THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
|)ul»li(*ity and I want lo say i-ight here that the mirsery 
l)Lisin(‘ss seejiis to he the v(M'y last organization of trade 
to rtH'ognize the wonderful results derived through pul)- 
lieity. The oidy publieity we have today in our hus- 
iiK'ss is the traveling salesman and the few eatalogs 
inaihal out l)y tin' mail order houses. The ])uhlieity 
(*ommill('(' have undouhtedly eovered this suhjeet thor¬ 
oughly, so I will pass this, hy simi)ly ealling your atten¬ 
tion to it. The wholesalers’ bureau eould also be used 
as a means to su|)press the pernieious praetiees indulged 
in l)y both the ^^holesaler and retailer. One of these, 
and I believe the most damaging ])raetiee known to the 
nui'sery trade, is the mailing out of w holesale lists to ])er- 
sons and others not engag('d in the selling or distributing 
of nurs('ry stoek. I am satisfied and free to state that 
\\('re it not for the damaging effeet of w holesale prices 
made hy many wholesalers and retailers as well as to 
park hoai'ds, landseajje gardeners, cemetery assoeiations, 
farmers eluhs, and in faet almost anyone making api)lica- 
tion for wholesale prices, that we would all he enjoying 
oui- share! of the prc'sent prosj)erity instead of being com¬ 
pelled to acknowledge that there is no money in the 
nursery business. It is an actual fact that the damage 
already done thru’ the mailing of wholesale prices to 
those outside of the business has becojne alaiining. The 
r(‘tailer does Jiot eomplain of the amount of business done 
or the (plantity of stock supjilied through the distribution 
of these wholesale lists hut he does comjilain of the vast 
amoind of business aetually lost to the retailer, and in 
fact, to the entire nursery fraternity through this jier- 
nicious jiractiee. 
Now I believe that if all nurseries issuing wholesale 
lists eould he hrought to the realization that a wholesale 
list j)lac('d in the hands of a planter, landsea[)e gardener, 
or ])ark hoard is ruinous to the trade, they would discon¬ 
tinue the practiee immediately. Cheap prices do not 
S('ll goods hut cheai) priees are the most effeetive w eapons 
that I know^ of to tight salesmen with. Now the whole¬ 
salers should get together study the eonditions and in so 
far as tlu'y are alile remedy all of these evils. The w hole- 
saler cannot get along without the retailer and the re¬ 
tailer w ill not he in the market for stock unless he is able 
lo disi)os(' of it through his salesmen. Many retailers 
employ catalogs as their salesmen to sell their stock hut 
1 am sure you w ill agree w ith me that the greater part of 
llu' nursery stoek sold throughout the rural distriets is 
disposed of through traveling salesnum. Now it is my 
ojiinion that the ultimate success of the nursery business 
(h'jiends entirely ujion the maintainence and the protec¬ 
tion of the traveling salesman, if you eliminate him from 
tin; held you have put out of business the most effeetive 
instrument through which our products are sold. Ninety 
])er cent, of all the nursery stock distributed in the 
northei n states is sold hy jjersonal iiderview , and at least 
50% of the mail order business done in those same states 
is the result of a canvass made hy some traveling nur- 
s('ry agent. This being tine, there can he no question 
that th(' traveling salesman is necessary to maintain our 
trade and does it not follow' that the salesman must he 
])roteet('d in the ti'rritory w here he is ojierating? 1 have 
sjient nine years as a traveling salesman covering terri¬ 
tory in Minnesota and adjoining states, I have ihwoted 
the jiast eleven years in handling men working directly 
out from our office; my efforts have been directed mainly 
in employing capable salesmen that are dependable in 
every way, hut I must confess that we have lost many <i 
desirable representative because he refused to continue 
in a business that afforded no iirotection w hatever to the 
salesman in the matter of priees. Here’s an example of 
an interview w ith one of our salesmen—“what is a No. 
1 5-6 ft. apjile tree worth?” I replied “-$5.00 per dozen.” 
He comes hack like this “I called upon a certain prosjieet 
today and he asked me my price, I told him $5.00 jiei 
dozen, he then show ed me a w holesale list from a whole¬ 
saler in Illinois quoting apple trees at lOe a piece, is 
there 400% juofit in the nursery business?” Then again 
this same salesman is detailed to call uiion a park board 
in a neighboring town and this park board is in the mar¬ 
ket for a carload of trees; we quote a price covering the 
cost of stock laid down at that station plus a reasonable 
commission for the salesman’s work; the bids are opened 
and it is found that some wholesaler in Iowa or Illinois 
or perhaps New^ York has quoted a i)rice even lower than 
we could buy this same stock ourselves in carload lots. 
Is this ju'otection or encouragement to a salesman, and 
above all w hat kind of an imjiression does it make upon 
the ])ublic? The result of this kind of conqjetition is 
that the order is ])laced with the wholesaler; every mem- 
lier of the board that purchased the trees has a few" 
friends and neighbors and some of these may have placed 
an order with the agent, they compare prices and decide 
at once that the agent is a holdup artist, a highway rub¬ 
ber and every other agent that calls at that jilace from 
then on gets a very cold reception. Word goes out in 
that community that a place has been found w here trees 
can be purchased at wliolesale, they all get the lists be¬ 
cause the })ark board continues receiving them and hav¬ 
ing no use for them hands them to his next door neigli- 
bor, and so they are passed around doing very little good 
in the way of increasing the sale of nursery stoek but i\ 
very effeetive w^eapon against the retail agent wdio calls 
w"ith the view^ of selling an order. Now- this retail agent 
is interested mostly in his own welfare and after he en¬ 
counters a few' cases of this sort, it does not take him long 
to decide that the tree business is no place for an honest 
man and offers no inducements in which to make a living. 
Now', gentlemen, do you think that the wholesalers 
through a central bureau and through co-operation could 
remedy these practices? 1 am satisfied that they can 
and I firmly believe thaf the retailers are entitled to jiro- 
tection ami encouragement from the wholesaler. All 
we ask is that you make wholesale prices only to those 
engaged in the business, and if you w ish to sell at retail, 
we offer no objection but we do want you to quote a 
price no low er than we are eonqielled to ask for the goods 
wdien w'e buy from you and resell tlirough our salesman 
who receives a commission. Competition is the life of 
trade and fair competition injures no one. Those of us 
w ho employ traveling salesmen maintain an organization 
that means extra cost and extra expense in order to give 
the service demanded by the jmblle. The unserupulons 
salesman is being weeded out and if we were not eom- 
jielled to fight the mail order circular we would soon be 
able to maintain in the field an operating force that 
would requii-e doidile the amount of the })resent quaidlty 
of nursery stock produced to supply our needs. There 
