10 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

 George L. Cros.man, 

 President Chamber of Commerce, Portland. 

 Ladies and Gentlemen: 



I feel that it is a great privilege and honor to be able to second 

 this welcome that has been given you by our Mayor. I cannot 

 add much to what he has already said, but in a few words I 

 would like to give you a very hearty welcome on behalf of 

 the Chamber of Commerce of the city. Portland we call 

 America's sunrise gateway. We call Portland the gateway of 

 Maine, and to Portland we welcome you most heartily. Port- 

 land is alive. Portland has recently been put on the map in 

 larger letters than it ever was before. We hear that people are 

 talking about Portland from one end of the country to the 

 other. We propose to keep them talking, and we propose to 

 keep them guessing, to some extent, as to what we are doing 

 down here. 



Portland does not mean for any real good thing to go by it. 

 Of the one hundred thousand people in Portland, the Chamber 

 of Commerce is made up of the most wide-awake, most progres- 

 sive, and most lively bunch of them all. You will notice, please, 

 that I said of the one hvmdred thousand people in Portland. 

 We have various estimates. Our census says sixty thousand, 

 but we people in Portland do not believe that. A good many of 

 us believe we honestly have seventy thousand — sometimes we 

 try to stretch it to seventy-five thousand. Tonight I have 

 stretched it to one hundred thousand, but I am merely look- 

 ing forward just a little, and when the Chamber of Commerce 

 has gone on a little further in its activities the one hundred 

 thousand will be here all right. So it is a case of not now but 

 soon. 



We know a good thing when we see it, and the Pomological 

 Society we recognize as one of the best things in Maine. There- 

 fore, we welcome you. And we are prepared to give a reason 

 why we so regard you and why we welcome you. Yes, there is 

 a reason. The Chamber of Commerce of Portland is — shall I 

 say it? — the greatest and most intensely in earnest cooperating, 

 municipal, civic body in Maine — cooperating, ])ulling together. 



