CALIFORNIA AVOCADO ASSOCIATION 



23 



REMARKS MADE IN OPENING THE FOURTH SEMI- 

 ANNUAL MEETING 



By President H. J. Webber 

 Gentlemen and members of the California Avocado Association: 



In opening this Fourth Semi-Annual meeting of the California Avo- 

 cado Association, I wish, as president of the Association, to express to all 

 members my heartfelt appreciation of their kind support and enthusiasm. 

 We are pleased to note by your presence in such large numbers your con- 

 tinued support of the Association and its ideals. This Association is made 

 up of a body of enthusiasts. It is the type of enthusiasm that is char- 

 acteristically American. 



We are now engaged in the great world war. All of our resources 

 as a nation are being taxed to the utmost in the conduct of the war. Many 

 of our members individually are daily laboring to the utmost on war meas- 

 ures: to increase our quota of fighters, to augment our food supplies 2ind 

 prevent suffering, to endow the Red Cross with sufficient funds to conduct 

 its great work efficiently ; and yet despite all this extra activity in the nation's 

 service, we do not forget the future and the demands of our developing in- 

 dustry. Only an inherently great industry can engender a lasting interest. 

 It is your confidence in the final success of the avocado industry and its 

 benefit to the state and nation that holds your attention and stimulates your 

 enthusiasm. 



This high ideaHsm may in many individuals be subconscious only, as 

 in many cases it is the possibility of financial gain that first attracts attention. 

 Yet no individual is likely to strive to improve and develop an industry in a 

 broad-minded way, as this Association as a body is doing, unless he is 

 inspired with higher ideals than simply the benefit to accrue to himself indi-* 

 vidually. 



In no way is this high-minded purpose demonstrated more clearly than 

 in the service rendered by your Board of Directors. The directors serve 

 without pay, or even a return of expenses. To attend a meeting, each must 

 travel a distance of from 20 to 75 miles, spend an entire day and some- 

 times more. From two to three meetings of the directors are regularly 

 held between each semi-annual meeting and yet time after time every direc- 

 tor has been in his place at each meeting. At no time has any director been 

 absent, unless compelled by illness to remain at home. So strikingly has 

 this interest of your directors been manifested that I desire especially to 

 direct your attention to it. Never have I served on any public board where 

 each member has shown such interest and attention to duty. I can assure 

 you that every member of your board is abundantly worthy of the confidence 

 you placed in him, by electing him to his respective position. 



The activity of the Association has served to call attention in a strik- 

 ing way to the importance of the industry. Our membership during the 

 year has increased from 96 on May 10, 1916, to 144, May 10, 1917. 



The annual report published during the year is recognized as a valu- 

 able addition to the literature of the avocado. Indeed it can be said with- 

 out boasting to contain the most reliable information regarding the avocado 

 that has appeared in any published work. 



In the year ending May 10, 1916, the total receipts were $955.55 

 and the total expenditures $705.82, leaving a cash balance on hand of 



