'^(^^TTf y-'- 



"^.^ 



Januaby 0, 1908. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Salesroom of the Florists' Exchange at Baltimore^ Md. 



good business tactics to reflect upon the 

 name and the honor and to attack the 

 reputation of a rival in business. It 

 never occurs to these fellows that "he 

 who steals my purse steals trash, but he 

 that filches from me my good name robs 

 me of that which not enriches him and 

 makes me poor indeed." 



Defaming a'G>mpetitor. 



Honor and justice are empty sounds 

 to their ears, and business ethics are an 

 unknown quantity to them. They will not 

 at all hesitate to tell you that the design 

 or the decoration put up by Mr. Brown 

 is not worth half the price paid for it, 

 that the work is poor and that Mr. 

 Brown is a foxy fellow anyway, one who 

 will bear watching. On the road they 

 will make it their business to sling dirt 

 in every direction, in the hope of strik- 

 ing some competitor or other, leaving a 

 trail of moral filth behind them which, 

 to the fair-minded man, is nauseating in 

 the extreme. 



They will pick up a plant of a rival 

 concern and will pass judgment upon it 

 there and then. In their estimation it is 

 a very poor specimen indeed, the price 

 paid for it being most unreasonable, of 

 course. 



New varieties of carnations lend them- 

 selves especially to attacks and to 

 "knock-out blows," and these are often 

 dealt without mercy. * * Don 't touch it, ' ' 

 you will hear them say; "it is a crop- 

 per, it has a weak constitution, it makes 

 a measly growth, the calyx bursts, the 

 blooms are ragged, the stem is short, and 

 you had better leave it alone," and all 

 this assault without having the faintest 

 idea of the true merit or faults of the 

 variety in question. 



Some Ghoulish Work. 



If it be a batch of lily bulbs going 

 or gone to the bad, as often happens, 

 here is a splendid opportunity to put 

 in their ghoulish work. As a matter 

 of course, they say, the concern that 

 supplied these bulbs is to be blamed 

 for the poor results. The concern in 

 question, they will tell you, is a back 

 number anyway and is losing prestige 

 and ground every day. In fact, there 

 are all sorts of rumors. Has not some- 

 body told him of somebody somewhere 

 in Missouri or Connecticut who had 

 a similar experience with lily bulbs 



bought of this very unreliable concern? 

 In fact, Mr. So ard So had the same 

 trouble during the past few seasons, 

 "but now that he has our bulbs, you 

 ought to see his lilies — perfect peaches 

 and no mistake." 



To be sure, men of this ilk soon show 

 their true colors and, like all scamps, 

 they will sooner or later defeat their 

 own ends. Nevertheless, the mischief 

 they create has, for the time being at 

 least, a demoralizing effect upon an 

 otherwise good business situation. 



How to discourage such abominable 

 practices and counteract such pernicious 

 influences upon the trade is indeed a 

 vital problem, which is well worth our 

 serious consideration. If it be true, 

 as somebody has aptly put it, that "no 

 shady transaction can stand the lime- 

 light of publicity, ' ' it may be worthy of 

 our effort to turn on that light in its 

 full force. 



Says Dr. Torrey, the evangelist, "A 

 business man who says that every oth«r 

 business man is dishonest or a liar is a 

 liar and a thief himself." 



An evil that affects us all alike must 

 not be ignored. A sneak at random, to 

 say the least, is a troublesome creature. 



CHEER UP. 



The Eichmond (Ind.) Item January 

 4 was a "Cheer Up" number and con- 

 tained expressions of opinion from a 

 large number of local concerns as to the 

 outlook for 1908. The E. G. Hill Co. 

 said: 



' ' We believe that 1908 will be another 

 prosperous year. In October we were a 

 badly frightened firm; we saw little op- 

 portunity for materially curtailing our 

 expenses without serious results, for a 

 greenhouse plant cannot be shut down 

 like a factory; fires and water and wages 

 must go on, or the loss will be total; 

 our collections stopped as short as if 

 we had had no ledger accounts; as 

 our only means of retrenchment we cut 

 our time to eight hours. Early in No- 

 vember collections suddenly came back 

 to normal, ordefs for spring delivery 

 came in, an unusual number of interest- 

 ing inquiries were received for quota- 

 tions, cut flowers brought good prices 

 in the wholesale market, and we at once 

 went back not only to the ten-hour day, 

 but considerable overtime, and were able 

 to pay all current bills, greatly to our 

 relief. 



"The local cut flower trade has not 

 had the full volume of 1905 and 1906, 

 which we attribute largely to the num- 

 ber of workmen who have been laid off 

 during the past months, but this has 

 been fully offset by our wholesale re- 

 turns. 



"The administration has been severe- 

 ly criticised in many quarters for bring- 

 ing on the panic, but in our opinion Sec- 

 retary Taft's splendid exposition of the 

 causes, effects, and his warrant of faith 

 in a prosperous future, vnll do much 

 toward setting the public mind squarely 

 right and at ease again. 



"Using our best judgment, after care- 

 fully going over conditions, both local 

 and generlS, we believe that the finan- 

 cial storm is past and that we have fair 

 sailing ahead for 1908." 



G. K. Gause said: "The year 1907 

 has been a prosperous one, and I am 

 confident that 1908 will be equally 

 good if not better than the one just 

 past. The demapd for flowers is stead- 

 ily on the increase, and I can see no rea- 

 son for any other than a bright future 

 for business." 



The Advance Co. said: "We have 

 had a remarkably good run of business 



Salesroom of the Florists' Exchange at Baltimore, Md. 



