THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
95 
IMPORTANCE OF THE F. T. D. DURING THE WAR 
By Albert Pochelon, Before the Tennessee Slate Floiists’ 
amt Nurserymen’s Associations, Naslwille, Tenn. 
You have asked me to talk to you about how can the 
F. T. D. or rather the retail florist make himself real use¬ 
ful and beneficial to his trade, during the world war. 
I will try and talk to you in writing just my thoughts and 
happenings as they will present themselves in almost any 
retail store daily since this country went into the world 
war. 
The old saying, “Its an ill wind that blows 
no one good,” comes to my thoughts. Now, 
I happen to be an amateur sailor, and have been 
told that a man who can sail a boat well is able to forge 
his boat ahead of any other boat because he makes the 
best use of the wind he gets. He does not say, “If we 
had such and such a wind I could win this race.” This 
same course holds good for the retail florists of today. 
It is absolutely no use lamenting about how unfortunate 
things are, take them as they come and you will find that 
the sooner you adapt your methods to the present war 
conditions in this country, the better you are off. I have 
seen some fellows sail a boat, and run away and keep in 
the lead where another fellow was not able to keep 
enough wind in his sheet to give his boat steering way, 
yet both had the same motive power, but one made use 
of every opportunity, and the other could not see nor take 
the opportunity because he was so busy growling and 
grumbling about the weather and other conditions. 
Opportunity is the word today, or rather what oppor¬ 
tunity has the retail florists’ trade to work on at the pres¬ 
ent war conditions. Let every retailer get right down 
and do some thinking and I know some good will come 
out of it. Hundreds of opportunities are opening new 
fields for our branch of business, but the great trouble 
with 75% of the retailers today is they do not think 
of anything else nor are they able to connect our trade 
with this war in any other way than delivering or work¬ 
ing up funeral flowers for the soldiers who have lost 
their lives for our country. What a silly way of looking- 
for business and new fields. And what still more silly 
arguments can you get on this subject. Just think of the 
great many office boys today in cantonments, naval train¬ 
ing stations, aviation fields and other branches of the 
army and navy. If they have no wives or families at 
home they have surely a sister, brother, or sweetheart 
and how can they better remember them than with 
flowers or flowering plants. They may have someone 
near and dear to them, ill or sick in a hospital. Flowers 
are the only thing you can send in a case like this. There 
are birthdays, wedding anniversaries, new arrivals, and 
hundreds of occasions where nothing else than flowers 
seem a proper gift. Also figure out that out of 1,500,000 
soldiers and sailors, officers and men, some of them are 
hound to he sick or ill in hosi)itals, and what looks better 
to them than a few flowers with a card and a few cheer¬ 
ing words from friends and relatives at home. 
Right here I have several arguments with patrons who 
think that it would be better for friends and relatives of 
injured or wounded soldiers, who may have to be in the 
hospital for any length of time, to send them money and 
tobacco, rather than flowers. I have converted a great 
numhei- of p(a)})le by simply telling them that a package 
of tobacco and a five dollar note set alongside of a sick 
bed in a hosi)ilal in Manchester, England, where a good 
many soldiers and sailors are today recu])erating, does 
not cheer them up as much as a few flowers with a card 
on same from home folks. Remember it must be sermons 
of this kind from the florists that will open new fields 
for our trade, and it is our retail florists who must Con¬ 
stantly tell people that flowers today for humanity are 
absolutely necessary, and cannot and will never be con¬ 
sidered non-essentials. 
It is up to us, retail florists, to work hard to overcoimi 
our most bitter enemy which is commonly called, “False 
Economy,” and which had the greatest amount of free 
publicity through the newspapers, who an* forever print¬ 
ing things detrimental to the florist trade as well as to a 
great many other industries not directly connected with 
the production of war material. Yet, these very news¬ 
papers are today making a living only through the ad¬ 
vertisements of goods they advertise on one page, and on 
another page they condemn the Imying of such goods. 
Did you ever see the advertisement of ammunition fac¬ 
tories or other war material manufacturers? No. Do 
you not hear every day some well-known speaker con¬ 
demn candy, flowers, jewelry, etc? Get at the bottom of 
this talk and in a good many instances men of this type 
are most selfish, and do not consider anything else except 
their own glory, and in many instances they have an idea 
that they are doing the country the greatest favor. I 
say, they are not. Keep business })rosj)erous. Kecj) 
things going. Don’t try to kill off everything 
that is not connected directly with the manu¬ 
facture of war material for the simj)le reason that 
everyone of us wants to share in the good work of buy¬ 
ing Liberty Ronds, help the Red Gross, help the Y. M. C. 
A. and do our best to help the boys that went into servic<‘, 
to make the service, that they are rendering their coun¬ 
try, for our sake, appreciated and fully recognized by 
us. Do you realize that some of these grandstand talkeis 
would like to kill all business? Rut they do not think 
far enough, that if they kill business they will at the same 
time bar us out from giving liberally to the help that is 
needed by this great country. Not only the rich and 
wealthy manufacturers, the middleman and workingmen 
have surely shown their spirit and many poor men have 
done a great deal more toward the liberty loan in propor¬ 
tion to some of the men who are making great wealth 
out of their industries at the present time. They say, 
“Use flags as table decorations, instead of flowers.” That 
is another poor phrase which is used commonly by some 
of our patrons. So many are great in preaching economy, 
but few are of the practicing kind. 
Let us all helj) to save coal and eatables, but economiz¬ 
ing on articles which are already manufactured or j)ro- 
duced and w liicli will spoil or become a loss, let us find 
sales for them and keep the money in circulation and the 
more we can all help to keep tlie money in circulation the 
better it is for all of us, as it w ill enable us to pay our 
bills when they come due and our customers can pay us 
promptly. Let it be up to every retailer to talk against 
