40 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
great majority of nursery salesmen have carried on their 
work in an honorable and creditable manner, there have 
been enough of the disreputable type to create an unfav¬ 
orable impression in the public mind. This has given 
rise to onerous legislation in some states and provinces 
and has also resulted in publicity injurious to the trade. 
Can you imagine any better way to allay public suspicion 
than to prove to the public that you are taking precau¬ 
tions to protect it from disreputable salesmanship? The 
public knows that bonding companies will not bond dis¬ 
honest men. Notice to the public that all your salesmen 
are bonded reliable men would place your work on a 
higher plane in the public estimation. Can you estimate 
the value of the publicity that would result if the entire 
nursery industry should decide to bond all nursery sales¬ 
men? It is quite generally known that commission sales¬ 
men in any line can not be bonded. The fact that nur¬ 
sery salesmen are able to secure bonds places them on a 
higher level in the public mind. The general bonding of 
nursery salesmen would give rise to most valuable pub¬ 
licity for it would conclusively prove that our industry 
is taking precautions to protect the public. 
The general bonding of salesmen would result in more 
efficient sales staffs. The taking out of bonds would re¬ 
act favorably upon the salesmen themselves by arousing 
them to a greater sense of their responsibilities. They 
would carry bond cards to show their prospective cus¬ 
tomers and every time they were exhibited there would 
be an unconscious strengthening of the sense of personal 
responsibility. This in turn would be felt by the public. 
Furthermore, the higher morale of nursery salesmen in 
general would attract a better grade of men from other 
sales fields. Besides, men of questionable reputation 
would be kept out of the sales staffs through the inves¬ 
tigation carried on by bond companies. In these differ¬ 
ent ways, the efficiency of the staffs would be greatly in¬ 
creased by the general bonding of our salesmen. 
The bonding of salesmen would protect the industry 
from future probable loss by keeping out those proven 
dishonest in other work and those who are heavily in¬ 
volved. The bonding companies have the facilities for 
making a more thorough investigation of the past records 
of applicants than have nursery companies. Further¬ 
more, they are not influenced by a pleasing exterior that 
may hide serious weakness. Facts only count with them. 
Besides protecting the industry by keeping out dangerous 
men, the practice of bonding keeps those who are in 
the nursery sales field and who may naturally weaken 
at times from giving way. They realize that bonding 
companies do not show leniency. The bonding of sales¬ 
men enables the companies to use these men on collec¬ 
tions as well as in sales without danger of loss. 
I urge you to carefully consider the proposition of gen¬ 
eral bonding before rejecting it in your minds. I contend 
that it would protect the public by tending to eliminate 
disreputable salesmanship; its publicity value would be 
incalculable; it would increase sales through greater 
efficiency of sales staffs and it would provide protection 
to the companies against money loss. 
Obituary. * 
JOHN HALL 
John Hall, formerly secretary of the American Asso¬ 
ciation of Nurserymen, died at his home in Detroit. De¬ 
cember 22. 1922. aged 77 years. 
Mr. Hall was formerly a resident of Bochester, New 
York, where he lived for nearly 50 years. 
For over 40 years Mr. Hall was secretary of the West¬ 
ern New York Horticultural Society, playing a large part 
in the society’s growth and development. He also served 
as park commissioner and was an important factor in 
the development of parks and playgrounds of Rochester. 
As secretary of the American Association of Nursery¬ 
men. Mr. Hall became nationally known to the nursery 
trade. His Stirling qualities and faithful performance of 
duties gained him the esteem and love of all the members. 
The Milwaukee convention in 1916 was the last one 
at which Mr. Hall officiated, although he came as an 
honored guest to a later convention. Old friends will 
read of his death with deep regret as his passing breaks 
a tie with the old order of things. 
Mr. Hall was born in England, coming to the United 
States shortly after the Civil War and going to Omaha, 
Nebraska, going to Rochester about 1872. Early in his 
business career he was associated with the seed house 
of James Yick 6: Sons of that place. 
About three years ago Mr. and Mrs. Hall moved to 
Detroit to spend their remaining years near their son, 
Harry S. Hall, who is a prominent manufacturer in that 
city. 
The death of Mr. Hall is the first in the family since 
his marriage fifty-one years ago. He leaves his wife, a 
son. Harry S. Hall, of Detroit; and five daughters, Mrs. 
E. L. Southwick. of Detroit; Mrs. Frank Collins-Baker. 
of Urbana. III.; Mrs. Howard W. Lyman of Syracuse; 
Mrs. Frank Brewer, of Unionville. Conn., and Mrs. J. 
Eugene Masten. of Canandaigua. 
