26 



The Florists^ Review 



August 21, 1919. 



IT was my pleasure, at the St. Louis 

 convention, to report that in spite of 

 adverse conditions existing for a year 

 or more, our society has made satisfac- 

 tory progress. Since that time condi- 

 tions have, as we all know, changed 

 materially and effort to advance our or- 

 ganization in the trade has, in conse- 

 quence, met with gratifying success. 



As the strength of an organization 

 lies mainly In its membership, the so- 

 ciety is to beVongratulated upon an in- 

 flux of new metrrtfers since our last con- 

 vention that might be surprising to 

 some. We have taken in altogether 659 

 annual members from August 10 of last 

 year to August 10 of this year and our 

 list of life members lias been increased 

 by 209. The total membership August 

 1 was .3,02.'5, of which 710 are life mem- 

 bers and twenty-four pioneer. 



It is a matter for regret that quite 

 a number of our members liave not paid 

 their annual dues for 1919. Not only 

 does this neglect occasion anxiety, but 

 these members prejudice the second 

 class mailing privilege for our Journal, 

 as we are not allowed to avail ourselves 

 of the low postage rate except to mem- 

 bers in good standing. 



The society is fortunate in having so 

 large a list of life members, inasmuch 

 as the fees in this class are turned into 

 the permanent fund, for investment, 

 and yield an annual income indefinitely. 

 The life memberships for the year total 

 an addition of .$5,000 or more to this 

 fund. In addition, we have twenty-four 

 pioneer members whom the society has 

 exempted from the payment of dues. 

 Of course, in our membership aggregate 

 there are some members who are in ar- 

 rears for dues, but in the figures pre- 

 sented I have included none from whom 

 collections of arrears might be deemed 

 iiiili()ssil)le or iinjirobable. 



Boosters for Membership. 



Most of the new members were ob- 

 tained through a systematic and 

 thorough campaign instituted by the 

 secretary's oflice and carried on by cor- 

 respondence, and the dissemination of 

 ])ertinent literature, among which the 

 society's Journal played an important 

 part. A goodly number of applications 

 for membership were turned in by our 

 state vice-presidents and by special 

 representatives a])]i<)inted to solicit sub- 

 scriptions to the ])ul)licity campaign 

 fund. 



The following have sent in one (ir 

 more names for inemberslii]) since the 

 last convention: 



F'nink Friedky 7 I.. T. Kciitcr 14 



riio F. T. n 81 Allnii Tcirce 3 



H. K. I'.ntcs 7 V. 15. Ahrams 1 



<;«'i.. Unldwin 2 W. K. Ekiis 8 



Gon. Asniiis 'J s. Miirriiv '2 



Hoik Hart 1 <;. W. Froiuli 1 



1'. W. Popp 1 M. A. Vinson I'll 



A. L. Miller 4 II. W. F. Gootz i; 



K. ('. I'riinrr ] I{ot)ort Nowconili ... 1 



Florists' Rpvicw ...2 .1. S. F:sl('r ] 



r. H. RiRby 1 .las. M<r«-iiigliliii ... 1 



K. .T. Fanrourt 1 C. H. W<'atliorcd 1 



S. Knndscn 1 I{. Kift 2 



1'.. .furKens 1 F. Iyml>kt' 1 



A. .T. Zpch 1 A. H. NchrlinK 4 



I". Klinespom Ifi A. >I. Herr 1 



K<l Williams 4 I'll. F. Kesslor 2 



From tlio rojiort of John Yoiine. spcretary, 

 presented at the Detroit convention of the S. A. 

 F., August 19, 1919. 



Chas. A. Traendly. . . 1 

 Eugene Dramm .... 1 



H. F. Krueger 1 



W. H. Kuebler 1 



B. L. Matthewson. . 1 



Nic Zweifel 2 



Oeo. Doemling 1 



Miohigan Cut Flower 

 Kx 1 



John Berger 1 



A. P. King 1 



J. C. Lindbloom 1 



R. J. Irwin 1 



B. W. Peirce 1 



J. D. Fulmer 8 



Donald McLeod .... 1 



E. A. Fetters 12 



Emil Buettner 1 



U. W. Sheppard 2 



The Work of a Year. 



Chief among the work of your ad- 

 ministration office since our last con- 

 vention has, of course, been that attach- 

 ing to the publicity campaign and which 

 will be detailed in the report to be made 

 at a later session covering our promo- 

 tion bureau. Of the other work, much 

 has been accomplished by our commit- 

 tees, all of whom will make separate re- 

 ports. I might, however, mention the 

 work covering our opposition to Quaran- 

 tine 37. Several meetings were held at 

 our headquarters, attended by members 

 of our tariff and legislature committee 

 and representatives of outside interests, 

 and your secretary with a large delega- 

 tion attended a special hearing before 

 the Federal Horticultural Board in 

 Washington, at which the case of the 

 florists was fully argued. Subsequently 

 at other meetings a lengthy brief was 

 ])repared for presentation to the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture, and by appointment 

 your secretary, again with the delega- 

 tion, appeared before Secretary Houston 

 to present it. That little in the way of 

 modifications in the quarantine orc^er re- 

 sulted is a matter for report, but it is 

 doubtful whether the case of the florists 

 could have been more intelligently 

 cited. It may be that Dr. Marlatt, 

 chairman of the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, and whom we expect to address 

 us at Thursday's session of the conven- 

 tion, will deal fully with this subject 

 from the board 's standpoint. 



Administration Offices. 



The wisdom of our executive board in 

 establishing office quarters in New York 

 was amply exemplified during the year 

 just closed. The growth of tlie society 

 has necessitated a great deal of detail 

 work requiring ample room for its per- 

 formance. Already the space available 

 is taxed to the utmost. Many of our 

 members have found their society's of- 

 fice convenient, as furnishing a place 

 for tlie transaction of business and re- 

 ceiving mail, as well as a communicat- 

 ing jioiiit while visiting New York. It 

 lias been used to a great advantage for 

 meeting jmrposes, atliliated and auxil- 

 iary societies also sharing in the foU" 

 \enience. 



War Emergency Congress. 



The T'nited States Chamber of Com- 

 merce last November invited our so- 

 ciety to have a committee present at a 

 congress of war service committees rep- 

 lesenting American industries, to be 

 held at Atlantic City, N. J., December 3 

 to (5, such committee to represent the 

 florists' industry and take ])art in the 

 proceedings of the congress. President 

 Totty appointed himself with W. F. 

 Gude, chairman of our tariff and legisla- 

 ture committee, your secretary and 

 (ieorge Asmus, of Cliicago, as such com- 



mittee, and all were in attendance 

 throughout the congress. The commit- 

 tee was admitted to the congress under 

 credentials which relegated it to votinj,' 

 power in Group No. 32 and in accord 

 ance with the program they took part 

 in the discussion of the different phases 

 of the problem of reconstruction as they 

 affected the florists' trade. The com- 

 mittee for its section presented the fol 

 lowing resolution, which was carried: 



The committee representing the Society of 

 American Florists and the allied trades, an 

 organization working under a charter passed l>y 

 Congress and signed by the late President Me 

 Kinley, do hereby submit the following: Re- 

 solved, that we recommend the continuance of 

 the war industries board for a limited period. 

 We further recommend the creation of a central 

 committee composed of representatives of the 

 major business interests of the country to take 

 up the work of the war Industries during the 

 period of readjustment; also that official recog- 

 nition shall be given the Chamber of Commerce 

 of the United States, as this body would be of 

 valuable assistance in economic liquidation of 

 left-over war properties; further, the florist 

 industries ask that all restrictions that have 

 been imposed on them as war measures lie 

 removed, such as fuel restriction, and the impor- 

 tation and exportation of its products. These 

 recommendations are of vital importance to the 

 florist industry. 



The florists' trade generally was rej)- 

 resented fully and solely by the commit- 

 tee, the Society of American Florists be- 

 ing recognized as a trade organization 

 exerting influence in its principal field. 

 The attendance at the congress was 

 large, including nearly 5,000 delegates, 

 representing practically every industry. 

 Tlie prevailing idea of the congress was 

 that industry should be allowed in great 

 part to settle the various problems of 

 reconstruction outlined in the Congress 

 without restrictions by the national 

 Congress which might be derogatory to 

 inevitable reconstruction. 



The Trade Exhibition. 



Better evidence that business in the 

 florists' trade is on a pre-war footing 

 could hardly be presented than is con- 

 tained in our trade exhibition of this 

 year. This exhibition has been given 

 an unusual amount of publicity in the 

 trade papers, in the society's Journal 

 and in a series of .about 16,000 form 

 letters which have been mailed over the 

 entire mailing list compiled for the use 

 of our publicity campaign, all with a 

 view of swelling the attendance at this 

 convention and inviting interest in the 

 society's work. 



THE TBEASUBEB'S REPORT. 



The summary of the treasurer's re- 

 ])ort as read by J. J. Hess, at Detroit, 

 for the period of time elapsing between 

 December 31, 1918, and July 31, 1919, 

 is as follows: 



BALANCE DECEMBER 31, 1918. 

 On hiind $ 7,606.08 



RECEIPTS. 



(Jeneral fund $12,9ol.">8 



Interest 826.17 



National imblicity campaign 37,369.12 



Total $58,842.9.'> 



DISBI-R.SEMENTS. 



General fund $ 9,.S81.63 



National imblicity campiiign 38,828.97 



$48,210.00 

 Balance July 31, 1919 $10,632..S.'i 



BALANCE Jt'LY 31, 1919. 



Balance permanent fund December 31. 



1918 $28,612.22 



Balance general fund as above 10,632..'lo 



Grand total biilance, July m. 1919. . .$,39, 244.. "p" 



Milwaukee, Wis. — Three Milwau- 

 keeans have been selected as oflicials of 

 the florists' exhibition ;it the Wisconsin 

 state fair, September 8 to 13. They are 

 Arthur Leidiger, assistant superintend- 

 ent; Nic Zweifel and James Living- 

 ston, judges. A record show is expected. 



