32 



The Florists^ Review 



AUOUST 23, 1917. 



great patriotic spirit of our organiza- 

 tion. 



Our Patriotic Duty. 



While we have subscribed $10,000 to 

 the Liberty Loan, this is a substantial 

 investment. We should go further and 

 sacrifice something at this time for the 

 good of the cause. 



Florists and their allied interests 

 liave enjoyed such prosperity as few 

 lines of business have enjoyed. We, as 

 patriotic American citizens, should sub- 

 scribe something to the cause of the 

 Red Cross. I feel that this convention 

 should, before we adjourn, subscribe 

 $1,000 to the Red Cross, either from our 

 treasury or by public subscription. I 

 trust that this convention will imme- 

 diately authorize the appointment of a 

 committee to recommend at our next 

 session the proper procedure to raise 

 this money. 



Our Secretary. 



Our society has many valuable assets, 

 and one. of these is the service of an 

 efficient secretary. 



Few members realize the great 

 volume of business transacted through 

 this office, which, to my knowledge, is 

 transacted in a most detailed and effi- 

 cient manner. 



The executive board is responsible to 

 the membership for the work of the 

 secretary. Then why should it not be 

 left to the directors to elect the man for 

 whom they are responsible? You will 

 have presented to you, at this conven- 

 tion, an amendment to our by-laws, 

 which, if passed, will empower your 

 board to elect a secretary, instead of 

 his being elected by the membership 

 at the convention. Personally, I can 

 hardly conceive of anyone objecting to 

 this change, as it is only fair to the 

 executive board. If, perchance, this 

 amendment shall fail, and if at some 

 future date you elect a secretary who 

 is incompetent and inefficient, and the 

 affairs are not carried on as they should 

 be in every detail, do not blame the 

 executive board. 



The responsibilities of the secretary 

 of our society are great. And I say to 

 you at this time, that it is your duty 

 to vote for tliis amendment' and give 

 to the executive board the power to 

 elect a secretary and let the responsibil- 

 ity rest with them, as they must account 

 to the membership for the conduct of 

 the affairs of this office. 



Cooperation. 



We all remember the old adage, 

 "Competition is the life of trade." But 

 we live in the age of progressivoncss, 

 and we have changed the old adafje to 

 read, "Cooperation is the life of 

 trade." Just as I began this part of 

 my report, I had returned from a co- 

 meeting of the ])oards of two civic 

 organizations, rivals in some respects, 

 but both working to the same end and 

 both striving to make Houston a greater 

 city. There had been a lack of har- 

 mony, just because we failed to get to- 

 gether. When we met on common 

 ground we discovered that there was 

 really no cause for friction. To<lay 

 these two organizations are linked to- 

 gether and they will accomplish great 

 results in the future. 



The point I want to bring out is this: 

 Get a little closer to your neiglil)or. 

 There may have been a lack of harmony, 

 but when an understanding is reached, 

 there is no necessity for friction of any 

 kind. I will cite anotlier instance: 



The Texas State IMorists' Association 

 was organized,, and We' hi^ve close coop- 

 eration among the florists of the state 

 and are getting wonderful results. More 

 organizations in every state are form- 

 ing each year and these organizations 

 should affiliate with the Society of 

 American Florists. Through our per- 

 sonal cooperation, by state organiza- 

 tion, together with our special organiza- 

 tions, such as our Rose and Carnation 

 Societies, the Florists' Telegraph De- 

 livery and other bodies of similar 

 nature, centered in our society as a na- 

 tional body, we should reap wonderful 

 results. 



You have come to this convention to 

 make your profession more efficient, so 

 that you can be of greater service to 

 the world. Your object is business 



betterment through better methods. 

 You serve the world, your country and 

 yourselves by helping with your work 

 in facilitating all business as usual. 

 We are always willing to help one an- 

 other, and I am glad to see you are 

 here in the spirit of helpfulness. You 

 are here with open hearts, with warm 

 handclasp and with smiling faces, 

 typical of members of the Society of 

 American Florists. You are ready to 

 give value for value — everyone hand 

 in hand, side by side. Your cooperat- 

 ing in this great national Society of 

 American Florists is a national force 

 for better business. You can do great 

 things for yourselves, and for all, at 

 this meeting. We want you to do them 

 with your whole heart, as true members, 

 and we know you will. 



llXSA!MWI^[«AJWS^WWWW[^l^Ii^ 



THE SECRETARY ON THE 

 SOCIETY'S ACTIVITIES ' 



ir)^i^rs^iir)'S>(ir/s<(i^£v^h^r)^r/svirirs>(ir)rs\irrs\ir;rsvin^ 



AjrAIN I have the pleasure to report 

 most satisfactory progress made by 

 the society, with a strength in member- 

 ship which augurs well for the imme- 

 diate future. In little more than five 

 years I have had the satisfaction of 

 seeing the membership increase over 

 eighty per cent, nearly twofold. When 

 I took office January 1, 1912, the mem- 

 bership comprised 994 annual and 281 

 life members, a total of 1,275. Decem- 

 ber 31, 1916, five years later, we had 

 1,304 annual, 447 life and 25 pioneer 

 members, a total of 1,776, a gain of 501 

 members, of whom 166 had taken out 

 life memberships. August 10 last we 

 had, presuming the 1917 dues will be 

 paid, 1,694 annual, 496 life and 25 

 pioneer members, a grand total of 2,215. 

 I need hardly say that this growth is 

 most gratifying to me, and must be 

 equally so to all our members. But we 

 are not nearly so strong as we should be, 

 when we consider that we yet include 

 in our membership perhaps only ten per 

 cent of the total number of florists in 

 this country and Canada, all of whom 

 should be earnestly interested in the 

 work of the society, which is ever in the 

 direction of benefit for the trade at 

 large. 



We may congratulate ourselves upon 

 the standing of our society, both as to 

 membership and finances, especially in 

 these days of war and unrest. We 

 should also bear in mind that our last 

 two conventions were held remotely 

 apart and far from greatly populated 

 centers — one in the far west, the other 

 in the far south — which, undoubtedly, 

 cut down our prospects for a large in- 

 flux of new members; yet, it is equally 

 plain tliat we made no mistake in meet- 

 ing in these sections, and that our mem- 

 bership increased under natural rather 

 than abnormal conditions. 



The Year's Membership Score. 



I have been a little disappointed be- 

 cause of the small number of new mem- 

 bers secured through the efforts of the 

 state vice-presidents. While a few of 

 these officers have given evidence of 

 endeavor, the great majority have not 



From the report of John Young, secretary of 

 tlie Society of American Florists, presented at 

 the New Yorli convention, August 21, 1917. 



seemed to be able to induce florists in 

 their respective territories to join our 

 organization. I have sent out thousands 

 of pieces of maU through different sec- 

 tions explaining our objects and solicit- 

 ing applications for membership, but 

 the results from persuasion by mail 

 have been meager. There is nothing 

 .'like personal solicitation by the man on 

 the spot. 



The society long ago made provision 

 for the payment of incidental expenses 

 attaching to the office of a state vice- 

 president up to the amount of $25, and 

 this sum would cover the cost of quite a 

 little missionary work. 



The following have sent in one or 



more names for membership since the 



last convention: 



Florists' Telegraph Delivery 78 



A. L. Miller, vice-president S. A. F 20 



Wallace H. Eiss, state vice-president 5 



Patrick Welch 3 



Max Schling, state vice-president 3 



H. C. Neubrand, state vice-president 2 



Franlt X. Stuppy 2 



Knud Knyeland 2 



Charles H. Hrown 1 



K. C. Kerr 1 



Thos. Shelton, state vice-president 1 



Jules Bourdet, state vice-president 1 



F. C. Bartels 1 



C. H. Green 1 



Harold Joy, state vice-president 1 



O. 1'. Mueller, state vice-president 1 



H. W. Sheppard, state vice-president 1 



J. J. Lane 1 



C. L. Seybohl 2 



F. T. D. and Publicity. 



The Florists' Telegraph Delivery is 

 doing good recruiting work as a section 

 of our society, securing for us a large 

 influx of new members. It will be no- 

 ticed that we are publishing a full re- 

 port of the meetings of this organiza- 

 tion in our annual proceedings. Upward 

 of 121 pages appeared in the liy.6 vol- 

 ume. We also publish a list of F. T. D. 

 members, with addresses and names of 

 the retail establishments represented. 

 Our executive board has recommended 

 that any appropriations for publicity 

 work made by the society shall be ex- 

 pended by the society's publicity com- 

 mittee in conjunction with a similar 

 committee appointed by the F. T. D. 

 This will insure that the interests of all 

 branches of the trade will ])e conserved 

 in publicity work. 



Publicity for flowers and the best 

 means of getting it is a problem your 

 publicity committee has been wrestling 



