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"FRlSCCr FLORISTS^"~l»^ 

 iir ROYAL WELCOME 



This is Gala week in the history of the Society of American Florists 

 and marks the realization of the long cherished idea of a convention on 

 the Pacific Coast. The Society many times has been received with open- 

 handed hospitality, hut never has it had a warmer welcome than at San 

 Francisco. T^oo i^um to see and to do to do husiness. 



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HIS is the grand holiday 

 for the Society of Amer- 

 ican Florists. It is a mile- 

 stone in the affairs of the 

 organization itself, mark- 

 ing its first excursion west 

 of the MissouMv'-and it is 

 an adventure for most of 



the eastern members who 



are in San Francisco this 

 week; few of them have visited the 

 Pacific coast before. And as for the 

 Pacific coast members, well, they sim- 

 ply have laid aside their business and 

 personal affairs and are devoting the 

 week to the entertainment of their 

 guests. 



San Francisco has long looked for- 

 ward to this week, hav- 

 ing sent a delegation of 

 its best to Chicago in 

 1912 to extend the invi- 

 tation, and now that its 

 desire is realized noth- 

 ing that will add to the 

 enjoyment of the visit- 

 ors is being left undone. 



A Success. 



Of course the San 

 Francisco convention is 

 unlike most of its prede- 

 cessors, but that was to 

 have been expected. 

 Comparatively few of 

 the old-timers, the regu- 

 lars, the wheel-horses, 

 are present. Instead, the 

 attendance is made up 

 of new men — and their 

 wives — people who have 

 not attended many na- 

 tional conventions. They 

 are making an acquaint- 

 ance with the S. A. F. 

 and with florists from a 

 distance that cannot but 

 be mutually beneficial. 

 The success of a conven- 

 tion depends, not on its 

 size, but on what those 

 who are there are able 

 to get out of it — and 

 certainly no convention 

 in this trade ever gave 

 more in new and pleas- 

 ant experiences, in 

 strange and beautiful 

 sights, or in the broad- 

 ening influence of travel 

 and the hearty welcome 

 of a people who are glad 

 to have the chance to 

 play the part of host. 



OFFICERS ELECTED 



President 

 Daniel MacRorie, - San Francisco 



Vice-president 

 Robert C. Kerr, - Houston, Tex. 



Treasurer 

 Wm. F. Kasting, - Buffalo, N. Y. 



Next Meeting Place, 



HOUSTON, TEXAS 



August 15 to 18, 1916 



("Lord 



"Pooh-Bah Dan" MacRorie. 



Hlgb EverythlDR Else" of the San Francisco Convention.) 



Tlie Attendance. ^ 



According to the last annual report, 

 the S. A. F. had 1,633 members, of 

 whom 1,382 live east of the Mississippi. , 

 When it is considered that only 251 i 

 members of the society live within , 

 2,000 miles of the convention city, tl^ i 

 attendance at San Francisco must be ' 

 rated as extremely good ; a great del^ 

 better showing, comparatively, than ha^ , 

 been made in years when four-fifths of 

 the society's membership lived within 

 a night's ride of the meeting. 



Not only was the attendance large 

 in consideration of the geographical dis- 

 tribution of the membership, but it was, 

 in fact, far larger .numerically than 

 most of those who usual- 

 ly send exhibits had sup- 

 posed it would be. While 

 the' largest party, that 

 whieh. centered at Chi- 

 cago, started with only 

 thirty - five p e r's o n s , 

 counting women and 

 children, large nunjbers 

 of florists have been on 

 the coast this year #hd 

 all centered — 4nt r S«n 

 Francisco for conven- 

 tion week. A nbt»ble 

 feature is the perc^^t- 

 age of men who are ac- 

 companied by their 

 wives and children. 

 Nothing like it ever has 

 been known in the ^ole 

 history of the soflety 

 and the holiday i^irit 

 has prevailed to an un- 

 usual degree. -• % 



It was to have been 

 expected that the trade 

 on the coast would turn 

 out practically to a n^n. 

 The fact that this is the 

 first time the S. A. F. 

 has visited the coast^ir- 

 sured that, and then 

 there was the great ad- 

 dition to the member- 

 ship there, Vice-presi- 

 dent MacRori^ having 

 enrolled over 100 new 

 names in California, 

 State Vice-president B. 

 T. Mische el^ren from 

 Oregon and State Vice- 

 president J. Yf^ Duncan 

 three from Washington. 

 Such gains in member- 

 ship showed the local in- 

 terest, although it must 



