Ai;«('.sT 1!), 1920 



The Florists' Review 



45 



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9S PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS ^ 



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\ FTER an interval of twenty-four 

 - *■ years, we are again meeting in the 

 i'lrcst city, Cleveland, one of the most 

 .rnportant cities on the Great Lakes. 

 ■Many of us who were present at the 

 • revious meeting are impressed with 

 lie marvelous advances made in the 

 rity of Cleveland in little less than a 

 juarter of a century, not the least of 

 ,. Itich is observed in the development 

 f our own industry. Our society, too, 

 •as advanced in this period of time. 

 7he recorded membership for 1896, the 

 ' ear of the last convention in Cleve- 

 >Lnd, was in the neighborhood of 800, 

 sv)iile today, I believe, we are "approach- 

 ing closely the 3,500 mark, an advance 

 :i-f'on which we may surely congratu- 

 late ourselves. Still, we have not ad- 

 vanced to the extent that we should 

 nave done. I fear that we are some- 

 V. hat behind the average of trade rep- 

 io*;entation to be found in other indus- 

 trial organizations, whose interests are 

 lU't greater than our own. 



There are many florists' establish- 

 riionts of conspicuous size not yet rep- 

 resented on our membership roll, but 

 i am sure that in their various terri- 

 tories is scattered a goodly number of 

 oar members from whom a word of en- 

 couragement would suffice to bring these 

 i)< ighbors into the fold. There is no 

 danger of our becoming too big — we 

 know what it means to be too little. 

 Organization is everything nowadays; 

 without it an indus- 

 try is sorely handi- 

 capped. We all are 

 mindful of the effort 

 we as an organiza- 

 tion were called upon 

 to make in the trou- 

 blous times now hap- 

 pily behind us, to es- 

 tablish our industry 

 as one essential to our 

 existence as a nation. 



Organized Power. 



While our field of 

 operations was lim- 

 ited by restrictions 

 which, to some ex- 

 tent, hampered us in 

 our work, but which 

 through the resource- 

 fulness of most of us 

 wo were able to bear, 

 we might have had 

 Much more imposed 

 •ipon us had it not 

 '"een for our organi- 

 ■Ttion, which made a 

 ^tand in the interests 

 "f our industry and 

 jjtained modifica- 

 •i'lns in a procedure 

 ^vliich, as proposed, 

 •iireatened our exist- 

 ' nee itself. All this 

 ■-'• to show the value 

 ■'. and necessity for, 

 ' "ganization. Un- 

 'oubtedly, all our 

 •Timbers are familiar 

 ^^'th the work en- 

 -".^ged in by the so- 

 !cty and this famili- 



arity should enable them to present to 

 a florist who is not a member the de- 

 sirability of joining with us. The sec- 

 retary's office accomplishes much 

 through persistent correspondence and 

 in other ways, but it is for our members 

 to make the best of their opportunities 

 for heart to heart talks with their neigh- 

 bor florists and they are assured that 

 when an application for membership 

 comes in, with the credit for its origin 

 endorsed on the form, the credit is made 

 a matter of record. 



Reconstruction Problems. 



In the reconstruction of business fol- 

 lowing the war, it cannot be said that 

 the florists' industry has been much af- 

 fected, except in the shortening of 

 available help. The scarcity of labor 

 has been and is a serious problem for 

 many of us and doubtless there are 

 many who had arrived at a point where 

 they expected to take things easy from 

 now on, but who have been obliged to 

 get back into harness without thought 

 of relief in the immediate future. The 

 high prices of iron, steel, glass, lumber 

 and other material pertaining to green- 

 house building have stood in the way of 

 additions to existing ranges and of the 

 establishment of new ranges, but those 

 of us who must of necessity build, re- 

 build or expand, may as well meet con- 

 ditions, for no one can foretell the time 

 when they may change and in the mean- 



A. L. Miller. 



(PiTsulciit "I tlif S<H-ioty of Aiiieiii'an Kli'iir^ts.) 



time opportunity counts for a good doal. 

 We have not yet reached the apex of 

 the florists' business and, in my opinion, 

 we never can, for there is imt any apex 

 to it, at least so far as we can .jiidgc at 

 this time. Reconstruction has not, won- 

 derful to remark, hindered the florists; 

 it has only made us adapt ourselves to 

 conditions. 



At the last convention our society 

 went on record as opposing (Quaran- 

 tine No. 37. Our opposition to tht: 

 order was based upon the belief that 

 such a drastic order was unwarranted 

 by conditions as stated and would work 

 ih.iury to our industry. The action of 

 the society has been endorsed by several 

 other organizations interested, to such 

 an extent that there is now organized 

 opposition to the quarantine, opposition 

 not so much to the object of it as to 

 the manner in which it is enforced and 

 the [)ovver which the Federal Horticnl- 

 tural Board assumes. The fact that flo- 

 rists can make the best of opportunities 

 jiresented through stock which is more 

 or less staple in this country is poor 

 argument in favor of this quarantine. 

 It is true that, under certain conditions, 

 growers may bring in limited stock for 

 purposes of propagation, but few 

 growers would risk such importations 

 under the inspection requirements as 

 laid down by the board, requirements 

 which necessitate delays in delivery 

 fatal to most stock. Our committee on 

 tariff and legislation 

 has this matter well 

 in hand and is watch- 

 ing its development 

 closely. 



Shows. 



The national flower 

 show committee will 

 report at this con- 

 vention upon the ar- 

 rangements made for 

 the next national 

 flower show, which it 

 has arranged shall be 

 hold in Clevelajid in 

 1922. I am sure I am 

 not encroaching upon 

 its report when I say 

 that its selection of 

 Cleveland for the 

 next show meets with 

 ii^eneral approval. The 

 enforced interval be- 

 tween these shows, 

 which are of such im- 

 mense benefit to our 

 industry, has been a 

 matter for regret, but 

 it is hoped tliat here- 

 after there will be 

 nothing to prevent 

 their continuance 

 with intervals no 

 longer than absolute 

 ly necessary. 



With the better 

 classes of the public 

 now educated in the 

 direction of buying 

 the best flowers and 

 plants available, we 

 should now bend 



