THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
143 
It is true, it has been peculiarly susceptible to the evil 
tendencies of men, and where is there a business that has 
not been to some extent. Take any line you will, and 
particularly during the past few years, shoddy has been 
worked on to the public in every conceivable way. In 
everything we wear or use it has been very hard to get 
real stuff no matter what you paid. There are members 
of the association who have cleaned up their nurseries of 
all the old junk that has accumulated for years, and there 
are others who have not attempted to work the junk off 
°n the public but have burned it as usual, and their con¬ 
science is clear. 
There is no better time than the next meeting to get 
back on a workable basis. Cast off the impracticable 
schemes that have been found not to work to the ad¬ 
vantage of the membership, and that have been con¬ 
demned by our leaders of the past. Do not feel bad about 
it, for after you get your system cleaned out, you will 
be better prepared than ever to join in the great pros¬ 
perity which is sure to come when our great industries 
get moving again. 
It is my opinion that il you do not do this you will soon 
have an association that does not represent over 25% of 
the real nursery business of America, and out of the 
ashes will arise a new body of men, who will progress 
along workable lines and instead of a membership of 
two or three hundred you will have two or three thous¬ 
and. 
When the American Association gets on a sane and 
safe basis they can have my check for a year’s dues in 
advance if I prove good enough to qualify and I know 
a good bunch of former members who feel as I do about 
it. We are simply sitting by and watching the pot boil. 
We hope the Powers that be, will lay all useless propa¬ 
ganda on the table, and adopt a basis that will interest all 
branches ol our great business, so that harmony will pre¬ 
vail as in the past. 
MR. E. S. WELCH STATES IIIS POSITION 
May 17, 1921. 
Editor, The National Nurseryman, 
Flourtown, Pennsylvania. 
Dear Sir:— 
In the March issue of the American Nurseryman, I 
notice that our firm was listed as one of nineteen other 
good firms opposed to the policy adopted by the Associa¬ 
tion at the Chicago conventoin last June. On account of 
my being a member of the Executive Committee, I have 
thought that I should explain my position. 
Personally, I am proud of being classed with such able 
men in the nursery fraternity as J. II. Dayton and Wil¬ 
liam Pitkin. 
There was a decided difference of opinion among the 
members of the Market Development Committee regard¬ 
ing the advisability of the first advertising plan proposed 
by Mr. Pyle, Chairman of the Market Development Com¬ 
mittee. The Committee was about equally divided. As 
a member of the Executive Committee, I opposed the 
plan which was to advertise the trade mark and a 
pamphlet entitled “Looking Both Ways,” written by Mr. 
Watson advertising the American Association. My idea 
was this appropriation should be spent for creating a 
market for nursery stock, and that the trade mark should 
at least be a secondary matter. 
After strenuous efforts on the part of some of the 
members of the Market Development Committee and sev¬ 
eral of the officers that were opposed to the first plan, a 
revised plan which was approved I think, by all the 
members of the Market Development Committee was pro¬ 
posed by Mr. Pyle which 1 understand was used in the 
campaign, although I have not seen any of the papers in 
which the ads. were published. One of these ads. was 
entitled “Plant More Fruit,” advertising a fruit book, 
and the other “Your Home Grounds,” advertising a book 
giving information for ornamental planting. The trade 
mark was used in these ads., but given a secondary 
place. While I do not pretend to know much about ad¬ 
vertising, I think the revised plan waas a far better man¬ 
ner in which to spend the advertising appropriation. 
It was getting so late when the revised plan of the 
Market Development Committee was finally agreed upon, 
that nearly all the members of the American Association, 
thirty-two I think, that were present at the Kansas City 
meeting, signed a telegram to Mr. Pyle, recommending 
that no paid advertising be done this year, but that the 
money be held for next year’s campaign, beginning ear¬ 
lier in the year. The agency firms especially thought by 
the time the advertising would reach the public their 
selling campaign would be practically over so they 
would get but little benefit out of it. I signed this tele¬ 
gram, and still think this would have been the wisest 
course to have followed. 
Mr. Pyle apparently assumes because the vote for the 
revised scale of dues recommended by the Executive 
Committee and adopted at the Chicago convention was 
92 to 6, that this was definite and positive instructions for 
the Market Development Committee to advertise the 
trade mark only in the market development campaign. 
The press articles written by Messrs. Rockwell and 
Farrington were, in my judgment, far more effective for 
increasing business than the paid space, yet but little at¬ 
tention was paid to this feature until urged strongly by 
President Stark and the Executive Committee. 
Our firm has been consistently in favor of market de¬ 
velopment publicity, and was one of the original sub¬ 
scribers to the market development fund. My idea has 
been that the market development advertising should be 
carried out in such manner as to create new business 
rather than to simply advertise the American Association. 
Many of the members in the American Association are 
boosting strong for the trade mark, but it seems to me it 
will prove a detriment because I cannot see any possible 
way for the Association to control it. We have no stan¬ 
dardization of grades, prices or methods of doing bus¬ 
iness, and anyone who purchases trees from a member 
of the Association, whether a department store, jobber, 
local nurseryman or florist, can advertise that he is 
handling trustworthy trees and plants. There has already 
been more or less of this advertising done. 
The idea originally was to have a slogan which I 
think would be much better than the trade mark. A good 
many firms have trade marks of their own and have spent 
thousands of dollars advertising it, and we could not ex¬ 
pect them to discard it and take up an Association trade 
mark. By using the Association trade mark they would 
be placed on the same level with anyone that becomes a 
