16 



Ihc Florists^ Review 



Sbptbhbeb 24, 1914. 



Interior of John H. Klang's New^ Store at Detroit, Mich. 



livery boy for John Breitnieyer's Sons. 

 Proving his worth, he advanced in posi- 

 tion and became familiar with all the 

 branches of the business. After fifteen 

 years' experience in all departments, he 

 embarked in business for himself, in 

 1910, entering into the partnership of 

 Klang & Rockelman. He purchased his 

 partner's interest less than two years 

 later and has since been proving the 

 value of thorough experience for build- 

 ing up business. So successfully has he 

 demonstrated this that he has recently 

 erected a 2-story office building at the 

 corner of Forest avenue and Chene 

 street, and has installed his store on 

 the ground floor. How up-to-date is Mr. 

 Klang 's store, inside and out, may be 

 seen from the two views of the estab- 

 lishment given herewith. Not so appar- 

 ent in the illustration showing the in- 

 terior as they are in the store itself are 

 the pattern of the mosaic floor, the tiled 

 floor of the show windows and the floral 

 decorations on the electric light globes, 

 all of them worthv of note. 



THE BUSINESS OUTLOOK. 



From a New York Retailer's Viewpoint. 



The depression apparent in some lines 

 of business is justified only where the 

 business is built up on importation, or 

 where the raw material cannot be 

 secured elsewhere than in Europe. In 

 our business, the conditions will hardly 

 change in consequence of the war and 

 we have absolutely nothing to complain 

 of. We are in possession of much better 

 growing estublisliments than Europe. 

 Our greenhouses are not only much better 

 built and much better heated, but our 

 soil contains all its virgin strength. We 

 have a stronger sun than £ney have in 

 most parts of Europe, and among our 

 men we have schooled workers from 

 every country. And this is about the 

 only sore point in our business: that we 

 have not sufficient Americans who are 

 as well versed in gardening. 



Lack of American Gardeners. 



If seven or eight men come together. 



one will say, "I have an excellent 

 gardener, a Scotchman;" the second, "I 

 have a good gardener, an Englishman;" 

 the third, "a German;" the fourth has 

 a wonder of a Bohemian, another has a 

 Russian, one again will have a surpris- 

 ingly smart gardener, a Frenchman or 

 a Hollander. But it is rarely one will 

 say, ' ' I have an excellent gardener who 

 is an American," and whose fault is it 

 but our own? 



The war is raging in Europe. How- 

 ever bad an effect it has on lines which 

 depend on importation, and however 

 dearly it costs Europe in human lives 

 and wealth, it will be a wholesome expe- 

 rience for our country if we can manage 

 to stay out of the general calamity. We 



are sending to Europe great sums for 

 herbaceous plants, bulbs, azaleas, ros s 

 bay trees, palms and many other variQ. 

 ties of plants. But our public, with its 

 taste for refinement increasing more and 

 more and with its steadily increasii;g 

 demand for variety, can be well safisfii d 

 with the products of our own growevs. 

 Many growers originally trained in 

 the best gardens of Europe, after 1 e- 

 coming American citizens and building 

 up for themselves a large business in 

 the States, did not make an effort lo 

 grow the necessary stock in America, 

 but, on account of high labor, th,-y 

 brought it from abroad. Many varieties 

 they did not attempt to grow in Amer- 

 ica because they did not have sulH- 

 ciently trained help. This, however, will 

 alter the moment the demand of the 

 public requires of us goods which we 

 cannot bring in and consequently will 

 have to produce. Other goods which we 

 cannot produce here on account of tlie 

 climate, we will let our brother florists 

 in the more southern countries grow 

 for us. 



Customers Will Stay at Home. 



Our business, especially in the main 

 cities like New York, Boston and Chi- 

 cago, will not change on account of the 

 war, because so many of our customers 

 will stay at home who otherwise would 

 have been traveling in Europe. Many 

 people who otherwise went abroad, from 

 south, and west, and north, will go to 

 the eastern metropolis. New York, and 

 the western metropolis, Chicago. And 

 the same thing will happen with other 

 large cities. 



There may be a shortage on different 

 stocks for planting, and all these things 

 may be a little more expensive for the 

 first year for those who do not w.uit 

 substitutes, but all these stocks 

 we can grow ourselves, or find sub- 

 stitutes for them. Should the de- 

 mand continue for the stock we import, 

 then the growers in America will be 



New Store Building of John H. Klang» Detroit, i Mich. 



