22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



August 17, 1911. 



and how he did boost Baltimore! But 

 everyone there knew he meant it when 

 he said he was glad to see so many vis- 

 itors (he didn't oflfer the keys to the 

 city) and everyone was prepared to 

 agree with him that his is a grand lit- 

 tle old town, none finer. No! Sir! None! 

 President Graham asked Eobert 

 Craig, of Philadelphia, to respond to 

 the welcomes given, which that gentle- 

 man did in his usual graceful style, 

 paying a word of tribute to the Feasts, 

 Hallidays and Cooks, who have given 

 Baltimore a standing in floriculture on 

 a par with its reputation for hospi- 

 tality. The convention was then fairly 

 launched and the rudder was turned 

 over to George Asmus, twenty-fifth 

 president of the S. A. F. He received 

 an ovation. 



The Eoutine Work. 



The rest of the afternoon was given 

 to dispatching the routine work. Presi- 

 dent Asmus read a carefully prepared 

 address, printed elsewhere in this is- 

 sue, in whifeh he offered many recom 

 m^ndations born of his years of ex- 

 perience in the affairs of the society. 

 The venerable ex-President William R. 

 Smith, of Washington, came in while 

 Mr. Asmus was reading and was es- 

 corted to the platform amid cheers. Mr. 

 Asmus asked that discussion of his ad- 

 dress be postponed until a later ses- 

 sion. 



Secretary H. B. Dorner read a report 

 of the year's work in his office and 

 Treasurer W. F. Kasting presented a 

 summary of the financial transactions, 

 from both of which reports it was seen 

 that the society has prospered as never 

 before. The membership exceeds 1,100, 

 fifty-seven new annual members and 

 two new life members having been 

 gained on the morning of that day. The 

 balance in the treasurer's hands, in- 

 cluding investments, was, August 10, 

 $17,363.68. The addition to the balance 

 in the year, the profit, so to speak, was 

 $3,410.19. Mr. Kasting predicted an 

 even better showing in the next annual 



report. 



The state vice-presidents' reports 

 were presented and referred to a com- 

 mittee without reading: 



William F. Gude, Washington repre- 

 sentative of the society, presented a 

 report on his efforts before the post- 

 office committee of Congress in behalf 

 of the parcels post, a project which has 

 three times been endorsed by the so- 

 ciety in convention. Mr. Lenker, P. 

 Welch and W. F. Kasting each had a 

 word or two to say on the necessity 

 for a parcels post and, on motion of 

 Mr. Kasting, Mr. Gude was given a vote 

 of thanks and implied instructions to 

 keep at it. 



President's Beception. 



The president's reception was the 

 feature for the evening of the open- 

 ing day. It was held in the ball room 

 of the splendid Hotel Belvedere, where 

 the accommodations for such an affair 

 left nothing to be desired. In tl»e re- 

 ceiving line were President and Mrs. 

 Asmus, Vice-president and Mrs. Vin- 

 cent, B. L. Graham, president of the 

 local club, and Mrs. Graham, ex-Presi- 

 dent and Mrs. Traendly, ex-Presidents 

 W. R. Smith, W. J. Stewart and sev- 

 eral others. Several hundred hands 

 were shaken, after which refreshments 

 were served in adjoining parlors, fol- 

 lowed by dancing, but the excellently 

 planned and most pleasant affair was 



brought to an early close, for during 

 the evening news came of the sudden 

 death of John Birnie, one of the old- 

 est and most respected members, there 

 in the hotel, where his widow was left 

 in her grief. As the word Was passed 

 it brought sadness to every Ireart. 



Death Invades the Society. 



The session of Wednesday morning 

 was postponed as a mark of respect 

 to John Birnie, whose death occurred 

 after adjournment the day before. The 

 officers of the S. A. F. and of the spe- 

 cial societies, together with prominent 

 members, joined with the members of 

 the New York Florists' Club present 

 in Baltimore and, to the number of 



August Poehlmann. 



(Vlco-ppp8l(li'nt-<'l«'ct Swiety of American Florists.) 



eighty-five, escorted the body of Mr. 

 Birnie to the station, where the casket 

 was opened and each florist dropped 

 a rose upon his breast. It was the most 

 impressive incident in the history of 

 the Society of American Florists. 



Beciprocity With Canada. 



When the convention got down to 

 business Wednesday, J. G. Esler intro- 

 duced the subject of reciprocity with 

 Canada by reading the report of the 

 committee on tariff and legislation, 

 printed elsewhere in this issue. He 

 was followed by Patrick Welch, of Bos- 

 ton, who made a strong plea for the 

 removal of the tariff on florists' prod- 

 ucts and supplies passing between Can- 

 ada and the United States. Then came 

 Mr. Robinson, of Montreal, who read a 



paper prepared by E. I. Mepsted, of 

 Ottawa, Canada, who was unable to 

 be present. Mr. Mepsted refuted one 

 by one the arguments usually advanced 

 in opposition to reciprocity, both speak- 

 ers taking identical ground in favor 

 of closer trade relations between the 

 two countries. Benjamin Hammond 

 commended the three papers, by Messrs. 

 Esler, Welch and Mepsted, for the 

 thorough manner in which they had 

 set forth the advantages of the plan 

 and the status of the movement, and 

 F. R. Pierson offered the following 

 resolution : ' ' That it is the sentiment 

 of the convention that the best in- 

 terests of horticulture will be secured 

 by reciprocity with Canada and that 

 the tariff and legislative committee be 

 instructed to use its best efforts to 

 secure its consummation." Adopted. 



Mr. Esler discussed the various meth- 

 ods of forwarding the work and asked 

 for an expression of opinion as to 

 which one should be pursued. J. Otto 

 Thilow urged using the quickest meth- 

 od, whichever that is. Mr. Eudd meved 

 that it be left entirely to the commit- 

 tee. Adopted. 



Mr. Esler then sought an expression 

 on the matter of joining the nursery- 

 men in their fight on the proposed 

 federal quarantine bill and the bill pro- 

 viding for federal inspection of nursery 

 stock at the port of entry. F. R. Pier- 

 son spoke against the inspection bill, 

 and on his motion the whole matter 

 was referred back to the committee, 

 with power. 



Spring Meetings. 



W. F. Kasting precipitated one of 

 the warmest discussions in the recent 

 history of the society when he intro- 

 duced the subject of changing the 

 time of meeting to March. He advanced 

 a few of the reasons why the change 

 would be advantageous, stating that 

 the attendance of 694 outside fiorists at 

 Boston last spring, compared with a 

 registration of 701, including ladies, 

 the first two days at Baltimore, proves 

 that the trade can and will turn out 

 in March. 



W. N. Rudd urged that the great 

 point is that the combining with the 

 Rose and Carnation Societies in March 

 will make possible doing in one trip 

 what now takes three trips. W. R. 

 Pierson made the point that the so- 

 ciety membership was increased more 

 at Boston than at any August conven- 

 tion. E. G. Hill said that he hopes to 

 see all the trade societies join in a 

 ■ great national flower show every 

 spring. A. Farenwald, president of 

 the Rose Society, said the trade should 

 just have one big meeting instead of 

 three important ones each year, but 

 that he feared an annual flower show, 

 like the one at Boston, is out of the 

 question. 



At this point, J. D. Fulmer, of Des 

 Moines, took the floor, saying that all 

 the stars of the society seemed to be 

 in favor of the March meeting, but 

 that the rank and file is against it, 

 as was shown by the postal card vote 

 taken last year. March, he said, is 

 the time when smaller florists are busy 

 taking in the coin on which to take 

 a summer vacation trip to the conven- 

 tion and have a good time. J. V. Phil- 

 lips, the Brooklyn retailer, said he does 

 riot believe many retailers can be at- 

 tracted regularly in March. These 

 arguments brought out prompt rebuttal 

 from Messrs. Kasting, W. E. Pierson, 

 Hill and Westcott. S. B. Wertheimer 



LK»^~iJ. U ^.-^a 



■' ik*.'.^- 



