22 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Ai;(;l'st 17, 1911. 



and how he di.i boost 15.iltimoro! But 

 everyoiu' there l;iie\v he ineiuit it when 

 he said he was ^lad to see so many vis- 

 itors (he didn't offer the l<eys to the 

 fity) 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 Kobert 

 (Jraig, of Philadelphia, to respond to 

 the weleomcs given, which that gentle- 

 man did in his usual graceful style, 

 paving a word of tribute to the Feasts, 

 Hallidavs and Cooks, who have given 

 Baltimore a standing in tloriculture on 

 a i)ar with its r(>i'utation for hosi>i 

 talify. The convention was then fairly 

 launched and the rudder was turned 

 over to George Asmus, twenty-fifth 

 president of the S. A. Y. He r.'.-eived 

 an ovation. 



The Eoutine Work. 



'I'lic rest of the afternoon was given 

 to dis])atching the routine work. Fresi 

 dent Asmus read a c.-irefuUy prepared 

 address, printed elsewhere in this is 

 sue, in which he offered many recom 

 iiiendations born of his years of ex 

 ..orience in the affairs of the society. 

 The venerable ex-President William P. 

 S;mith, 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. 



Secretarv H. P.. Ponier re:id :i n-iKirt 

 of the year's work in his oflice and 

 Treasurer W. W Kasting preseiite.l a 

 summarv of the liiiaii.ial transactions, 

 from both of which reports it was seen 

 that Ihe society has prospered as never 

 before. The membership exceeds l.lHd, 

 fifty seven new annual members and 

 two n.'W life nicinbers having l|een 

 gained on the morning of that dav. The 

 balance in the treasurer's hands, in- 

 cluding investments, was. August 10. 

 .$17.:!():V.ns. The addition to the lialance 

 in the year, the j.rofit. so to s|>pak. was 

 $3,410.10. Mr. Kasling j.redicted an 

 even better showing in the next annual 



rejiort. 



The state vice-presidents rej>orts 

 were presented and referred to a com- 

 mittee without reading. 



William F. Gudc, 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 pro.iect which has 

 three times been endorsed by the so- 

 cietv in convention. Mr. l.eiil^er. 1'. 

 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. <iude was given a vote 

 ,',f tlmnks .md imidied instructions fn 

 l<ei']> at it. 



President's Reception. 



The i>resident's reception was the 

 feature for the evening of the open- 

 ing dav. It was held in the ball room 

 (.f the "splendid Hotel Belvedere, where 

 the accommodations for such an aff.'iir 

 left nothing to be desired. In the re- 

 ceiving line were President and Mrs. 

 \snius, Vice president and Mrs. Vin- 

 cent, R. L. Graham, president of the 

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

 .Iciit ami Mrs. Traendly, ex-Presidents 

 W. P. Smith. W. .T. Stewart and sev- 

 eral others. Several hundred hands 

 wrre shaken, aft.-r wirnh refreshments 

 were served in a. {joining parlors, fol- 

 lowed bv dancing, but the excellently 

 planned 'and most pleasant affair was 



brought to an early close, for during 

 the evening news canu^ of the sudden 

 death of .lohn I^irnie. one of the old- 

 est and most respected meinl)ers, there 

 in the hotel, where his widow was left 

 in her grief. As the word was passed 

 it brought sadness to every heart. 



Death Invades the Society. 



The session of Wednesday morning 

 was postponed as a marlv of respect 

 to ,lohn Birnie, whose death occurred 

 after adjournment the day before. The 

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

 cial societies, together with ]iroininent 

 meml)ers, joined with the members of 

 the New York Florists' Club present 

 in Baltimore and, to the number of 



August Poehlmann. 



\\y 



-|'|i'>iilc-rit-c'li I'l Sdcic'tx "I AiiiiiliMii I'lciii-ls 



eighty five, escorteij I lie liudy of Mr. 

 Birnie to the station, where the casket 

 was opened ami each florist dro|)])ed 

 a rose upon his lireast. It was the most 

 imi)ressive incident in the history of 

 the Society of .\merican I'lorists. 



Reciprocity With Canada. 



\Vhen the convention got down to 

 business Wednesday, .1. G. I']sler intro- 

 duced the subject of reciprocity with 

 Canada by reading the rejiort of th<> 

 committee on tariff and legislation, 

 printed elsewhere in this issue. lie 

 was followed by Patri<dv Welch, of Bos- 

 ton, who made a strong plea for the 

 removal of the tariff on llorists' prod- 

 ucts and supi)lies passing between ( aii- 

 .•ida and the I'nited States. Then <;irne 

 Mr. b'obinson, of Moiitie:il, w hu teiiij ;i 



jiaper prepared by F. 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. 

 Fsler, 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. P. Pierson offered the following 

 resolution: "That it is the sentiment 

 of the convention that the best in- 

 terests of horticulture will be secureil 

 by reciprocity with Canada and that 

 the tariff and legislative committee be 

 instructed to use its best efforts to 

 secure its consummation." Adopted. 



Mr. Fsler 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. Rudd moNcd 

 that it be left entirely to the commit- 

 tee. Adopted. 



]\rr. Ksler 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 mirst>ry 

 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 ]iower. 



Spring Meetings. 



W. F. Kasting precipitated one of 

 the warmest discussions in the recent 

 history of the society when he iiitro 

 diiced th(? subject of changing the 

 time of meeting to ^larch. He advanced 

 a few of the reasons why the change 

 would be advantageous, stating that 

 the attendance of (504 outside florists at 

 Boston last spring, compared with .a 

 registration of 701. including ladies, 

 the first two days at Baltimore, proves 

 that tli(> trade <'an and will turn out 

 in March. 



W. N. Rudd urged that the great 

 point is that the combining with the 

 K'ose an<l f^arnation 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. K. G. Hill said that he hopes to 

 see all the tra>le societies join in a 

 great national (lower show every 

 s|)ring. A. Farenwald, president of 

 the Rose Socioty. said the trade should 

 just have one big meeting instead of 

 three important ones each year, but 

 that he feared an .•mnual flower show, 

 like the one .at Boston, is out of the 

 question. 



At this point, .1. 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 

 not believe many rt^tailers can be at- 

 tracteil regularly in March. These 

 arguments brought out prompt rebuttal 

 from Messrs. Kasting. W. R. Pierson. 

 Hill and Westcott. S. P.. Wertheimer 



