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THE S. A. F. VISITS 



i^ THE SOUTHLAND 



Once more the Society of American Florists this week is browsing 

 in pastures green, visiting virgin fields — it is holding its first convention 

 in the "sunny" south, partaking of the proverbial "open-handed" south- 

 ern hospitality. The attendance is not large, but it is enthusiastic. 



HEEE is one point of sim- 

 ilarity in the 1915 and 1916 

 conventions of the Soci- 

 ety of American Florists: 

 Last year the same as this 

 year the meeting was on 

 new ground; but, whereas 

 last year 's convention 

 was largely a pleasure ex- 

 cursion, this year's expe- 

 dition is one for business pure and 

 simple. Not that the Houston gather- 

 ing is devoid of its pleasant features, 

 for no man can go south without en- 

 countering the chivalrous hospitality for 

 which that section is famous, but this 

 is a gathering of men intent on the 

 accomplishment of a purpose, the push- 

 ing along of the de- 

 velopment of , the 

 society that has en- 

 listed so many loyal 

 workers or the pros- 

 ecution of private 

 business. Those who 

 have come "just 

 for the ride" are 

 unusually few. 



The Attendance. 



It is clearly rec- 

 ognized that of re-- 

 cent years the at- 

 tendance at S. A. F. 

 conventions 

 has been becoming 

 more and more lo- 

 cal; no longer do 

 large numbers of 

 buyers go long 

 journeys to attend 

 trac^e gatherings in 

 August, which is 

 one of the principal 

 reasons for taking 

 the society to thle 

 distant parts of the 

 country. If the 

 mountain won 't 

 come to Mahomet, 

 then Mahomet must 

 go to the mountain. 

 But the whole 

 great state of Texas 

 at the date of the 

 last S. A. F. report 

 had only eighteen 

 members in that 

 body — which is an- 

 other reason why it 

 were well the con- 

 vention be held 

 there, for Texas is 

 the greatest state in 

 the Union, with a 



OFFICEBS ELECTED 



President 

 Itobert C. Kerr, - Houston, Tex. 



Vice-president 

 A. L. Miller, - Jamaica, N. Y. 



Secretary 

 John Young, - New York, N. Y. 



Treasurer 

 J. J. Hess, - - Omaha, Neb. 



Next Meeting Places 



1917 - - - New York City 



1918 - - V -' St. Louis, Mo. 



Robert C. Kerr. 



(President-elect Society of American Florists.) 



trade interest already much larger than 

 the membership of eighteen would indi- 

 cate, with a purchasing power develop- 

 ing at a rate perhaps unequaled any- 

 where else in America. 



Considering the comparatively few 

 florists in Texas, the great distances 

 even Texas florists had to travel to 

 Houston, and the unfavorable date for 

 a convention in the far southwest, the 

 attendance is gratifying. But best of 

 all is the fact that those present came 

 for business. Advertisers have learned 

 that a trade paper that does not con- 

 fine its circulation strictly within the 

 trade is of little value, and those who 

 manage the society's affairs have found 

 that an attendance of sight-seers 

 leaves the meeting- 

 room with bare 

 benches and the 

 trades' exhibitors 

 without buyers. The 

 Houston convention 

 was planned with 

 the fewest possible 

 number of distrac- 

 tions. 



A Success. 



The convention 

 must be called an 

 unqualified success. 

 Vice-president Kerr, 

 in advance of the 

 meeting, had nearly 

 doubled the number 

 of members for his 

 -fstate; there was a 

 further large acces- 

 sion on the opening 

 -day; the society has 

 "een brought into 

 touch with the in- 

 terests and view- 

 point of the south- 

 ern members, and it 

 is safe to assume 

 that it will again 

 visit the southern 

 part of the country 

 at no distant day. 

 The San Francis- 

 co meeting last year 

 proved that the so- 

 ciety loses nothing 

 in membership by 

 going outside the 

 trade centers of the 

 north and east — the 

 only loss was in 

 revenue from the 

 trades ' display. The 

 display at Houston 

 is larger than at 



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