Milford chronicle., 1920-01-09
DEALERS IN CHRISTMAS
GREENS LOST BIG MONEY

CThe following letter from one of
the largest dealers in Christmas holly
and trees. in philadelphia, r. X. Wood
ofh. 11O Dock street, will be interest
inc reading to those who manufacture
Christmas wreaths and greens.-Edi-
tori
The season for wreaths, crate holly.
4 lacapoleum, laurel and other Christ
mas greens, just ended for the year
1918. has been a disastrous one for
the maker, the speculator, the shipper,
the iobber, the commission man and
the retailer, and now that the season
is over and we have time to look back,
we can see how it all happened and
whv we were all disappointed.
Last year holly was very scarce,
Darticularly holly with berries on, and
the help to gather the holly was even
scarcer as all men had other work
to do which was more important. The
limited States Government was at war
and needed every able bodied man TO
either carry a gun, sail ship, or do
some essential work which was nee
essary to win the war. Therefore the
few men and women who had the time
10 SdlueI anu ohiP AOAiy VI mdhS lu6
wreaths, did so, and all that could be
gathered and shipped sold for the
highest prices ever before known.
This season everyone in the busi-
ness looked for high prices and the
commission men did not hesitate to
advise those shipping greens to con-
sign their goods.
The speculator who has made a
business of going from door to door
throughout the country also looked for
a good market and therefore did not
hesitate to pay good prices for the
wreaths wherever he could find them.
Those who sold to him this year were
winners, and the only winners in the
business.
Holly this year was PLENTIFUL every
where you would go you would see
holly and it was never more beauti-
full. Those who gathered it remember
ed the high prices of last year, there
fore everybody in the country quit
the essential work to gather holly and
to make wreaths.
The holly was good and so were the
wreaths when they were made, but the
weather was warm and they turned
black in a weeks time, and black
Wreaths will not sell. In Philadelphia
the receipts were ten times heavier
than ever before, every frienght or ex-
press train coming into the city being
loaded with greens, and before there
was a market for the goods, the mar
ket was OverstOcked. The week of
December 8th was the time we all
looked for the sale of greens to COM
mence, but bad weather (it raining
almost every day, together with such
heavy receipts) caused the buyers to
hold off until the following week. The
next week, starting with December Is,
found the weather so cold that you
could not show the goods to advantage,
nor could you find buyers who would
take the time to look at them, as the
thermometer stood from zero to Is
above the first four days. On Friday,
Decembe 10, heavy snow storm COW
cred the goods as they were piled up
on the sidewalks and in the streets,
and interfered with the sale of goods.
In the meantime the receipts were
piling higher and higher, and the
prices went lower and lower, and it
was only the occasional extra good
crate of wreaths that you could find
a buyer for The result was that the
last three days the goods were prac-
tlcally given away. Wreaths sold
from one cent to seven cents. Crate
holly (the crate alone costing S1.25)
sold from 10 cents to so cents and at
the windup of the season, thousands
upon thousands of wreaths. crate
holly, yards of laurel and Christmas
trees were hauled to the dumps to be
burnt.
The man who went from door to
door paying good money for wreaths
lost his money. The man who shipped
MS holly or wreaths got little or moth
ng for his work, and the commission
man who handled these goods that
we're shipped lost his money by pay
ng more expressage, carting OF
freight charges than the goods
brought, and besides he got damned
)y the shipper because the Good Man
allowed the holly to grow so beauti-
ul that it tempted everybody to gather
[ and then made the weather so mis-
'rable that it could not be sold to ad-
'antage.
1t IS to be regretted by one and all
hat the season ended so disastrously
'ut as this is the season of good cheer,
cts look forward to another year
When the conditions may be Just the
everse and everybody made money
nd be satisfied.
Yours respectfully,
Elan K Woodoth.
lest THOUGHTS IN THE