M i;i I (• r 1/r r n v. 



AuKUSt 2i>. 191" 



THE CONVENTION DAY BY DAY 



A Moderate But Very Representative Gathering From All 

 Sections — A Fine Trade Exhibition — Detroit Selected For 

 1919 — The Constitutional Amendment Defeated 



Officers Elected: 



PRESIDENT— Charles H. Tofty, Madison, N. J. 

 VICE-PRESIDENT— L. Jules Bourdet, St. Louis, Mo. 

 TREASURER— J. J. Hess, Omaha, Neb. 

 SECRETARY— John Young, New York City. 

 DIRECTORS— C. E. Critcheli, Cincinnati, 0., and 

 Joseph Manda, West Orange, N. J. 



The Convention of 1917 was called 

 to order promptly at 2 o'clock on Tues- 

 day, August 21, in the Grand Central 

 Palace, New York City. Seated on the 

 l)lattorm along with the present officers 

 of the S. A. F. were the following 

 named e.\ -presidents: James Dean, 

 Rohert Craig, Patrick O'.Mara, J. K. 

 .M. L. Farquhar. Wm. J. Stewart, E. G. 

 Hill, Frank Traendly, George Asmus, 

 R. Vincent, Jr., and W. F. Gude. 



George E. AI. Stumpp, president of 

 the New York Florists' Club voiced a 

 welcome on behalf of the Club and 

 ■was followed by S. A. F. Vice-President 

 A. L. Miller and a representative of 

 Mayor Mitchell, the Mayor being un- 

 avoidably absent, both of whom ex- 

 tended a glad and courteous welcome 

 to the visitors. Robert Craig re- 

 sponded for the Society in eloquent 

 vein as only this "silver-tongued 

 orator" can talk. He spoke of the no- 

 table growth of the S. A. F. and the 

 prestige and dignity to which it had 

 attained and called upon the young 

 men of American horticulture to rise 

 to their opportunity to take up and 

 forward the work so well begun by 

 the past generation. 



President Kerr then took charge of 

 the meeting amid much enthiisiastic 

 applause and proceeded to read his 

 address, as follows: 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



We are gathered here today, in this, 

 the greatest American City, an assem- 

 blage of loyal members to a great 

 organization. We have come from the 

 far West, North and South to this ex- 

 treme Eastern City, and those who 

 have come in these unsettled times, 

 show their loyalty to this organization, 

 and their firm belief in these United 

 States. 



It is with much happiness that we 

 assemble in this spacious Auditorium, 

 with the evidences of the fact, that we 

 are all Americans, owing allegiance to 

 but one flag, and that, the flag of the 



American Fathers, the Stars and 

 Stripes, the symbol of free government, 

 the Red, the White, the Blue. Here, 

 we renew our pledges to stand by the 

 great and good man, Woodrow Wilson, 

 and wherever he leads, we will follow, 

 to uphold the rights of this, our Ameri- 

 can Country, and when this terrible 

 struggle is over, we hope it will bring 

 peace and tomfort and plenty, to every 

 nation for all time. 



In these strenuous times, my 

 brothers, it behooves us as true Ameri- 

 can Citizens, to conserve our resources 

 in every way possible, to be able to 

 meet any demands that may be made 

 on us during this terrible struggle, and 

 to be able to respond quickly, to every 

 call of our country. Never before, were 

 conventions apparently so handicapped, 

 as the ones that are called this year. 

 But after all, it is a great test for us 

 all, for surely it has developed stability 

 and independence, and yet w'ith many 

 handicaps, we assemble today, in what 

 I hope to be our greatest Society of 

 American Florist Convention; perhaps 

 not the greatest in number present, not 

 the greatest in lavish entertainment, 

 but I hope the most efficient, through 

 our opportunity for real results. 



Our Conventions in the past, have 

 been most efficient, but at this Con- 

 vention, the opportunity is provided to 

 help, not ourselves, but to prepare to 

 help and comfort our brothers in the 

 craft, in this World War Country, over 

 there. 



We are given the opportunity to 

 make this Convention diflerent, and 

 distinct from all others. Wc have all 

 appreciated each Convention, each type 

 of man that ser\-es, and it is with the 

 same spirit of appreciation of the cir- 

 cumstances that makes this, a Conven- 

 tion different from others. Old meth- 

 ods and nanners are changing, in fact, 

 must change, and is it not well that 

 the Society of American Florist should 

 be put to the test, and show all, that 

 our National Conventions do not de- 



pend on entertainments. And 1 am 

 proud of the fact, that the Convention 

 over which 1 am allowed to |)reside, 

 shows that loyalty to service. 



Membership. 



Time has flown fast, during the past 

 and most eventful twelve months, since 

 this great organization honored the 

 South, and especially Texas and Hous- 

 ton with our Convention. From Bos- 

 ton in the extreme East, to San Fran- 

 cisco in the extreme West, to Houston 

 in the extreme South, is record of 

 which any organization may be proud. 

 And I feel particularly proud of being 

 so closely associated with this organi- 

 zation, when we are making such great 

 progress and advancement. 



As our charter indicates, we are a 

 National organization, and when you 

 journeyed to San Francisco, you not 

 only showed that we were National in 

 name, but created new interest thereby 

 adding both numbers to our member- 

 ship, and money to our treasury. Then 

 you voted the Convention to Houston, 

 and it was another instance of in- 

 creased membership, and increased 

 treasury. One of our Trades papers com- 

 menting upon the Convention, West 

 and South said; The Society will re- 

 turn to the East by slow and easy 

 stages. The South is often considered 

 slow, but in this case, we have not been 

 so slow, for we are this day delivering 

 the Society again to tlie East, and I 

 trust that you will find its affairs In 

 even a better condition than upon its 

 departure from Boston to San Fran- 

 cisco, and in return for our loyalty to 

 the Society, we trust you will honor 

 both the West and the South, with the 

 Convention in our midst, in some near 

 future day. 



While the increase in our member- 

 ship during the past year has been 

 satisfactory in numbers, compared to 

 previous year records, it is astonishing 

 that there are numbers of our profes- 

 sion, who are not members of this or- 



