NOVEMBBB 27, 1919. 



The Florists^ Review 



25 



profession has been raised to a higher 

 plane, oflfering favorable working hours 

 and compensation comparable with that 

 of other industrial pursuits. For young 

 men of brains and ability the commer- 

 cial flower business now offers better 



opportunities than ever before. And 

 it is to be hoped that many more able 

 young men like Mr. Palmer will embrace 

 these opportunities by adopting the 

 business for their life work. 



James McLaughlin. 



TEACHINO THE PUBLIC. 



Unconscious Education. 



There is, perhaps, no business that 

 has made the same rapid strides in the 

 last fifty years that the retail florists' 

 business has made. When we go into 

 the history of the growth of this branch 

 of the trade, we find it a romance in 

 which "Say It with Flowers" has 

 played the leading role. 



In a recent article it was my endeavor 

 to bring out the importance of educa- 

 tion among the growers. While talk- 

 ing this matter over with a retailer, we 

 compared the number of retail stores 

 doing business in a large city twenty- 

 five years ago with the number engaged 

 in a like calling today. Of course, as the 

 inhabitants of a city increase the num- 

 ber of stores naturally increases. But 

 the retail florists ' business has increased 

 on much greater proportion than the 

 population in the cities of this country. 

 Now, the reason for this is, I think, that 

 the florists themselves have been uncon- 

 sciously sowing among the public the 

 seeds of education, which are now 

 springing into life and bearing fruit a 

 thousand-fold. 



Common Efforts. 



The object of this article is to bring 

 out the fact that, if the education of the 

 public has been the gp-eatest factor in 

 the miraculous advance the business has 

 made in the last fifty years without any 

 well defined plan, its possibilities in the 

 next fifty years, with all who are en- 

 gaged in the business working together 

 with this object in view, are yet greater. 

 The first point to be considered is the 

 best means of gaining the ear and the 

 eye of the public and in no better way 

 can this be accomplished than by every- 

 one connected with any branch of the 

 business or its allied trades getting to- 

 gether, for the more flowers that are 

 used, the more supplies, ribbons and 

 everything of this description that goes 

 to make up the retail business, will be 

 consumed. 



Let everyone get behind the national 

 advertising campaign; let him feel that 

 this campaign is a vital part of his own 

 business and that as it progresses his 

 individual business will progress. 



Indeed, both the publicity campaign 

 and the F. T. D. are fast taking such a 

 hold upon the public that they will do 

 more for the florists' business in the 

 future than any of us can estimate at 

 the present time. Both of them have 

 gone beyond the experimental stage; 

 they have both proved themselves to be 

 sound business propositions. We are all 

 familiar with the fact that once an en- 

 terprise gets into a position where it 

 pays good dividends, its stock will soon 

 advance. 



Let each florist feel that every ad- 



vertisement in the magazines, every 

 billboard and, in fact, every appearance 

 of the slogan, "Say It with Flowers," 

 is his personal advertisement. Conduct 

 your business as though you were alojie 

 responsible for it, as you are to a great 

 extent, to the customer who perhaps 

 through reading somewhere determines 

 to "Say It with Flowers." Let your 

 goods, your attention and your skill go 

 to make one whose first experience it is 

 in saying it with flowers realize what a 

 perfect way it is. 



New Customers and Converts. 



This is what the practical educator 

 would term personal work. While all 

 that goes before is most important, it 

 is the personal work that finally clinches 

 all that the advertising campaign has 

 started and gains a convert to the great 

 army who on every occasion will "Say 

 It with Flowers." 



In handling telegraph orders, personal 

 work is most important. The florist re- 

 ceives an order from a distant city. 

 It may be for a funeral, or perhaps a 

 box of flowers or a plant for some happy 

 occasion, to be delivered to someone 

 of whom you have never heard before. 

 Consider for a moment the possibilities 

 in such a case. Perhaps the recipient 

 has never had occasion to buy flowers 

 before. Cannot you readily see how 

 important it is that your wire order 

 should be better than satisfactory! The 

 novelty of your order being sent by 



someone out of town, probably living at 

 a great distance, will have its effect and 

 in every case we may depend upon the 

 sender being near and dear to the re- 

 cipient. This will make your order at- 

 tract more attention than any other re- 

 ceived and a note will be made of where 

 it comes from; in nine cases out of ten, 

 you have made a new customer and at 

 the same time a convert to flowergrams. 

 Let us all remember that in our edu- 

 cation we are only beginners. Great 

 things are ahead of us, but above all 

 things, let us remember that no one who 

 was not educated ever imparted an ed- 

 ucation; there is only one way to ac- 

 quire an education and that is through 

 constant application and study. 



Tate. 



ItAMBEKT'S IX)CAI<S. 



E. H. Kunze, proprietor of the New- 

 ton Floral Co., Newton, Kan., has a 

 fine new carnation, which has the ear- 

 marks of a winner. It is a sport from 

 Supreme, salmon pink, measuring four 

 inches, and has a stiff stem, good calyx 

 and heavy foliage. Mr. Kunze points 

 to it with considerable pride and says 

 he will have some for the trade next 

 spring. 



According to Chas. P. Mueller, of 

 Wichita, Kan., the coal situation is not 

 so bad in that state, though he himself 

 is installing oil. Mr. Mueller is an 

 authority in his community, being active 

 in all local public enterprises. He 

 states that within a few days the agi- 

 tators, not miners, will be moved out 

 by the governor of Kansas and once the 

 agitators are eliminated the miners will 

 return to work. Most of the miners, he 

 says, want to return to work and the 

 operators will treat with the miners in- 

 dividually, to their mutual benefit. Mr. 

 Mueller has added another delivery car, 

 a Hudson Supersix, making eight cars 

 in use for his two successful stores and 

 his greenhouses. Mr. Mueller is presi- 

 dent of the school board, head of the 

 local Botarians and at the head of the 

 Civic League. J. A. L. 



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INSURANCE TANGLE GBOWS. 



Lawyers Working On It. 



That the Indiana florists who under- 

 took to straighten out the affairs of the 

 American Mutual Cyclone & Hail In- 

 surance Co., of Muncie, are finding their 

 task rather more difiicult than they ex- 

 pected is shown by a letter sent out in 

 printed form over the signature of 

 President Dillon Myers. Apparently 

 it went to all the members outside the 

 state of Indiana and it puts them in 

 doubt as to their status, because they 

 previously had been notified that they 

 were out, simply dropped. Now it ap- 

 pears legal opinion is that these "for- 

 eign" members could not be so sum- 

 marily disposed of, but that member- 

 ship is held to be a liability instead 

 of an asset. 



Here is the case of a Michigan florist. 

 He took out membership in 1918, re- 

 ceiving a policy for $2,000. In the 

 spring of 1919 an assessment of $70 was 



paid. Shortly after, notice was received 

 that the policy was void, because the 

 company's charter did not permit it to 

 write insurance outside the state of 

 Indiana. The florist did not know where 

 he was "at" and did nothing. 



Still a Member and Liable? 



Now comes the following letter from 

 President Myers: 



We are trying to reorganize the American 

 Mutual Cyclone & Hail Insurance Co., of Mun- 

 cie, Ind., and find that our charter does not 

 permit the carrying of risks outside of the state, 

 but that all properties to be insured "must be 

 located within the state of Indiana." To con- 

 tinue to carry such risks outside, or other than 

 in Indiana, would mean the forfeiting of our 

 charter by the auditor of the state, who has wo 

 informed us. 



We employed an attorney, who, after thorough 

 investigation, informs us that these certificates 

 of membership, or so-called policies, are binding 

 on all parties concerned (members), and that in 

 a final settlement, such as would be made by a 

 receiver, should one be appointed to wind up 

 the affairs of the company, these certifi- 

 cates of membership or so-called policies would 

 be assessed and that these assessments could be 

 collected and that the best way to completely 

 cancel same is for the assured to sign the at- 

 tached release blank, which will be accepted by 

 the company and placed on file. 



