THE 





,fLORISTS 



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CANADA WELCOMES 



OUR LIVE WIRES 



The first entertainment of the Florists' Telegraph Delivery Association 

 by a Canadian city was made memorable hy the generous hospitality of the 

 trade of Toronto this week. Carefully laid plans, well carried through,, 

 elicited much praise from the guests for their hosts. 



NYONE who was deterred 

 from attending this year's 

 meeting of the Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery Asso- 

 ciation by the thought 

 that Toronto, being not in 

 the United States, was an 

 "out-of-the-way" place, 

 will be sadly disappointed 

 to learn that the Queen city of the 

 Dominion was the gathering point of 

 the largest number of retailers who ever 

 assembled at an F. T. D. meeting. For 

 the bugaboo of bad business has not 

 affected so much as pessimistic talkers 

 would have us believe; and the F. T. D. 

 has grown, not so much as in the pre- 

 ceding year, ^et it has 

 grown; and Toronto florists 

 started out with the idea 

 that since it is a "long time 

 between drinks ' ' — it is 

 thirty years last August 

 since the S. A. F. was in this 

 city — the drinks should be 

 good ones. All of which 

 made for a banner meeting 

 — Secretary Pochelon bars 

 the word "convention" as 

 applied to F. T. D. gather- 

 ings. Motor roads here are 

 good, and automobilists, be- 

 ing of an adventurous dis- 

 position, always wanted to 

 try Canadian highways. 

 The railroads offered a re- 

 duction that meant twenty- 

 five per cent of the round- 

 trip fare if 350 were pres- 

 ent. Toronto is known to 

 women as a fine place to 

 shop; hence the addition in 

 many cases of "and wife" 

 to florists' names in the list 

 of those present. Perhaps 

 in some cases it was the rea- 

 son for the florist's name 

 being there, too. The To- 

 rontans certainly spared no 

 pains to give their guests a 

 pleasant stay and, despite 

 the weather man's lack of 

 cooperation, they were highly successful. 

 The King Edward hotel, which housed 

 all the activities, is in the heart of the 

 downtown district, but the rain kept the 

 visitors inside all day. So about 250 par- 

 ticipated in the opening exercises Tues- 

 day morning. The program began ninety 

 minutes after 9 a. m. instead of sixty, as 

 scheduled. At 10:30 H. G. Dillemuth 

 employed the florally bedecked gavel to 

 start proceedings. After everybody had 

 sung "God Save the King" and then 

 "America," aa invocation was delivered 



by the Eev. William H. Cameron and the 

 (loxology chanted. 



The Mayor of Toronto, Thomas H. 

 Church, gave a vigorous welcoming ad- 

 dress, calling attention to the glories, 

 civic, industrial and floricultural, of To- 

 ronto. He said that the name of Toronto 

 was an Indian word signifying "place 

 of meeting, ' ' and that the city lived up 

 to the appellation. Charles H. Grakelow, 

 introduced by H. G. Dillemuth as "the 

 silver-tongued florist," responded to the 

 mayor's speech in his usual fluent and 

 stirring style. 



S. A. McFadden delivered an address 

 of welcome on behalf of the Retail 

 Florists' Association of Canada. Fol- 

 lowing him, W. E. Groves, president of 



OFFICERS ELECTED 



President: 



Philip Breitmeyer*. Detroit 



(Reelected.) 



Vice-President: 

 Charles Feast Baltimore 



Secretary: 



Albert Pochelon Detroit 



(Reelected.) 



TreasTirer: 



William L. Bock Kansas City 



(Reelected.) 



Directors for Three Years: 



Charles H. Grakelow Philadelphia 



William J. Palmer Buffalo 



A. F. Borden Los Angeles 



(All Reelected.) 



MEETING PLACE IN 1922: 

 BALTIMORE, MD. 



the Canadian Florists' and Gardeners' 

 Association, "the Canadian S. A. F., " 

 read a welcoming message that, with its 

 review of present trade conditions and 

 its presage of the future, stirred the 

 audience to profound admiration and 

 strenuous applause. W. W. Gammage, 

 after Mr. Groves' address, said he felt 

 like the retailer who comes to the whole- 

 sale store late and finds the selects and 

 No. I's are all gone, and must be con- 

 tented with the culls. But his remarks 

 showed he was able to deliver better 



than that. In response to the welcoming 

 addresses of these three Canadians, W. 

 J. Smyth, of Chicago, made a brief but 

 appreciative reply that dwelt on the 

 international spirit of the F. T. D. 



Before President Breitmeyer began 

 his oflacial address he spoke briefly in 

 appreciation of the Canadians' speeches 

 and particularly of that of W. E. Groves. 

 In his address Mr. Breitmeyer reviewed 

 the year's program of the association 

 and pointed out the salient affairs which 

 would be discussed during the three days 

 of the meeting. His remarks were re- 

 ceived with enthusiastic applause and, 

 though Mr. Breitmeyer said he had no 

 intention of making recommendations or 

 proposals in this message, H. P. Knoble 

 insisted on moving that a 

 committee be appointed to 

 give it consideration, which 

 was acceded to. 



Standing and with united 

 voice, the assemblage then 

 read the list of good prom- 

 ises contained in the "F. T. 

 D. pledge" prepared by 

 him and Secretary Pochelon. 

 Eoll call was abbreviated 

 by Ira H. Harper, in his 

 resonant voice, reading- 

 cards containing the names 

 and locations of F. T. D. 

 members present. 



The report of Treasurer 

 Rock, printed, in its essen- 

 tials, on another page, was 

 followed by the report of 

 H. P. Knoble, chairman of 

 the directors' unit on 

 finance. Ho stated that the 

 ratio of expense to income 

 of the past year, about $18,- 

 000 to $25,000, was one to 

 which the association should 

 try to adhere, leaving a gen- 

 erous margin for the chance 

 that in a later year expense 

 might exceed income. 



As the business manager 

 of the F. T. D. News, M. 

 Bloy presented a report on 

 that project of the associa- 

 tion. In it he told of the aims and ob- 

 jects of the journal and told how, to his 

 inind, the fifteen months' old periodical 

 had fulfilled these aims and objects. 

 Max Schling, chairman of the directors' 

 unit on the F. T. D. News, after com- 

 mendation of the management, gave a 

 few ways in which it might be improved. 

 After announcement of an invitation 

 to Kiwanis Club members to have lunch- 

 eon with the Toronto organization in the 

 hotel Wednesday, the meeting adjourned 

 to the Crystal room, on the fourteenth 



