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The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



Januabt 9, 1008. 



bankers' banquet table, in the corner 

 grocery store. 



We seem to realize that the time has 

 come to call a halt to iniquities, that 

 God Almighty had never intended to con- 

 centrate all the privileges and all the 

 opportunities in the hands of the few, 

 that the world is broad enough for all 

 willing to try their chances in it. 



The Rdgn of Selfishness. 



It is claimed — and not without good 

 reason, perhaps — that the wave of mate- 

 rialism -which has swept our country is 

 gradually expending its force and that 

 the succeeding generation will witness a 

 complete transformation in our ideals 

 and in our moral make-up. . Be that as 

 it may, the fact is patent that our tend- 

 encies and aspirations are still steeped in 

 the mire of greed, that we still resemble 

 our brothers in the jungle, one arrayed 

 against the other, the strong preying 

 upon the weak, the mighty crushing the 

 small fry. 



That green monster. Jealousy, prompt- 

 ed by the inexorable dictator, the Al- 

 mighty Dollar, not only rules amid us, 

 but it rules us with an iron rod which, 

 at times, and to many of us, is well-nigh 

 unbearable. 



*' Peace on earth and good will toward 

 men" is a beautiful injunction, having 

 the right ring to it — in church, but no- 

 where else. In our daily intercourse with 



to prove that two multiplied by two 

 make four. Nor need I depart far from 

 my course in quest of examples in order 

 to illustrate the striking contrast be- 

 tween the methods of fair and those of 

 foul competition. Examples of both are 

 at our very doors. We b^old the one 

 with a feeling of satisfaction and we be- 

 come inspired with confidence in our fel- 

 low man; the sight of the other fills us 

 with disgust and suspicion. 



Fair competition courts the light of 

 day. Having nothing to fear and noth- 

 ing to conceal, it stands upon a pedestal 

 of its own creation, firm and indestruct- 

 ible, in full view of an exacting multi- 

 tude. It is eager to prove and to con- 

 vince, striving to achieve its success not 

 by the circuitous way of fraud and de- 

 ception, but by the straighter path of 

 honorable means and honest business 

 methods. Fair competition believes in the 

 "live and let live" principle. Having 

 learned that lesson in its own school of 

 experience, it is eager to promulgate its 

 truth to the world at large, fearing no 

 detriment to its own interests, no ill re- 

 sults to its own pocketbook. It is like an 

 open book, accessible to all wishing to 

 peruse its pages. 



Merit Wins in the End. 



Fair competition goes into the open 

 market, firmly convinced that merit must 

 and will win in the end, that success, if 



New Building of the Baltimore Florists' Exchange. 



our fellow men, some of us think, we 

 cannot possibly be governed by such ob- 

 solete rules. "Business is business" 

 bears a more practical sound to our ears. 

 It is our favorite slogan and, in our esti- 

 mation, it is broad and powerful enough 

 to cover up a multitude of sins. 



It is not my object, however, to deal 

 in platitudes, nor do I wish to assume 

 the role of the preacher, whose business 

 it is to exhort his audience. 



Fair and Foul Gmtrasted. 



The subject I have chosen for my pa- 

 per need not necessarily take me into a 

 labyrinth of figures and data in order 



it is to be permanent, must rest not upon 

 the quicksand of uncertainty, but upon 

 the bed rock of stability. 



It makes no rash promises; it shuns 

 reckless statements; it abhors falsifica- 

 tions and adulterations of all sorts, ever 

 aiming to improve rather than to cheapen 

 quality, ever striving to win and to hold 

 public confidence, without which success 

 is impossible. 



Fair competition does not cringe, does 

 not fawn and does not sham, such des- 

 picable methods being foreign to its busi- 

 ness policy. Nor does it concern itself 

 with the affairs of its rivals for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining their methods in 



order to underbid and to undersell them. 

 If John sees fit to peddle his 4-inch 



feraniums at 60 cents or 75 cents per 

 ozen, heralding that fact for months 

 in advance in the "locals," with a view 

 to cornering the geranium market and 

 incidentally putting his rival out of busi- 

 ness, it is John's own affair, of course. 

 Fair competition does not attempt to 

 follow his methods, much less to "go 

 him one better," knowing full well that 

 such prices do not cover the cost of pro- 

 duction, let alone a living profit, and 

 realizing that by attempting to corner 

 the market John will inevitably get into 

 a tight corner himself. And the final 

 result generally confirms this opinion. 



A Fundamental Principle. 



Fair competition has mapped out its 

 own way of doing things and it follows 

 its own business methods. It reasons 

 thus: The principle that the cost of pro- 

 duction, plus the cost of marketing the 

 product, plus a legitimate profit, equals 

 the price to the consumer, is clearly de- 

 fined and based upon strict business 

 lines, and any deviation from this 

 straight business course, either one way 

 or the other, must inevitably result either 

 in a loss of confidence and custom, if the 

 quality of the product be cheapened, oj 

 in financial ruin to the concern itself if 

 quality be maintained at the expense of 

 its legitimate profit. 



A sense of propriety deters me from 

 citing examples of concerns that have 

 gone to the wall because of such rea- 

 sons, and other concerns that are heading 

 that way by leaps and bounds. 



Having arrived at this logical conclu- 

 sion, fair competition becomes conscious 

 of its own impregnable position. It has 

 cast its anchor, as it were, in the harbor 

 of safety, never fearing the assaults and 

 calumnies of the numerous cheap Johns 

 who would fain see a tidal wave engulf 

 their successful competitor. 



I doubt if any of the gentlemen pres- 

 ent here will take exception to my asser- 

 tion that foul competition is a curse to 

 the business world. 



The Bait of Cheapness* 



Being utterly devoid of business prin- 

 ciples or any other sort of principles, 

 foul competition works on the assump- 

 tion that there are fools — a plenty — 

 eager to swallow the tempting bait, hook 

 and all, called "Cheap." 



Cheap! The very word has a sinister 

 meaning if considered in its proper light. 

 Cheap bulbs, like cheap clothes, yield but 

 cheap results. Cheap plants come dear 

 in the end. A cheap design, a floral 

 monstrosity at so many nickels or dimes 

 per foot, is a veritable sore to the eye, 

 as well as an insult to the dead, and so 

 all along the line. 



Foul competition does not end here, 

 however. There is a type of it which is 

 so low and degraded, so vile and treach- 

 erous, that the wonder is how any re- 

 spectable and self-respecting business 

 man can tolerate the moral stench of its 

 very presence. Conceived in iniquity and 

 fostered in an atmosphere of fraud and 

 corruption, unscrupulous, morally dis- 

 torted, suave and cunning, foul competi- 

 tion has but one object in view and that 

 to attain its ignoble end, regardless of 

 means. 



In its anxiety to grasp everything 

 within sight, it is by no means content 

 with the "purse" only, which the great- 

 est poet of all times characterizes as 

 "trash" and the slave of thousands. It 

 goes a step or two farther, considering it 



