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CHECK COMPLAINTS 



ON HIGH PRICES 



LeVs show the public why floivers cost more to grow than they ever 

 did before mid why their prices cannot fall as other cormnodities are falling. 

 Now is the time to do the trade and the public real service by obviating 

 criticism of flower prices, so common at Christmas. 



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OEE dangerous in its in- 

 fluence on the sale of 

 flowers than the reaction 

 caused by depression in 

 certain industries accom- 

 panying the present busi- 

 ness readjustment is the 

 belief engendered by daily 

 newspapers that the prices 

 asked by florists are un- 

 duly high. This is no new topic, par- 

 ticularly for the month of December. 

 It seems, however, to have sprung up 

 earlier than usual this season and to 

 have been given more prominence in 

 public print. In Chicago this promi- 

 nence occurred at an unfortunate time, 

 the day before Thanksgiving, the same 

 day that the dailies of that city car- 

 ried a conspicuous amount of florists' 

 advertising, done by leading retailers 

 and the Allied Florists' Association. In 

 both the morning papers apjieared mat- 

 ter which, whether so calculated or not, 

 could not but discourage flower buying. 



Misrepresentation. 



In the Tribune, in a conspicuous col- 

 umn, was a story of high food costs, 

 ending with a statement quoted as 

 coming from Eussell J. Poole, secretary 

 of the city council committee on living 

 costs, which wound up with the para- 

 graph which appears in the box on this 

 page. In the Herald and Examiner, 

 Chicago's other morning paper, ap- 

 peared the cartoon reproduced at the 

 bottom of this page. This strip, which 

 is occupied daily by the adventures of 

 Barney Google, .'i])]i<'nrs not only in a 

 conspicuous position in the Herald and 

 Examiner, but also in many other news- 

 papers throughout the country, to which 

 it is supplied by the King Feature 

 Syndicate. 



The slogan of the Tribune, "The 

 World's Greatest Newspaper," and 

 that of the Herald and Examiner, 



"And as for the florists, they 

 are attempting the biggest rob- 

 bery of all. The young man who 

 attempts to say it with flowers 

 this Thanksgiving faces bank- 

 ruptcy." — From statement by sec- 

 retary of city council committee 

 on living costs, in Chicago Trib- 

 une, November 24. 



"Largest Three Cent Morning Circula- 

 tion in the World," may or may not be 

 accepted as strictly accurate by all 

 readers; nevertheless, they are the 

 morning reading of the citizens of the 

 third largest city in the world and of a 

 large number of people in Illinois and 

 adjacent states. Material in their 

 columns is given a wide circulation and 

 its influence is great. The result was 

 that the money which the florists of 

 Chicago, through the Allied Florists' 

 Association, spent to advertise flowers 

 for Thanksgiving on one page was dis- 

 counted by what met readers' eyes on a 

 later page. Some readers who perused 

 the florists' advertisement going down- 

 town on the street cars or elevated 

 trains the morning before Thanksgiving 

 said to themselves, "I guess I'll get 

 some flowers for tomorrow" — and 

 some of them, after they had read Rus- 

 sell J. Poole 's remark on a later page, 

 said, "I guess I won'tl" Just the pre- 

 cise result to florists of such adverse 

 publicity cannot be determined, but 

 that there was a result not beneficial 

 to the trade cannot be doubted. 



Protest. 



In protest to the quotation from Mr. 

 Poole which appeared in the Chicago 

 Tribune, The Review wrote a letter 



to the editor of that newspaper suggest- 

 ing that a fairer presentation of facts 

 be made the public. One of the re- 

 sults of the letter was its apjiearance — 

 with some omissions — in the depart- 

 ment headed "Voice of the People," 

 in the Tribune November 26. The 

 letter actually written November 24 

 was as follows: 



At the pnd of the article which appeared In 

 the right-hand coiumn of page 17 of this morn- 

 ing's Tribune appeared the following statement, 

 quoting Russeil J. Poole, "And as for the florists, 

 they are attempting the biggest robbery of all. 

 Tlie young man who attempts to say it with 

 flowers this Thanlcagiving faces banliniptcy." 



This statement is more than an exaggeration; 

 it is a false assertion which puts in a wrong 

 light iin entire trade in the territory in which 

 the Tribune circulates. It brands an entire 

 group of men and women because the truth is not 

 known in their behalf. 



Actually, prices of flowers are little above 

 what they were a year ago. During the year 

 coal has advanced tremendously in cost and 

 labor has kept close upon its heels. These 

 two items form the principal expense in growing 

 flowers. The florist, so far from committing 

 robbery, is in reality working on smaller margin 

 than ever before, and is bearing part of the 

 advance in cost instead of passing it all along 

 to tlie consumer. 



Wouldn't a news story regarding tills feature 

 of flower costs be as goo<I material for your 

 columns as are explanations of grocers' and 

 butcliers' iiigli prices? 



Blame. 



Of course, we all understand that, in 

 endeavoring to strike a humorous note, 

 both the cartooiiis't in Mr. Hearst's 

 liapcr, the Herald and Examiner, and 

 the reporter on the Tribune staff in 

 quoting Mr. Poole, shot their shaft at 

 florists without ever a thought of the 

 mark they hit. They had been used to 

 making quips about high prices in the 

 various lines and drew no distinctions 

 between justified high prices and un- 

 justifiably high prices. To them the 

 high price of flowers is in the same 

 class as the high price of sugar or silk 

 shirts. They know the bottom fell out 

 of the latter two when the cost of raw 

 materials went down. They don 't know 

 that the bottom cannot drop out of the 



CHICAf.O Hi:iv\l.l> \MJ l,\ \.»IIM;i(-i. ir.l rn. 



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Barmrey GooiSj'Ie 





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By EiUy Be Beck 



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Scores of Newspapers Carried this Syndicated Impression of Flower Prices the Day Before Thanksgiving. 



