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Mat 18. 1922 



The Florists' Review 



39 



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HOLIDAY HITS HIGH MARK 



MOTHEES' DAY SET JIECOBD. 



Heads Florists' Holidays. 



Beports from several cut flower cen- 

 ters lay stress on the fact that Mothers ' 

 day business this year exceeded without 

 question that done at Easter. The un- 

 varying good tidings from other cities 

 and towns give support to the state- 

 ment that the second Sunday of May 

 has taken its place at the top of the 

 trade's big days for the season — a sea- 

 son of uniformly big holiday sales. 



A number of things are responsible. 

 One is the public's acceptance of flow- 

 ers as the proper means of celebrating 

 the day. In former years, hardware 

 stores, dry goods stores, bond houses, 

 milliners, confectioners and still others 

 offered something in the newspapers to 

 be given to mother on her day. This 

 year the candy merchants used big 

 space, but no Christmas crowds gath- 

 ered at their doors. The other trades- 

 men left the field to the florist. Some , 

 did the same as a Chicago bond house, 

 publishing a tribute of appreciation to 

 mothers without business appeal. Out- 

 side of the confectioners, only the tele- 

 phone and telegraph companies tried to 

 get business on Mothers' day. The for- 

 mer suggested calling mother on the 

 long-distance wire. The latter enclosed 

 envelope stuffers which probably as- 

 sisted florists more than anyone else. 

 One read: 



Sunday, May 14, is Mothers' day. 



The day set apart in honor of the mothers of 

 the land; the day on which every one wlio is 

 distant from his mother will delight in sending 

 her a message of affectionate greeting. 



The Western Union Telegraph Company. 



American Legion Helped. 



Highly important in pushing Moth- 

 ers' day sales to the record point was 

 the cooperation between the Society of 

 American Florists and the American 

 Legion. In The Review of April 27 flo- 

 rists were told how they might benefit 

 from the results of a conference be- 

 tween officers of our national society 

 and of the American Legion. The pub- 

 licity committee of the Society of 

 American Florists provided posters and 

 advertising mats carrying the copy re- 

 produced in The Review. Of the pos- 

 ters, 2,500 were mailed out at once to 

 members of the F. T. D., since that 

 was the only list of retailers available. 

 In response to requests from florists 

 all over the country, 17,500 more were 

 sent out, a total of 20,000 being dis- 

 tributed altogether. The publicity com- 

 mittee provided florists gratis' with 

 300 mats of the advertisement, 200 in 

 2-('ohmin width and 100 in 3-column 

 width. These were used in newspapers 

 in almost every city of any size. The 

 Allied Florists' Association of Illinois 

 spent $900 to insert the advertisement 

 m the Chicago papers. The Philadel- 

 phia Florists' Club telegraphed for 

 3,000 posters and three mats to be run 

 in newspapers there. In a whirlwind 

 campaign $2,000 was collected to ad- 

 vertise the day. American Legion mem- 

 bers distributed the posters among mer- 

 chants in every line of business in 

 Philadelphia, aa they did also in Chi- 

 cago, so that shop windows everywhere 



showed the posters in conspicuous posi- 

 tions. 



When it is considered that the cooper- 

 ation of the American Legion cost flo- 

 rists nothing and that the posters and 

 mats distributed cost the publicity com- 

 mittee only $800, it must be concluded 

 that florists obtained a vast amount 

 of highly profitable advertising at an 

 extremely low cost. So eflfective was 

 the advertising gained in this way that 

 few retailers spent money for newspa- 

 per space, only two of the loop retailers 

 in Chicago advertising extensively for 

 the day. 



Flowers Abundant. 



Another ' fact which promoted Moth- 

 ers ' day sales was the extreme abun- 

 dance of cut flowers, caused by the hot 

 wave in the early part of the preceding 

 week. This was not, however, an un- 

 mixed blessing. Stock was rushed to the 

 markets in huge quantities, but a large 

 proportion of it was unsalable and much 

 more was unsuitable for shipping. The 



EVERY now and then a 

 well pleased reader speaks 

 the word which is the means 

 of bringing a new^ advertiser to 



Such friendly assisteuice is thoroughly 

 appreciated. 



Give us the name of anyone from 

 'whom you are buying, not an adver- 

 tiser. We especially wish to interest 

 ' those selling articles of florists' use 

 not at present advertised. 



FLORISTS' PUBLISHING CO. 

 500-60 Caxton Bldg. Chicago 



growers received large returns because 

 their crops were large. The retailers 

 were able to keep prices low and sell 

 all the cut flowers customers wanted to 

 buy. Wholesalers had a harder time of 

 it than they usually have at a holiday, 

 because selection and packing had to 

 be done with much greater than ordi- 

 nary care. So plentiful was stock that 

 for the first time in several years carna- 

 tions were to be had in retailers' stores 

 Sunday evening. Peonies, arriving 

 much ahead of time, added to the plen- 

 tiful supply. Sweet peas arrived so fast 

 they could not be moved before more 

 came in. 



In some markets the supply was not 

 so heavy as in others, and in these con- 

 ditions were better and higher prices 

 prevailed. Everywhere, however, the 

 abundance of stock enabled the retail- 

 ers to make high records in sales. 



Price Complaints. 



Of course, the usual complaint of 

 high prices came to the fore, though it 



bothered less than usual. One reason 

 was the abundant supply and conse- 

 quent low prices; the other was that 

 the florists themselves, through their or- 

 ganizations, killed much unfavorable 

 propaganda before it got into the pa- 

 pers. Miss Jarvis was completely 

 squelched 1 



In Chicago the Saturday morning pa- 

 pers carried pictures which illustrated 

 the accompanying reports of the abun- 

 dance of flowers. Of course, there was 

 the usual warning against flower prof- 

 iteers. For this, it transpired some flo- 

 rists were themselves to blame. Ofiicers 

 of the Allied Florists' Association had 

 given Russell J. Poole, high cost expert 

 of the city council, a list of prices 

 which could be considered reasonable 

 and fair for the holiday. Mr. Poole 

 afterward telephoned thirty-four florists 

 whose names he picked out of the tele- 

 phone directory and, telling who he was, ' "\ 

 asked how low they would sell the va^^v^^ 

 rious flowers listed. A number of flov^\ J 

 rists gave exceedingly low prices. The- ; — ^ 

 result was that Mr. Poole, instead of 

 giving the Chicago newspapers for pub- 

 lication the list of prices furnished by 

 the Allied Florists' Association, made 

 up a list of prices of his own, which con- 

 tained, for example, carnations at "$1 

 to $1.50 a dozen for the very best. ' ' 

 Much complaint ensued, and the officers 

 of the Allied Florists' Association were 

 the more disappointed because their ef- 

 forts to ward off just such a report had 

 been frustrated by the statements of the 

 florists to whom Mr. Poole telephoned. 



Not many persons, however, made ref- 

 erence to the price list when they vis- 

 ited the florists, and in all probability 

 the story, prominently featured and 

 illustrated, promoted florists' sales by 

 advertising flowers for Mothers' day 

 more than it hurt them by mention of 

 low prices. 



In Hackensack, N. J. 



The New York newspapers had tid- 

 ings of trade dissension to tell just be- 

 fore the day. The fullest, though not 

 the most adverse, of several newspaper 

 accounts regarding the Hackensack 

 case, was the following in a New York 

 paper of May 12: 



''With the advent of Mothers' day, 

 which will be celebrated Sunday, comes 

 the annual announcement that carna- 

 tions have gone up in price. Florists of 

 Hackensack have announced that they 

 are going to boycott carnations becathie 

 of the increased price, which, they say, 

 has jumped from 4 to 20 cents apiece 

 in the last four days. The Hackensack 

 florists are going to advertise in their 

 local papers urging that roses and sweet 

 peas be used in the observance of Moth- 

 ers' day. 



"These New Jersey florists assert 

 that commercializing of the observance 

 bj' the wholesale dealers in this city 

 would make it necessary for them to 

 charge 35 to 40 cents for each carna- 

 tion, which, they believe, is more than 

 their customers want to pay. The de- 

 cision to boycott the carnation wa^ 

 reached at a meeting held yesterday in 

 Hackensack. 



"Edward J. Hession, president of the 



