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June 22. IHIS 



AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION 



The Annual Convention of the 

 American Seed Trade Association is 

 belnp held this week. June 18. 19. 20, 

 In Chicago. The president's address 

 and reports of Secretary and Treasur- 

 er are appended 

 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT F. W. 

 BOLGIANO. 

 In acci-plniK the honors of the presi- 

 dency of the American Seed Trade Ab- 

 soclatlon last June, 1 did so with fear 

 that I might not realize the full Im- 

 portance of the position, or my cap- 

 abilltv to handle the siluatiou. I fully 

 appreciated that to the American 

 Seedsmen this Association would 

 mean more in Uie months to follow 

 than it had ever meant before. Yet 

 with that feeling and knowledge. I 

 never tor one moment dreamed what 

 was in store this year for your Asso- 

 ciation. 



Important Work Ahead. 

 Believing, as 1 do now. that this 

 Association while in the past has done 

 wonderfully good work, yet 1 think 

 that the coming year will eclipse all 

 others and that the coming president 

 will find that he is to be called on to 

 give brains, time and strength to the 

 affairs of the Association beyond all 

 that has ever been required of the 

 office before. Believing these things 

 as I do, I am going to make several 

 recommendations which appear to me 

 as being expedient. 



Our Departed Brothers, 

 Before any of our business is taken 

 up, however, it behooves us to stop for 

 a moment and turn our thought to the 

 vacant places In our midst, left so by 

 the call to give an accounting before 

 the great throne where each shall re- 

 ceive his just reward; and for one 

 moment / shall ask you io remember. 

 Ludwig Keweles. Oscar H. Wills, 

 Frank Reedy, Edwin Haven, L. L. May. 

 An appropriate committee will pre- 

 pare resolutions wliich will voice our 

 feelings, and the same I trust may be 

 spread on the minutes that we may 

 always have them before us to remind 

 us of our departed friends. 



It can hardly be possible that our 

 members generally have not prospered 

 fairly well during the past year; yet 

 I doubt, except in rare instances, if 

 the material interest of our members 

 is as good as it was a year ago. What 

 with short crops, income profit taxes, 

 excess profit taxes, and the increased 

 labor cost, the drain has been very- 

 great and serious. There have l)een 

 the numerous bills by the various 

 legislative bodies, but as I have not 

 the figures as to the exact number, I 

 cannot compare this with former 

 years. J. M. Lupton with our ever- 

 readv and valuable attorney, has 

 handled these so that nothing very 

 serious has gotten through. 

 Valuable Work of Association Counsel. 

 There never was a time when it was 

 more necessary that the Association 



luivu u level-heudiHl ultornuy a.ssucialcd 

 with your exoiutlve officers a.M during 

 the past your, and 1 wish to thank 

 Curtis Nyo Smith for the manner In 

 which he was always willing to take 

 trum tho shoulders of your Tresident, 

 all the burdens that we aske<l him to 

 jus.sume. and at the same time in his 

 iiulte able manner, give good advice at 

 all times. I am sure that when the 

 time conies for .Mr. Smith to make 

 his report you will be surprised at tho 

 work accomplished by him during the 

 year. The exi)eriencc gaine<l each 

 year by our Counsel should make him 

 more and more valuable to this Asso- 

 ciation. 



Conference Over Peas and Beans. 

 Karly in the fall, the Food ('(.minis- 

 sion, represente<i by Mr. Burden, in- 

 vited a number of the seedsmen to 

 Washington to talk over the situation 

 on peas and beans. It seemed at that 

 time that someone in the Commission 

 was al)out to take some radical and ill 

 advised steps, not realizing that the 

 seed business was a separate and dis- 

 tinct business from all others, and one 

 that not only requires trained minds, 

 hut brave hearts, to conduct. At this 

 meeting we were told that the Govern- 

 ment must have information regard- 

 ing the supplies of peas and beans 

 available for the season of 1917-1918. 

 The absolute necessity of the conserva- 

 tion of food supplies was pointed out 

 at this meeting and the fact that the 

 American seedsmen were expected to 

 do their bit as well as every other 

 class of men. 



In June of last year the crop situa- 

 tion was what might be called a nor- 

 mal crop or an average prospect, but 

 as the weeks and months went by. we 

 began to realize that the situation 

 was one that we must consider with 

 increasing alarm. The early crops 

 were injured by the lack of rain: the 

 late were nearly all caught by an early 

 frost which in many instances wiped 

 out all or nearly all of the prospect. 

 Many seeds got to values never 

 dreamed of before, and which we trust 

 will never again be equalled. Yet with 

 all these high values, we were not as 

 high as in war-stricken Europe. We. 

 of course, suffered very greatly l)ecause 

 we could not get the crops already 

 made in Europe and intended for this 

 country, yet even had they ijeen avail- 

 able, there would have been a great 

 shortage in this country's supply. 



Our forage crops have been woefully 

 short in seed supplies. Clover seed 

 has never been so fully out of the 

 hands of the dealers, good seed corn 

 was never as scarce, and other farm 

 seeds have been badly affected by the 

 general situation relative to supply of 

 seeds. 



Executive Committee Called to New 

 York. 

 All of these considerations made it 

 seem necessary that your President 

 should have the advice of competent 

 men. and at the suggestion of several 

 jiromlnent men in the trade he called 

 the Executive Committee together In 



.New York (111 .N.iVLiuljir -1st. at which 

 tune he laid the whole matter t>efore 

 that Committee and other seedsmen 

 whom ho invited to attend (they l>e- 

 ing in New York at the Wholesale 

 Seoilsmen's lycaguo meeting). 



War Service Committee. 

 After a long consultation and going 

 over the grounds most carefully, your 

 Executive Committee authorizo<l your 

 President to name a War Service Com- 

 mittee, which he did, having the 

 honor to name John Hunt chairman. 

 Kirby White. Wm. G. Scarlet, Howaril 

 .\I. Earl and Charles Massie as mem- 

 l)ers of this Committee which in the 

 judgment of your President has done 

 more to conserve tho best Interests of 

 the American Seed Trade, and at the 

 same time patriotically serve our 

 country and our Hag than usually falls 

 to the lot of any committees. They 

 JiavG done valuable work that can 

 never be too highly appreciated; they 

 have risen to their opportunity and 

 have acquitted themselves most gal- 

 lantly. Others might have done as 

 well, but others have never been so 

 called on heretofore, and I pray may 

 never have to be. 



This Committee was almost immed- 

 iately called to Washington to meet 

 with Mr. Burden. I may say at this 

 jMiint that this Committee Is recog- 

 nized officially as l)eing a part of the 

 Government's force. We sat in session 

 the better part of'two days, discussing 

 the prospective crops of peas and 

 beans, and the amount and character 

 of information Mr. Burden, with the 

 help of the Department of Agriculture 

 had obtained was surprising. 1 think 

 It was due to this meeting that we 

 were able to convince the Food Com- 

 mission that it would be extremely un- 

 wise for them to take any drastic steps 

 toward fixing the prices of peas and 

 beans. Your Committee demonstrated 

 clearly and forcefully how easy it 

 would be to destroy the production 

 end of the seed business and what a 

 serious condition would ensue. Right 

 here I want to say that Mr. Burden, 

 while a man of strong personality and 

 not easily influenced, is a man of good 

 judgment and eminently fair — a man 

 who has placed his country's interest 

 above his personal interest. 



During all this time the freight 

 condition had been going from bad to 

 worse. The War Service Committee 

 by appointment met again in Washing- 

 ton and tried to get something done 

 regarding preference in shipments of 

 seeds. While that Committee accom- 

 plished something along these lines, 

 yet I consider the greatest good was 

 accomplished by our Charley Boyles, 

 v.-ho being a railroad man got right 

 down to the foundation, and even had 

 an interview with Mr. McAdoo regard- 

 ing the situation. For what has been 

 accomplished along these lines, credit 

 should be given him. We need such 

 strong men. 



Appreciation of Charley Boyles. 



This Association Is extremely fortu- 

 nate in having Mr. Boyles to call upon 



