon- 

 venience; the most trifling thing was 

 not neglected to insure the comfort of 

 these visitors. 



Moral for Florists. 



Now, the point I wish to make is this: 

 What was all this fort It was not to 

 boost the bonding business as a whole. 

 The main object of the entire party was 

 to give publicity to the Fidelity & 

 Deposit Co., of Maryland, and let me 

 say right here that the company is more 

 than satisfied with its endeavor. Sup- 

 pose our national publicity committee 

 had in its treasury what this one day's 

 publicity cost. They would be in a 

 position to keep our campaign going for 

 at least two years. New, the question is, 

 can 30,000 florists do what an individual 

 company didf Is there any better argu- 

 ment to be advanced for publicity than 

 the sight of business men, who will 

 stand out for a few cents in a busi- 

 ness deal, spending money like this for 

 publicity? If you had access to the 

 books of this company you would find 

 every dollar that this big party cost 

 was charged to advertising. And then 

 we read John Young's letter every week 

 in The Beview, entreating the florists 

 of the country to keep the best slogan 

 in the world working! Tate. 



ODCN LETTEl^y^ DEADEft3 



SOOBES 10-HOUB DAT. 



Mr. Editor, in the issue of The He- 

 view for September 30, I, as well as 

 many other employees, am surprised 

 about a letter you published from J. J. 

 Howard. Mr. Howard believes a green- 

 house establishment cannot be run on an 

 8-hour day basis and claims that it is im- 

 possible for him to have everything O. 

 K. in ten hours. Now, Mr. Howard, let me 

 tell you, I and m£^ny others do not be- 

 lieve that you are an employee, but that 

 you are an employer. If you are an em- 

 ployee you either idle your time away 

 when your employer is not present, or 

 work for one who wants you to do the 

 work for two or more. Some establish- 

 ments work only eight hours and are 

 getting along all right. 



To cut the working day to eight hours 

 at once I believe would do some hard- 

 ship to many employers, but nobody 

 should work more than nine hours a day. 

 The 8-hour day will come sometime later. 



Regarding a Christmas present to the 

 employees, when the employer has had 

 a good year of business, as you and Mr. 

 Allen state — I hope every employer has 

 a good year every year — if he is any 

 kind of man he will remember his em- 

 ployees on Christmas with some kind of 

 token. 



But paying him a bonus or extra 

 month's salary is nonsense. Let him 

 pay his men living wages all the year 

 and treat them like white men; that is 

 what workingmen ask for nowadays. 



B. Wahlstedt. 



SUNDAY IN ST. L0T7IS. 



In the last issue of The Beview ap- 

 peared an item in the St. Louis notes 

 which read as follows: "The movement 

 for Sunday closing has reached St. Louis 

 and is considered a step in the right 

 direction. The florists here are only 

 waiting for someone to start the ball 

 rolling. ' ' 



There should be a correction made in 

 regard to this. Last November, at a 

 retail florists' meeting in St. Louis, six- 

 teen of the leading florists signed a 

 paper stating they would close on Sun- 

 day from then on. Since that time 

 only four of us have stuck to that agree- 

 ment and remained closed on Sundays. 

 The four are the Newman Flower 

 Shoppe, Bourdet Floral Co., Bruenig the 

 Florist and Fred C. Weber. The above- 

 mentioned florists have their stores 

 closed on Sunday and do not solicit any 

 business for that day. 



This matter of Sunday closing should 

 be agitated a great deal more in The 

 Review, as it is a good thing. The 



