AUOUST 19, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



25 



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I 



THE SILVER JUBILEE 



CONVENTION 



9. 



f. 



I 



I 



MOST SUCCESSFUL ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 

 SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FLORISTS. 



THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD AT ROCHESTER. 



OFFICERS FOR 1910: 



Prckfenl. F. R. PIERSON. Tarrytown. N. Y. 



Vice-president. FRED W. VICK. Rochater. N. Y. 



Secretary. H. B. DORNER. Urbana. III. 



Treasurer. H. B. BEATTY, Oil City, Pa. 



After an abeeuco of twenty-five years 

 the Society of American Florists returned 

 to Cincinnati this week to celebrate its 

 ■silver jubilee. 



The society held its first meeting in 

 August, ,1884, in a second-story room in 

 the old portion of Music Hall, in one of 

 tlie big newer wings of which the trade's 

 ilisplay was Staged. Not many of the 

 old-timers who attended the first conven- 

 tion were present, but among those who 

 were on hand were E. G. Hill, J. D. Car- 

 inody, J. C. Vaughan, B. P. Critchell, W. 

 .1. Stewart, Luther Armstrong, F. R. Pier- 

 son. W. W. Coles, J. T. Temple, Albert 

 McCullough, .1. Chas. McCullough, J. A. 

 I'eterson, Jacob Schulz, H. H. Eitter, W. 

 <;. Matthews, D. B. Long, C. D. Ball, 

 Uobert Kift, Antoine Wintzer, E. W. 

 <!uy, and a few others. 



In view of the exceptional interest 

 which attached to the twenty-fifth anni- 

 versary it was expected that all records 

 vvould be broken. The attendance, while 

 large, did not come quite up to sanguine 

 "xpectations, but in other respects noth- 

 ing whatever was left to be desired. The 

 liall for trade exhibits was abundantly 

 large and well ventilated; the meeting 

 place next door, in the Odeon, was com- 

 modious and contained a splendid pipe 



Tgan, on which Miss Alma Roberta 

 Sperling, one of Cincinnati's most charm- 

 ing and talented daughters, gave a half 

 'lour's concert before each session. 



The members of the Cincinnati Flo- 



ists' Society, headed by President Pe- 



irson, had one and all done yeoman 

 -^orvice and the arrangements were as 

 perfect as it is possible for such things 

 !f> be. The hospitalities were lavish. 

 President Valentine believes in punc 



iiality and began on time at each ses 

 ■ion. He made an admirable chairman 

 ■'nd the business was put through 

 promptly. 



The Routine Work. 



It is in a way unfortunate that ordi- 

 nary parliamentary procedure brings the 

 routine work of the convention into the 

 'nitial session, at which the attendance 

 "dually is largest and in which there 



should be most of interest, to hold the 

 members, and induce them to come back 

 for later sessions. However important 

 the routine reports of officers and com- 

 mittees may be, and they are, of course, 

 vital to the society, yet even the most 



imaginative of reporters could not cull 

 from them much that makes a "story," 

 nor can the members find in them much 

 to hold the interest on a hot afternoon. 

 It should be otherwise. In this respect 

 an admirable departure was made this 

 _)ear in cutting out the addresses of wel- 

 come and the responses, which permitte<l 

 getting down to business the moment the 

 gavel fell in the Odeon. 



President Valentine's address was a 

 well considered paper, which will be 

 found in full on another page of this 

 issue. What he had to say was to the 

 point and he was given close attention. 

 There was much applause when he re- 

 ferred to the large increase in member- 

 ship in Colorado this year and the fact 

 that he was escorted to the convention 

 by a delegation of sixteen members. 



At Mr. Eudd 's own suggestion the 

 reading of the secretary 's report and 

 those of the treasurer were cut down to 

 the most essential parts. The reports 

 are published in tliis issue of the Re- 

 view. Mr. Rudd supplemented his report 

 as secretary by a statement of the work 

 of the members in securing new acces- 

 sions to the ranks. It appeared that 

 N. A. Benson, vice-president for Colo- 

 rado, had during the year gathered up 

 $150, representing thirty new members. 

 Wm. Miller, of Bar Harbor, Me., had re- 

 mitted $85, for eleven new annual mem- 

 bers and one life member. H. Cheese- 

 man, a traveler for Vaughan 's, had ob- 

 tained two life members at $30 each, 

 thereby winning the second prize offered 

 to travelers for this work by President 

 Valentine; first was not awarded. F. H. 

 Meinhardt, of St. Louis, secured one 

 new annual and two new life members. 



F. R. Pierson, President-elect Society of American Florists. 



