192 



H E T I C U L T U E E 



August 24, 191S 



Secretary's Financial Statement — 

 January 1st to July 31st, 1918. 



January 1st — Balance on hand.... |4.75 



Dues lOlo— 3 at SSM 9.00 



1916— 16 at .3.00 48.00 



1917— 52 at 3.00 156.00 



1918— S82 at 3.00 2,646.00 



1919— 10 at 3.00 30.00 



1919— On account l.OU 



Fees and dues, new members — 402 



at $5.00 2,010.00 



Fees, life members— 27 at $25.00... 675.00 

 Keliate. National Flower Show Of- 

 fice Furniture 94.75 



$5,674.50 



REMITTED TO TKEASUKER. 



Fermanent Fund ?675.00 



General Fund 4,999.50 



$5,674.50 



TREASURER'S REPORT 



Treasurer Hess then presented his 

 report, of which the following is a 

 summary: 



Ended ivith July 31, 1918. 

 Balance on hand Dec. 



31. 1917, Gen. Fund.. $19,244.61 

 Receipts 3.198.89 



$22,443.50 



Perm. Fund $23,941.19 



Receipts 1,112.50 



$25,053.69 



Nat'l Pub. Campaign... $7,308.40 

 Receipts 22.248.08 



$29,556.48 



Grand Total $77,053.67 



DISBURSEMENTS. 

 Gen. Fund, as per list 



attached $6,916.35 



Nat'l Flower Show, ag 



per list attached 2,053.98 



Nat'l Pub. Campaign, 



as per list attached.. 29,176.48 



$38,146.81 



Balance on hand in all 

 funds July 31, 1918. . $38,906.86 



J. J. HESS, Treasurer. 



Treasurer Hess moved the adoption 

 of the following, which was carried 

 unanimously: 



Resolved. That the permanent fund 

 at People's Banli, Buffalo, and Citi- 

 zen's Bank, Pittsburgh, be transferred 

 to the general fund to reimburse the 

 ten thousand dollars expended for 

 Liberty Bonds. 



Irwin Bertermann then paid a grace- 

 ful tribute to the charms of woman- 

 hood and her great services and char- 

 acterizing Mrs. W. F. Gude as a 

 mother of the Florists' Telegraph De- 

 livery, presented beautiful floral offer- 

 ings to Mrs. Ex-President Vincent and 

 Mrs. Gude. Then followed the report 

 of W. F. Gude as Washington repre- 

 sentative. 



REPORT OF WASHINGTON REPRE- 

 SENTATIVE. 

 During this last year, notwithstand- 

 ing all the obstacles thrown in our 

 way by the everlasting word "non- 

 essential." I am happy to report to 

 this organization that the florists of 

 the District of Columbia have had the 

 most successful year in the entire his- 

 tory of our business careers. While 

 we have had heatless Mondays in 

 Washington as frequently as have 

 others, we found, after a rigid adher- 

 ence to the rulings that the business 

 did not suffer to an appreciable de- 

 gree. There may have been a few 

 patients in hospitals who would have 

 liked, but were unable, to have flow- 

 ers sent them by friends; there may 

 have been burials which were flower- 

 less through neglect to order on Sat- 

 urdays (Sunday being a holiday); 



still with all this there was inspired 

 a spirit of ardor in the peofle who 

 would have bought flowers to buy 

 more and also to "talk" flowers. 



Again, of the persons employed in 

 our business, we are proud and happy 

 to say that twenty-seven of them are 

 in uniform, and that their places are 

 open to them as long as Gude Bros, 

 have a dollar left to pay their wages. 

 God willing that they return, foi' 

 which we hope and pray. Five mem- 

 bers of our own families wear the 

 khaki, and when it is recalled that 

 there are but six mal^ heirs, the pro- 

 portion is one of which to be proud. 



Coal. 



Among the war activities in Wash- 

 ington since our last session, there 

 have been many problems to confront 

 the S. A. F. & O. H., some of them 

 having reached your representative 

 there. Not the least of these was the 

 coal situation of 1917. Many of our 

 members (and many florists who 

 should be members) only too well re- 

 member the hardships we went 

 through during the winter of 1917. 

 Right here let me say through our 

 national society that anywhere from 

 flve hundred to one thousand |jer 

 cent, more members would join (it is 

 reasonable to suppose) if we could 

 only educate them as to what it 

 means to belong to the S. A. F. & 0. 

 H. By this, it is meant that a great 

 many inquiries come to the Washing- 

 ton representative from non-members 

 who, apparently, were left out in the 

 cold — literally — and eventually were 

 helped by officers of our organization. 



In November, 1917, many inquiries 

 poured in, such as "how much coal 

 can I have?" "What will the Fuel 

 Administration do with me, as I have 

 bought all my coal and have it on the 

 place?" "I have no coal at all, and if 

 the Fuel Administration does not give 

 me coal I will freeze out." "If I had 

 just one car of coal, I might be able 

 to pull through." "After being in 

 business for forty or fifty years, the 

 Administration has denied me a car 

 of coal, and the denial means my 

 ruin," and many more statements like 

 these. "What size of coal will I be 

 permitted to burn?" 



Gentlemen, your Washington Fuel 

 Administrator has a limited amount 

 of patience. After the United States 

 Government regulations are planned 

 to win this war first and all the time, 

 and these rules and regulations are 

 published in all the trade papers, is 

 it any wonder that an editor of one 

 of those papers should say, "Why sub- 

 scribe, if you won't read?" and "If 

 you are a florist, why not subscribe 

 to the papers?" 



Gentlemen, it is up to you. You 

 have one of the grandest professions 

 on the face of the earth, and one, we 

 claim, is an essential. Read your 

 trade papers. If you do not have 

 them to read, subscribe to them. It 

 will save your fellow florists many 

 hours of useless correspondence, your 

 editor many paragraphs of useless ex- 

 pense, and yourself much anxiety and, 

 perhaps, embarrassment.' 



If there is anyone present who 

 knows of an inquiry that the W^ash- 

 ington representative has not an- 

 swered forthwith in the shortest pos- 

 sible time, now is the time to speak. 



In connection with the Coal Com- 

 mission, the trip to Washington in 

 May was one of the most pleasing in- 

 cidents in our history. The Society 

 of American Florists and Ornamental 

 Horticulturists met on the grounds of 

 the United States Botanic Garden. 

 Present to receive the officers and 

 members of our organization were 

 leaders of the American Nation, in- 

 cluding such men as Champ Clark. 

 Speaker of the House: Hon. William 

 A. Rodenburg, a soldier from "over 

 there;" Senator Miles Poindexter, 

 Chairman of the Senate Committee on 

 Public Grounds and Library; Hon. 

 James L. Slayflen of Texas, the presi- 

 dent of the S. A. F. and O. H., and the 

 Washington representative. To aid 

 and entertain this distinguished gath- 

 ering. Major General MacGinty sent 

 his army band from Camp Meigs to 

 furnish music during the entire after- 

 noon. On that memorable day, at sun- 

 set, with the shadow of the magnifi- 

 cent historic trees athwart the greens- 

 ward, the Capitol silhoutted against 

 the blue sky, the Red Cross nurses in 

 their spotless white gowns, those pres- 

 ent witnessed a picture that will linger 

 forever in their memory, and one that 

 is an everlasting tribute to the profes- 

 sion, because a florist conceived the 

 idea of having this splendid gathering 

 on these historic grounds. Too much 

 credit can not be given our fellow di- 

 rector, Mr. George W. Hess, Supt. of 

 the U. S. Botanic Garden, for his ever- 

 ready and willing cooperation in all 

 that pertains to the uplift and welfare 

 of our profession. At the time of this 

 meeting, the hundred million dollar 

 Red Cross drive was under way, and it 

 was George Hess who suggested that 

 it would be a wise and good thing for 

 the florists to go on record in an offi- 

 cial way as boosting this splendid 

 effort of the Nation. While several 

 hundred dollars were thrown in at this 

 gathering, and while many thousands 

 of dollars had been collected from the 

 sale of flowers in the Capital during 

 this drive, no incident showed a more 

 patriotic spirit than that furnished 

 by one of the Red Cross girls. She 

 had in her possession a United States 

 half-penny, given her by a brother to 

 sell — if she could dispose of it for any- 

 thing above its face value. While she 

 and other ladies were selling flowers 

 (donated by the Washington florists) 

 they approached the writer, told of 

 this coin and stated that the Red Cross 

 might have the proceeds of its sale. 

 The writer took the matter up at once; 

 within five minutes an auctioneer in 

 the person of William H. Siebrecht, 

 Jr., of Long Island City, was on the 

 job. After proper introduction and 

 explanation the bidding started at 

 seven dollars for the half penny, and 

 the bidding betwewen the Messrs. 

 Piersons (Wallace R. of Cromwell, 

 Conn., and Frank. R. of Tarrytown. 

 N. Y.) became so spirited that the 

 coin flnally, as the property of F. R. 

 Pierson. netted the Red Cross fund a 

 large sum. 



Just as these lines are dictated, your 

 representative is advised that lily 

 bulbs, in the ruling of July 11, shall 

 include all bulbs from Bermuda. They 

 must, of course, be shipped via the 

 S. S. Charybdis, according to the July 

 11 ruling. 



During the week of May 27, we ar- 



