30 



The Florists^ Review 



May 17, 1917. 



m 



Established, 1897, by G. L. GRANT. 



Published every Thursday by 

 The Flokists' Puijlishinu Co., 



620-560 Caxton BnlldlriB, 



508 South Dearbt)ru St., Chicago. 



Tele., Wabash 8195, 



Registered cable address, 



Florvlew, Chicago. 



Entered as second class matter 

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

 cago, 111., under the Act of March 

 3 1879, 



Subscription price, $1.50 a year. 

 To Canada, $2.50; to Europe, $3.00. 



Advei'tlslng rates quoted upon 

 request. Only strictly trade ad- 

 vertising accepted. 



NOTICE. 



It is impossible to g^uarantee 



the insertion, discontinuance or 



alteration of any advertisement 



unless instructions are received 



BY 4 P. M. TUESDAY. 



SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 

 Incorporated by Act of Congress, March 4, 1901. 



Officers for 1917: President, Robert 0. Kerr, 

 Houston, Tex.; vice-president, A. L. Miller, Ja- 

 maica, N. Y. ; secretary, John Young, 53 W. 28th 

 St., New York City; treasurer, J. J. Hess, 

 Omaha, Neb. 



Thirty-third annual convention, New York, 

 N. Y., August 21 to 24, 1917. 



Results bring advertising. 

 The Review brings results. 



It is reported the arrival of the Dutch 

 bulbs this fall is assured by the settle- 

 ment of differences between the Dutch 

 and British governments which will re- 

 sult in the Dutch ships returning to the 

 sea. 



If, instead of bedding stock, our best 

 customers plant potatoes in the front 

 yard this spring, we shall at least have 

 the assurance that there Avill be a lot of 

 lawn-making requiring our attention in 

 the autumn. 



A NUMBER of newspaper editorials de- 

 crying Mothers' day have been sent to 

 The Review this week, but the only one 

 that protested against observing it with 

 the use of flowers misspelled as common a 

 word as ' ' bouquet. ' ' 



Right on the heels of Mothers' day 

 comes Memorial day. The interval this 

 year scarcely is enough to give the live 

 men of the trade the time they need to 

 work up tlieir arrangements. A busy ten 

 days is in prospect. 



It is said that the freeze in the south 

 early this season has had the effect of de- 

 stroying the magnolia loaves and that 

 the supjdy of perpetuated leaves is likely 

 to be well cleaned up before the new crop 

 of raw material is ready for the pre- 

 parers. 



Labor is the cliief proliloni at the mo- 

 ment. Tlie florist who, with his wife, has 

 needed only one or two men can get along 

 by increasing Ins own effort, but the man 

 who uses a crew of workers finds it ut- 

 terly impossible to make up by his own 

 hard work for the desertions tlie times are 

 causing. 



RESULTS JUSTIFY THE MEANS. 



The news letters in this week's issue 

 of The Review show that, almost with- 

 out exception, the sales of flowers for 

 Mothers' day were far greater than ever 

 before. 



In this fact we find the justification 

 for each and every means of exploita- 

 tion the trade has employed. It paid, 

 and that is the one real test of a busi- 

 ness method. 



But the advertising the trade has 

 done this year has done more than in- 

 crease the sale of flowers — it has caused 

 a general observance of the day, in 

 churches and in the home. We say that 

 florists' advertising has caused all this, 

 because nobody else did anything at all 

 to spread the news of Mothers' day's 

 approach. That Mothers' day now is al- 

 most a fixture in American life is due to 

 the florists, not to anyone else. 



"BUSINESS AS USUAL." 



A prominent Englishman, discussing 

 Americans, once said that public opin- 

 ion in the United States was like a tidal 

 wave. It swept everything before it as 

 it rose and receded as rapidly as it 

 appeared. 



The trutli of this British estimate of 

 Americans has been proven in the last 

 few weeks, or, to be exact, since the 

 United States entered the war. No 

 sooner had Congress declared that a 

 state of war with Germany existed, than 

 tliere was started a propaganda for 

 economy. However, before it gained 

 any considerable proportions, the best 

 minds in the United States recognized 

 what this so-called economy might do 

 and began at once to counteract the 

 effect it would have on the people. 



Now the pendulum is swinging the 

 other way. Do not be economical, or 

 rather, do not be fanatically economical, 

 is the advice being given to Americans. 

 For fanatical economy would, in the 

 opinion of these commercial leaders, 

 bring on a financial panic. .Tust be- 

 cause the country is at war, do not close 

 up business. England had a touch of 

 this sort of economy, out of which came 

 the slogan, "Business as Usual." 



Some members of the trade have felt 

 tliat this economy campaign was going 

 to hit florists, if not first, among the 

 first. They have taken the view that 

 Americans would do without everything 

 except that which fills the stomach and 

 covers nakedness. To a great extent 

 tliey have been mistaken in their atti- 

 tude. Also, they are beginning to real- 

 ize it. Business may have felt the effect 

 of the economy campaign, but this same 

 campaign has brought about another 

 which will certainly counteract the 

 first, if it does not make the flower sell- 

 ing business better than ever. 



According to the last census, there 

 was something like $35,000,000 invested 

 in the florists' business. Seven years 

 have greatly increased those figures. 

 Tliousands of men and w^omen are em- 

 ployed in the trade. Would there be 

 any economy in letting this huge in- 

 vestment lie idle and in throwing these 

 thousands of persons out of employ- 

 ment? 



"Business as Usual" sounds like a 

 pretty good slogan for Americans just 

 now. Public ofiicials and commercial 

 leaders are preaching it by word of 

 mouth and through the newspapers; 

 some of the big concerns are using 

 costly advertising space to spread the 



same gospel. The florists' business will 

 get the cumulative effect. 



There is no surer way of making 

 business good than to show confidence 

 in the future of the country by con- 

 tinuing our daily activities as though 

 conditions were normal. 



A MEMORIAL DAY THOUGHT. 



The sentiment that caused the estab- 

 lishment of Memorial day will undergo 

 a great revival this year. The day, set 

 aside for the American people to pay 

 homage to those who lost their lives 

 defending their country and to those 

 who escaped and have since died, "will 

 mean more this year because the country 

 again is at war. 



The observance of the day will un- 

 doubtedly be more devout than in many 

 years previous. Thoughts of the people 

 will be turned to more serious things 

 than merely enjoying a holiday. In 

 consequence there will be a greater de- 

 mand for flowers, wreaths and plants. 



Time, "the great healer," and the 

 peace and prosperity of this country had 

 dulled the poignancy of our appreciation 

 of the patriotic sacrifices of the men of 

 '61 and '98. War to this generation 

 was a thing impossible in the present 

 state of civilization. 



The European outburst, more furious 

 than anything in the world's history, 

 shattered this sense of security. It 

 showed the fallacy of our beliefs. And 

 now we have been drawn into the con- 

 flict. 



Daily, mothers and fathers are part- 

 ing with sons, who have done as their 

 forebears did — answered their country's 

 call. The emotions of those the soldier 

 or sailor leaves behind are a mixture of 

 pride and sorrow, but there is no joy 

 in them. 



It is claimed that the deaths of 601 

 persons in the Iroquois theater fire, Chi- 

 cago, some fourteen, years ago brought 

 that disaster home to a million people. 

 How many, do you think, will have a 

 close personal interest in the thousands 

 of youths who are in Uncle Sam's army 

 and navy? 



To all these people Memorial day will 

 have a new and deeper significance, the 

 meaning it had to the Americans of a 

 half century ago. 



It is right that our method of ex- 

 pressing love and reverence for the 

 dead is to place wreaths or flowers on 

 their graves. Nothing expresses these 

 sentiments so well as these symbols of 

 purity and beauty. 



This year will see, it is predicted, a 

 greater amount of Memorial day ceme- 

 tery decoration than ever before. 



CHICAGO. 



The Market. 



To say tliat Mothers' day business this 

 year was the best on record would be ' 

 making a simple statement of fact. Many, 

 however, in recurring to last week 's trade 

 will not be satisfied with such a bald man- 

 ner of stating a truth and will endeavor, 

 with a multitude of adjectives, to explain 

 just liow good business really was, for 

 certain it is that the annals of the Chi- 

 cago flower market contain no record 

 wliich, taken by and large, could prove 

 more satisfactory. Stock, as had been 

 expected, was scarce and was unable to 

 satisfy in full the strong demand exist- 

 ing. As could only be expected, the first 

 call was for white carnations, but most 



