FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
5 
thing worse, and that will be to have to¬ 
morrow, pineapples from the Hawaiian 
Islands. (Laughter.) 
Seriously, though, we agricultural farm 
people are glad to come here; we appre¬ 
ciate the possibilities of the East Coast, 
and we have come, I trust, with our eyes 
wide open. It is an unfortunate day for 
any industry when that industry comes 
to feel that there is nothing more to learn, 
and it is a good symptom in the life of 
Florida today that we can see coming 
from one section of the state, and another, 
and another, growing in intensity, the 
spirit of rivalry, and yet the spirit of be¬ 
ing willing to appreciate what the “other 
fellow” is doing; to find out how he does 
it, and then going home, determined that, 
after all, we have a pretty good place, even 
if there are some other places that have 
advantages we have not; and that is the 
feeling we will have when we go home 
from West Palm Beach. 
ON BEHALF OF THE WEST PALM BEACH BOARD OF TRADE. 
George Graham Currie 
Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
It affords me great pleasure, on behalf 
of the West Palm Beach Board of Trade, 
to bid you welcome. While I listened to 
Mr. Tenny telling what he expected to 
meet at West Palm Beach, my heart some¬ 
what misgave me. It seemed as though 
he was expecting a good deal more than 
we could furnish, but when he finally told 
us it was our managing secretary who had 
told you what was here, I felt that we 
must back up whatever Mr. Biggers has 
said about West Palm Beach. I believe 
you will see, before you leave here, all 
that you were expecting to see, and more. 
After all, Palm Beach is a state of 
mind; you will remember Shakespeare 
says, “nothing is good or ill but thinking 
makes it so.” If we can make you think 
and feel that you are welcome, I am sure 
you will not be disappointed. 
This is the second time I have attended 
a meeting of this Society. Many years 
ago I attended a meeting of the State 
Horticultural Society at Miami. On that 
occasion there were two people present 
who were much though of, who have since 
passed away. They were very prominent 
in the meeting. One was your president, 
Mr. McCarty, of Fort Pierce; the other 
was Henry M. Flagler, who made a most 
impressive address on that occasion. He 
was greatly extolled by the members, for 
the great good he had done for the east 
coast of Florida. Mr. Flagler in his usual 
modest way, when he rose to make his 
address, said, “You are making a mistake 
in so praising and flattering me; I have 
done only the same as many of you have 
done; you have done your best, at least 
you ought to have done your best, and I 
have done mine, and we are both equally 
worthy of praise.” 
That has often occurred to me as a 
most impressive and true statement. 
Mr. Flagler, before leaving the plat- 
