2 House & Garden 
Great corporation head is 
amazed at the ddU & devotion 
of Davey Tree Surgeons ^ 
Correspondence between W. W. Salmon, President of the General Railway Signal 
Company, and M. L. Davey, General Manager of the Davey organization— 
a message of vital importance to every owner of trees. 
Set forth in the following letters are facts that 
every tree owner ought to know—facts, indeed, 
that he must know before he can save his trees from 
decay and disease. 
Tree Surgery is never “half-good”—it is either 
good or bad. If it is good, it is mechanically per¬ 
fect and scientifically accurate. If it is bad, it is a 
menace to the trees and a waste of money. 
How can you differentiate? How can you buy 
Tree Surgery intelligently—and safely? The letters 
from Mr. Salmon and the replies from Mr. Davey 
coupled with the photographs shown, clearly out¬ 
line the only safe course for you to follow: 
GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY 
Principal Office: 
Rochester, N. Y., U. S. A. 
W. W. Salmon, President. 
New York City, Sept. 29, 1916. 
Mr. M. L. Davey, Davey Tree Expert Co., 
Kent, Ohio. 
Dear Mr. Davey: 
Enclosed herewith please find my check to your 
order for $1,081.33 in full for tree surgery on my 
property at Beechmont, New Rochelle. 
In making this remittance permit me to express 
my appreciation of the capable interested service 
rendered by your organization. Your New York 
Office as well as your Westchester representative 
and your foreman, have one and all given the most 
painstaking attention to my needs, and I have been so 
much impressed with the efficiency of your organiza¬ 
tion as I have come in contact with it, that it would 
please me greatly if, when you can find time, you 
will have the goodness to furnish me with any data 
at your command, showing how you have built up 
and maintained it in such a way as to bring about the 
devotion and enterprise so evident in your represent¬ 
atives whom it has been my pleasure to meet. 
Yours very truly, W. W. Salmon. 
Kent, Ohio, Oct. 3, 1916. 
W. W. Salmon, Esq., “Beechmont,” New Rochelle, 
New York. 
Dear Mr. Salmon: 
Acknowledging your esteemed favor of Sept. 
29th, I want to assure you that such a voluntary 
expression of satisfaction is more than a pleasure—■ 
it is an inspiration. The public as a whole has been 
very gracious to us in return for our conscientious 
efforts to give Quality First Tree Surgery and honest 
service. 
I believe that most worthy things, especially 
along the line of organization, are the result of 
evolution based upon a fundamental policy. _ Our 
purpose from the beginning has been to give maximum 
service, which means perfected methods, high type men 
and an organization ideal. 
Perhaps the thing of first importance is the men 
—the men who actually do the work. The people 
whom we serve are not particularly interested in 
my theories or my knowledge or my ability. They 
measure the Davey organization by the men whom 
they see, and rightly so. Consequently, we have 
endeavored to get the right kind of men. 
We go on the theory that “A leopard cannot 
change his spots.” If a man is dishonest, if he is 
lazy, if he is careless and indifferent, if he lacks 
intelligence, if he lacks the spirit of co-operation 
and devotion to his work and his employers—if he 
lacks these fundamental things, no argument and 
no appeal and no inducement will make him a good 
man. We, therefore, eliminate the poor ones as fast 
as we find them, keeping only those who have in them 
the qualities which have impressed you. The good 
ones we boost and encourage and try to inspire as 
soon as we find that they are good. We pay these 
good men well and pay them more as soon as they 
prove they are worth more. The foreman who had 
charge of your work will be given a raise imme¬ 
diately on the strength of your letter. Is it not 
reasonable to suppose that he will strive still harder 
to please every other client? Every man in the 
Davey organization knows that his advancement de¬ 
pends upon his service and upon no other thing. 
While we pay well we demand much in return. 
If a man fails to live up to our high standard, we 
do not want him and will not have him. If our 
service at any time falls below this high standard, we 
let the offender go and make good to the client. Thus 
the process of elimination leaves us the good men, 
those who are intelligent, industrious, honest and 
devoted to their work. 
Our men are all trained in the Davey organization. 
We take no man’s recommendation of himself. He 
must go through the mill and show us. Every man 
is responsible to us for his work and his conduct, 
which is the measure of his service. Thus the client 
gets, through us, the highest possible service — guaran¬ 
teed service. We, who know values in Tree Surgery, 
select the man who is to handle your priceless trees 
and we stand back of it with the whole strength of our 
organization and reputation. 
We have devoted ourselves unceasingly to the 
perfection of our methods, with the result that our 
work is in reality practically perfect both mechani¬ 
cally and scientifically. We maintain our own 
school at a considerable annual expense for the 
specific purpose of training our men according to 
the Davey methods and Davey standard. 
Every year we have a Convention, when we 
bring all of our responsible men together, including 
foremen, special representatives, officers, students 
and school faculty. We had our usual Convention 
last March. We had more than sixty foremen in 
attendance. The average length of their experience 
was about five years, with the result that more than 
three hundred years of actual experience was concen¬ 
trated, massed, on the problems of Tree Surgery. We 
had a week’s demonstration work, during which 
time we discussed everything from the most im¬ 
portant down to the seemingly trivial things. 
Everything was put to the test of experience. We 
wanted no theories. We demanded only the definite 
results of ripe experience. The result is not only a 
constantly rising standard, but a very gratifying and 
valuable uniformity of methods and policy. 
We had with us during our last annual Con¬ 
vention, Dr. H. D. House, New York State Botanist, 
who was formerly Professor in the Biltmore Forestry 
School. We wanted him here so that he could look 
us over. He expressed himself as amazed at the 
character of our organization and said that he could 
now understand why we had made a success of our 
work. Among other things he said, “These men 
would do honor to any institution of learning in 
America.” A thing which greatly impressed him 
was the fact that our men, these fellows of broad, 
practical experience, were absolutely unanimous on 
every vital point. 
Then there is the question of organization spirit. 
Our men have been made to feel that they are engaged 
in a great work—a work which is altogether worthy of 
them and the best that is in them. They have been 
made to realize that their future success is insep¬ 
arably interwoven with the future and the success 
of the Davey organization. We have appealed to 
their self interest, their desire for success and for 
financial return. We have shown them that there is 
only one way for them to advance their self interest 
and that is to give devoted service to their Company 
and its clients. Without the right kind of men such 
an appeal would be as wasted as a single rain on a 
desert. With the right kind of men as we have, 
such an appeal finds ready response, which grows 
and grows in beauty and in practical utility. 
You as a business man know the inspiration 
which comes from definite achievement, from ap¬ 
proaching a fixed goal. I find more satisfaction in 
this achievement than in the profit which comes 
from it. I believe that a business ideal is a 
source of power and serves to draw success as a magnet. 
Ten years ago the Davey organization was only 
a mere handful doing a business of about ten or 
twelve thousand dollars per year. Today we have 
an organization of about three hundred built along 
the lines which I have indicated. Our business this 
year will exceed three hundred thousand dollars and I 
am very glad to say it leaves in its wake an almost 
general feeling of satisfaction such as you have 
expressed. 
Let me assure you that we very deeply appre¬ 
ciate the opportunity of serving you and the honor 
of your full confidence and esteem. 
Sincerely yours, 
THE DAVEY TREE EXPERT CO. 
M. L. Davey, 
General Manager. 
From Mr. William M. Wood, Pres. 
American Woolen Co., Boston, Mass. 
“Your work upon my trees bears the mark 
of expert knowledge, and I am looking for¬ 
ward confidently to the best possible results 
from your intelligent treatment. Your suc¬ 
cess in tree preservation makes you a real 
public benefactor.” 
From Mr. George A. Stephens, Pres. 
Moline Plow Co., Moline, Ill. 
" Two pioneer elms located in my residence 
grounds have given me a great deal of worry, 
have cost considerable effort, time and money 
and have never been satisfactorily treated until 
the work lately done by your force. I am of 
the belief now that the trees are permanently 
sustained.” 
From Mr. W. H. Mullins, Pres. 
The W. H. Mullins Co., Salem, Ohio. 
"The work done by your men on my trees 
has been very satisfactory and I hope will be 
the means of prolonging their life for many 
years.” 
From Mr. Ezra F. Hershey, 
Hershey Chocolate Co., 
Hershey, Penn. 
"It is a pleasure to me, and I feel it a 
duty, to recommend any work that is done 
as intelligently as you handled my work here.” 
From Mr. G. M. Palmer, Pres. 
Hubbard Milling Co., Mankato, Minn. 
"I was very much pleased with the work 
of your men on my trees. They seem to un¬ 
derstand thoroughly their business and I am 
sure they have put my trees in first class con¬ 
dition.” 
<3^ Davey Tree 
FOR SAFE TREE SURGERY 
