42 



The Rorists^ Review 



August 18, 1J)21 



TARIFF AND LEQISIiATION. 



New Tariff Busies Committee. 



Tliis is tariff year, for it would never 

 do for a Bepublican administration to 

 work under a Democratic tariff — be- 

 sides, Uncle Sam needs more revenue 

 and more protection — hence your com- 

 mittee has been active and watchful 

 in recent months in preventing unwork- 

 able or prohibitive duty rates being im- 

 posed on horticultural items. 



At a meeting held in New York last 

 December, your committee recom- 

 mended to the ways and means commit- 

 tee that the duty rates be allowed to 

 remain approximately as they now are, 

 though we insisted that items now duti- 

 able on a specific basis should remain 

 on a specific basis and not be changed 

 to an ad valorem basis. While the 

 "American value" clause in the new 

 tariff bill is practicable on manufac- 

 tured articles, it is quite unworkable on 

 horticultural items. Our recommenda- 

 tions were honored in the bill now be- 

 fore Congress, ex(;ept with regard to 

 the duty rates. 



Committee's Hearing. 



In reference to the above and in ac- 

 cordance with the meeting held in New 

 York in December, your committee ap- 

 peared before the ways and means com- 

 mittee January 25, 1921. Our recom- 

 mendations then were that on the whole 

 we were satisfied with the tariff as it 

 was, with the exception that incongrui- 

 ties of language should be made plain, 

 so that there might be no mistakes with 

 the import agent and revenue officers 

 when importations arrived. This hear- 

 ing was most satisfactory and we had 

 thought it would clear the situation up 

 entirely, but, quoting the immortal 

 "Bobby" Burns, "The best laid 

 schemes o' mice an' men gang aft 

 agley. ' ' 



After several months our work was 

 all undone and the whole tariff schedule 

 was upset, and we had to start all over 

 again to see what could be done. For 

 instance, the tariff was raised in »ome 

 cases 400 per cent and in other in- 

 stances items were lower than we really 

 expected tliem to be. The tariff is now 

 in the process of making and we hope 

 with the generous action of the Senate 

 cominittee to get, in a measure, what 

 we want, for the greatest good of the 

 greatest number, by having some duties 

 raised and others reduced. 

 ' The first draft of the tariff bill made 

 lily bulbs dutiable at twenty per cent 

 ad valorem, which would mean a duty 

 of between $20 and $200 per thousand, 

 dejiending on what Ignited States ap- 

 praisers decided was the American 

 value, this clause being quite unwork- 

 able on such items. This was later 

 changed to $4 per thousand in the bill 

 now before the House. 



The principal changes on items large- 

 ly imported by florists, comparing the 



The report of Wlllinm F. Onde. chairman of 

 the rominittee on tariff and legislation, present- 

 ed at the .S. A. F. ronvention at Washington 

 Auxnst IG. 19^1. 



present tariff with the bill now before 

 Congress, are: 



Tulips, raised from $0.50 to $4.00 per 1000 



.N'arfisai, raised from 1.00 to 4.00 per 1000 



Hyueinths, raised from... 2.50 to 4.00 per 1000 

 Valley pips, raised from.. 1.00 to 4.00 per 1000 



Manetti stocks, from 1.00 to 2.00 per 1000 



Lily bulbs, reduced 5.00 to 4.00 per 1000 



Cut flowers, no change 25 per cent ad valorem 



We are now concentrating our efforts 

 on maintaining specific duty rates wher- 

 ever possible, and on getting a reduc- 

 tion on items which show a raise of over 

 100 per cent over present duty rates. 



Quarantines. 



September 10, 1920, was held a hear- 

 ing with the Federal Horticultural 

 Board on the quarantining of districts 

 in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on ac- 

 count of the Japanese beetle. This 

 was the largest attended meeting we 

 have ever witnessed in Washington, 

 there being many prominent growers 

 and nearly all the presidents and secre- 

 taries of the leading organizations pres- 

 ent. The hearing lasted some three 

 hours, during which time the matter 

 was discussed from every angle. 



August 26, 1921, was promulgated a 

 regulation to quarantine the District of 

 Columbia for the purpose of controlling, 

 eradicating and preventing certain dis- 

 eases. This was a drastic regulation 

 and, like many others, sounded much 

 worse than it really was, but it served 

 to have the post office department send 

 out notice that no cut flowers would be 

 received for shipment. This caused 

 much annoyance. 



From that time up to the present 

 we have received no less than 287 com- 

 munications 4ealing with all manner of 

 quarantines and regulations, all of 

 which have been covered in the trade 

 I)apers. 



Express Matter. 



T..ast winter there were numerous let- 

 ters received in reference to the express 

 ('omjjanies not giving proper service. 

 This matter was taken up with the In- 

 terstate Commerce Commission and 



with the officials of the express com 

 panies in New York city. After a 

 thorough consideration of the com 

 plaints from every angle, your com 

 mittee came to the conclusion that the 

 express companies were doing the best 

 they could under the circumstances, for 

 it must be remembered that the good 

 old times of prewar days have gone and 

 probably will never return. The ex- 

 I)ress companies promised, however, 

 that they would grant us relief as soon 

 as the crowded conditions then prevail- 

 ing on all railroads would allow them to 

 give better service, with the high price 

 of everything, especially labor. 



A number of complaints were re- 

 ceived from shippers of southern ever- 

 greens, galax, etc., in reference to hav- 

 ing their goods placed in the second 

 class, instead of the first class, as in 

 former years. The regulation chang 

 ing such goods from second to first 

 class went into effect January 5 and on 

 the whole we do not think it works 

 any hardship to anyone in particular, 

 because eventually the consumer will 

 have to pay the price. The losing game 

 the railroads, particularly the southern 

 ones, have been playing on express mat- 

 ters in recent years certainly entitles 

 them to better rates. However, we took 

 this matter up with the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission and after several 

 conferences were told that the only way 

 we could have a rehearing would be by 

 filing a formal complaint. This leaves 

 the matter open for the southern ship- 

 pers to file the complaint, if they so 

 desire. 



Flower Insurance. 



Numerous communications were re- 

 ceived in reference to insuring flowers 

 sent by parcel post against freezing. 

 While at first thought this would seem 

 reasonable and workable, it couldn't be 

 done. When we come to consider that 

 many flowers are not carefully packed 

 or sufficiently wrapped, no matter what 

 the weather, it can be readily under 

 stood when such a package is taken to 

 a country post office and then carried in 

 some instances many miles over the 

 road in wagons in zero weather, it 

 would be asking too much of our gov- 

 ernment to expect it to insure the flow- 

 ers under these conditions. Insurance 

 on cut flowers may come, but we are 

 not ready for it yet. 



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NEEDED REFORM 



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STANDARDIZED GRADING. 



Uniformity Needed. 



Tlie question of the standardization 

 of the grading of cut flowers is one 

 wliich we cannot pass over lightly. The 

 need of reform in this p;irticular weak 

 spot of our trade has long been felt 

 all over the country. The need of a 

 system continues to be felt, for no sys- 

 tem whatsoever has been used. 



As the two principal items of com- 

 mercial floriculture are roses and carna- 

 tions, I will confine my remarks to 

 them. The question of establishing 



.\ddress by .Toseph Kohout. on "The Standard- 

 ization of the (Jradins of Cut Flowers." pre- 

 vented at the S. A. F. convention at Wafthing- 

 ton August 18, 1921. 



some system for the grading of our 

 roses seemed important enougli at the 

 last meeting of the National Flower 

 (Jrowers' Association, held in Washing- 

 ton last February, to have a committee 

 appointed to investigate this matter 

 and recommend reforms. The Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery Association did the 

 same thing. 



Two Evils. 



The two great evils occasioned by the 

 lack of a uniform sj-stem are: First, 

 the inconvenience and uncertainty 

 caused buyers when ordering flowers 

 from wholesalers; secondly, the chance 

 given to wholesalers to make excuses 

 about the length of stock shipped to 

 buyers. Let us suppose an out-of-town 



