32 



The Florists^ Review 



JANUAEY 13, 1921 





Established 1R9T, 

 by G. L Grant. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Florists' Puislishing Co., 



600-560 Oaxton Building, 



BOS South Dearborn St., Ohicago. 



Tel., Wabash 8195. 



Re^l'^tered cable address, 



Florvlew. Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Dec. 3. 1897, at the post-olBce at Chi- 

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3.1879. 



Subscription price, $2.00 a year. 

 To Canada, $3.00; to Europe, $4.00. 



Advertising rates quoted on 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



This trade should not reduce wages 

 just because others are doing so. On 

 tlie contrary, they should be maintained, 

 in order to attract the new blood neces- 

 sary to the trade's expansion. 



The high cost of printing is a serious 

 matter for our trade societies. It is 

 not possible to make ends meet without 

 increased income and to sell advertising 

 space at a profitable rate proves more 

 difficult than it looks to be. 



There are various indications that the 

 change in general business conditions 

 will result in a considerable expansion 

 of the florists' industry, notably in the 

 way of new people making a start in the 

 business in a small way. From 1916 to 

 1920 people went out of the trade in- 

 stead of into it, because of the strong 

 demand for workers in other fields, but 

 now they are coming back, and many 

 more with them. 



EESULTS. 



We give them. You get them. 



We both have them. 



Belgian glass is again being shipped 

 to this country, though in small quan- 

 tities. 



California furnishes florists another 

 example of cooperative advertising. The 

 peach growers will spend $125,000 in a 

 special campaign during the coming 

 spring months. 



There is the usual demand for young 

 stock of geraniums. Those who have 

 been sending out good cuttings or 2%,- 

 inch plants year after year have been 

 sold ahead for months. 



The florist who knows his business 

 costs saves himself doubt and worry in 

 changing times. He is certain when he 

 is making a profit and can tell where 

 the reason lies if he does not. 



The December number of the S. A. F. 

 .Journal, just distributed to members, is 

 filled with the reports of the committee 

 meetings at Cleveland, reported some 

 weeks ago in The Review, and the last of 

 the August convention proceedings. 



It seems unlikely that the profits in 

 the florists' business ever again will be 

 so satisfactory as in the last two years, 

 but the same can be said of nearly every 

 other line of production and merchan- 

 dising, with the further factor in our 

 favor that our trade has had no large 

 stocks of goods on which recent deprecia- 

 tion has eaten into previous profits. 



When one considers that raw silk and 

 wages are still about double and sup- 

 plies at least treble what they were in 

 1914, it is not difficult to believe that the 

 reduction of the selling price of ribbons 

 is fully down to the lowest possible cost 

 of present reproduction. Manufacturers 

 sav they are making these prices in spite 

 of" the "fact that the actual goods being 

 delivered now probably cost them a great 

 deal more. 



In the words of Roger Babson, the 

 financial statistician, "There will be 

 prosperity and plenty of it in 1921 if 

 we get back to the fundamental idea of 

 telling the truth, living the truth and 

 respecting the truth. Prosperity is based 

 upon the fundamental qualities of faith, 

 moderation, service and thrift. We are 

 in a time when honesty is not merely 

 the best policy; it is the only policy 

 which can bring business back to a nor- 

 mal basis." 



CABNATION PLANTS TOK EGYPT. 



In order that it may obtain the 

 widest attention in the trade, Secretary 

 Albert Pochelon has asked The Review 

 to print the query below, addressed to 

 the F. T. D. News, so that it will reach 

 the notice of carnation growers. The 

 inquiry, from Stamm Bros., P. O. B. 

 291, Cairo, Egypt, asks: 



"Is it possible for us here in Cairo 

 to obtain, through parcel post or other- 

 wise, from America living small carna- 

 tion plants? The standstill of vegeta- 

 tion here in Egypt lasts from the mid- 

 dle of November until the end of Feb- 

 ruary. ' ' 



WHAT ABOUT HAND TEACTORS? 



The Review is in receipt of numer- 

 ous inquiries concerning hand tractors 

 for the cultivation of florists' field 

 crops. Labor still is scarce outside the 

 industrial centers and, if obtainable, 

 costs so much the desire is strong to 

 make time count for as much as possi- 

 ble. "All florists and nurserymen I 

 have talked to in Dallas, Fort Worth, 

 Waco and Houston are much inter- 

 ested," writes a Texas subscriber, 

 "and if you can jjut us in touch with 

 a machine which has proved satisfac- 

 tory in other sections you will be doing 

 a great favor to all concerned. There 

 must be one made that will take the 

 place of a one-horse plow." 



Review readers seem to know every- 

 thing. Let's hear from them about 

 motor-driven walking tractors. 



porarily upset. Had the prices of all 

 commodities as well as wages of workers 

 declined in approximately the same 

 ratios, the buying power of the different 

 classes in the community would be rela- 

 tively the same as a year ago, but, as it 

 happens, certain classes have been af- 

 fected more adversely than others. The 

 farmers, for instance, who are now re- 

 ceiving one-third less for their prod- 

 ucts than they did a year ago, have suf- 

 fered a real decrease in purchasing 

 power, since other commodities, with the 

 exception of clothing, have not fallen 

 comparatively with farm products. 

 These varying situations are the reason 

 for widely different reports as to busi- 

 ness from florists throughout the coun- 

 try. 



TIME TO THINK OF INCOME TAX. 



Who? Single persons who had net 

 income of $1,000 or more for the year 

 1920; married couples who had net in- 

 come of $2,000. 



When? March 15, 1921, is the final 

 date for filing returns and making first 

 payments. 



Where? Collector of Internal Reve- 

 nue for district in which the person 

 resides. 



How? Full directions on Form 1040 A 

 and Form 1040; also the law and regu- 

 lations. 



What? Four per cent normal tax on 

 taxable income up to $4,000 in excess 

 of exemption. Eight per cent normal 

 tax on balance of taxable income. Sur- 

 tax from one per cent to sixty-five per 

 cent on" net incomes over $5,000. 



A "SPOTTY" SITUATION. 



While price declines during the last 

 few months have been general, they 

 have been far more severe for certain 

 kinds of commodities than for others. 

 For example, according to the bureau of 

 labor statistics, clothing has fallen in 

 price thirty-four per cent below the 

 highest point reached, whereas metal 

 and metal products have fallen only 

 thirteen per cent; chemicals and drugs, 

 seven per cent, and house furnishing 

 goods, only one per cent. 



This fact of uneven price reductions 

 is of importance to florists, for it ex- 

 plains why some customers are as good 

 on the books as formerly while others 

 are not, and it likewise explains why 

 some florists feel the change in condi- 

 tions more than others, according to the 

 nature of their communities and clien- 

 teles. It means that the equilibrium of 

 our economic structure has been tem- 



TUBN OF BUSINESS MASKED. 



Those business prognosticators who 

 looked for an improvement at "the 

 turn of the year" have some evidences 

 to verify that prediction. Reports of 

 factories opening have appeared each 

 day of late, and the general trend has 

 been so hopeful as to create a greater 

 degree of optimism among florists. 

 Business developments in the first days 

 of the new year have been of a decid- 

 edly encouraging character. Ugly 

 rumors of receiverships, closing down 

 of department stores and a foreign 

 financial debacle that were so much in 

 evidence in the final weeks of 1920 have 

 given way to expressions of optimism 

 and predictions of early recovery from 

 the long drawn out depression. While 

 business conditions throughout the 

 country are decidedly irregular, large 

 bank clearances are eloquent evidence 

 of a larger volume of business than gen- 

 erally believed to be the case. Things 

 are looking up in the automotive, tex- 

 tile, leather and copper industries. 

 Some Detroit automobile plants that 

 have been closed down for some time 

 are resuming operations. The same is 

 true of textile mills in New England. 

 Retail business, instead of fading away 

 entirely after the holidays, as many pre- 

 dicted, is continuing in fairly satisfac- 

 tory volume, indicating that the public 

 is well supplied with funds. Labor ap- 

 pears to be conciliatory. Recent wage 

 reductions and curtailment of working 

 forces have been accepted without pro- 

 test, it being apparent that the heads of 

 labor organizations full well realize the 

 necessity of lowering wage scales in 

 conformity with the reduced cost of liv- 

 ing. All these signs point to an even 

 earlier completion of readjustment and 

 resumption of steady business through- 

 out the country than was anticipated. 



