246 



HORTICULTURE 



August 19, 1916 



liiKton D. C, contribute such plants 

 to the Department of Agriculture 

 which will have them properly placed 

 and tested. This particular garden is 

 {or the benefit of all the members ot 

 this society, and in due time will 

 prove of untold value to all concerned. 

 ^our committee also urges '.uat wher- 

 ever practical, names for all plants 

 and particularly roses, be confined to 



^Tt Ts" pleasing to note that at the 

 National Capitol, the parks and school 

 grounds are being more and more em- 

 bellished with artistic planting, beauti- 

 ful flowers and shrubbery all of which 

 tend to create a love for the beaut ful, 

 not only for the residents of Washing- 

 ton, but to the thousands of visitors 

 who come to the National Capitol an- 

 nually from every section 



A notable step in the right direction 

 was taken on May 31st ot this year ''7 

 the introduction in the Senate by Mr. 

 Gallinger ot a bill to increase the area 

 of the United States Botanical Gardens. 

 The bill provides tor adding some 

 twenty acres of ground to the present 

 site of the Botanic Gardens. After 

 thorough consideration by men quali- 

 fied to know, this would seem to be the 

 proper place for the Botanic Gardens. 

 To remove it five or six miles from the 

 present location where it would be in- 

 accessible to the many thousands who 

 visit Washington each year, would be 

 most unwise, yet such a move has been 

 advocated. We hope the bill will pass 

 at this session. At any rate, it would 

 be in order for this body to stamp its 

 approval upon such course, after you 

 have heard the argument by Mr. Gal- 

 linger on the bill which is herewith 

 appended, and which I will read. 



Business, in all lines and branches 

 in the National Capitol during the 

 past year has been generally good, and 

 the reports from all sections of the 

 country indicate that business has im- 

 proved wonderfully, and that brighter 

 days are in store for the florists and 

 their profession. 



Committee on Legislation. 



Wm. F. Gude, Chairman. 

 Many matters have been brought to 

 our attention affecting the different 

 branches of our profession. Early in 

 the year, the matter of postage on 

 catalogues and circulars was taken up 

 on the request of several of the large 

 mail-order seed houses. The request 

 made was not for a reduction in post- 

 age, but simply for permission to mail 

 circulars and catalogues at the pound 

 rate (irrespective of zone) at the same 

 rate that now pertains to the mailing 

 of catalogues. The bill was intro- 

 duced in the United States Senate to 

 bring relief to the members requesting 

 this change, but after conferring with 

 the powers that be, it was found, to 

 have this permission granted might 

 materially affect other lines ot busi- 

 ness, as well as our own, adversely, 

 and we, therefore, decided not to press 

 the matter. 



Mall Censorship. 



During the spring months a serious 

 condition menaced the interests of 

 importing florists by reason of the 

 British censorship of the mails. The 

 consular invoices and bills of lading 

 were removed by the censors from the 

 ships bringing the goods, and without 



the documents these perishable ship- 

 ments could not be released or re- 

 moved from the docks. As cables were 

 suppressed and no relief from this in- 

 tolerable condition was in sight, your 

 committee interviewed the State De- 

 partment officials, also the British Em- 

 bassy, with the results that arrange- 

 ments were made whereby such im- 

 portant documents would be in future 

 placed in a separate mail bag and 

 would not be removed by the British 

 censors with ordinary mail. 



Freight Embargo. 



As a result of the withholding of 

 shipping documents by the censors, 

 large shipments of perishable freight 

 accumulated on the docks at the ports 

 of entry— causing a tremendous freight 

 congestion. In the effort to relieve 

 this blockade, Ihe railroads embargoed 

 all outgoing and incoming freight from 

 the terminals, which made it impossi- 

 ble to forward freight after it was re- 

 leased by the receipt of the delayed 

 shipping documents. In this crisis, 

 your committee interviewed railroad 

 officials, and as a result of its action 

 the railroads were ordered to lift the 



WlIXI.VM F. Gi'DE 



Wasliington Representative, Society of 

 American Florists. 



blockade as applied to shipments of 

 Holland and Belgian plants which 

 were then arriving in large volume. 



Belgian Shipments. 

 Your committee is able to report 

 that in most instances permits have 

 been given by the British and German 

 governments to Belgian shippers, and 

 that unless some unforeseen difhiulty 

 develops, the fall shipment of azaleas, 

 etc., will arrive from Belgium on 

 schedule time from Rotterdam. 



National Flower. 



To officially recognize the mountain 

 laurel as the national floral emblem 

 for the United States of America, a 

 joint resolution was introduced in the 

 House of Representatives, June 1st, 

 1916. This resolution, if enacted into 

 law, would make the mountain laurel 

 the national flower. We immediately 

 requested the introducer of the resolu- 

 tion not to push the bill until this or- 



ganization could pass upon it. We 

 were assured that every opportunity 

 would be afforded this organization to 

 file its recommendation in the matter. 

 We also asked the horticultural press 

 to give this matter wide publicity, and 

 to request suggestions for or against 

 the resolution. In every instance, ex- 

 cept one, the replies were in favor ot 

 the mountain laurel as the national 

 flower. We might further state that 

 as far back as 1S81, the mountain 

 laurel was advanced as a national 

 flower, but no official action has been 

 taken. We, therefore, ask for an en- 

 dorsement of the joint resolutions 

 above referred to, and that your com- 

 mittee be instructed to cooperate with 

 our legislators at Washington along 

 said lines. 



We also ask the endorsement of this 

 Society of Senate Bill No. 6227 to in- 

 crease the area of the Botanical Gar- 

 dens in the city of Washington. The 

 bill on file provides for the taking In 

 of East Seaton Park and West Seaton 

 Park, bounded by 3rd and 6th streets, 

 and Maine and Missouri avenues. If 

 this bill becomes a law, we will in 

 time have a Botanical Garden worthy 

 of the National Capitol of the United 

 States. 



Unfair Competition or Antl-Dumping 

 Lav^. 



There is now before Congress a 

 so-called unfair-competition or anti- 

 dumping law to prohibit the sale in 

 the United States of foreign goods at 

 prices substantially below the prices 

 prevailing in the country of origin. H. 

 R. 16763— Pages 88 vind 89. 



In reference to the above matter, 

 the enactment of this law would ma- 

 liMially benefit the legitimate florist 

 and dealer who as a rule, buys his 

 goods at a fair market price and ex- 

 jiects to pay for them, in as much as 

 the bill before Congress prohibits the 

 dumping on American markets of 

 goods to be sold at public auction, par- 

 ticularly surplus bulbs and nursery 

 stock which is annually offered in the 

 United States. Your committee has 

 therefore done what they could in per- 

 sonal interviews and have sent copies 

 of the following letter to the members 

 of the Finance Committee having the 

 matter in charge. 



Washington, D. C, 



,Tuly 21)tli, 1916. 

 lion. F. M. Simmons, Chairman, 

 Finance Committee. U. .S. Senate, 

 Washington, D. C. 

 (lentlemen : 



.\9 national representative of the Society 

 of .\merican Florists and Ornamental Hor- 

 ticulturists, I wish to endorse Title VII — 

 'Tnfair Competition," contained in the so- 

 called "General Revenue Bill." now under 

 consideration by your Couuiiittee. and to 

 urge that Title VII ije favorably recom- 

 mended to and adopted by the Senate In its 

 ITcsent form. 



In this provision we see protection from 

 unfair competition, of a type not generally 

 Unown — wliere foreign producers of the va- 

 rit'US kinds of nursery stock (bulf)s in par- 

 ticular) sell to growers in the United States 

 on Individual orders at ruling market prices, 

 ('Uly to later "dump" into the auction houses 

 Ihe same class of merchandise at much 

 lower prices. Then there arises in respect 

 to these a competition, unfair and detri- 

 mental to our interests. 



Respectfully. 



WII.I.IAM F. GUDE, 

 riiairman Tariff and Legislation Commit- 

 tee, S. A. F. and O. II. 



Committee on Wm. R. Smith Memorial 

 Wm. F. Gude, Chairman. 

 Your committee has been rather in- 

 active the past year on account of mat- 

 ters pending before the National 



