FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
53 
ligation which the government is placing 
upon us to put Florida in a position be¬ 
fore this Government which she should 
occupy in view of the very strong pledges 
our senators and congressmen have made 
for us, and which certainly cannot be ov¬ 
erlooked. 
We have presented this subject to Tal¬ 
lahassee. The members of this Commit¬ 
tee were there at the opening of the ses¬ 
sion. I do not know whether it is for¬ 
tunate or unfortunate, but we had our bill 
introduced early and it was the first ap¬ 
propriation measure that came up in the 
Legislature. 
When it came up in the Senate, it 
passed the second reading without amend¬ 
ment and we rejoiced, as it looked as 
though the bill would go through with¬ 
out amendment, or molestation in any 
way. 
Upon the following day, when the bill 
was up for third reading and final pass¬ 
age, there was introduced into the Senate 
what has been termed the “Safety Valve” 
resolution, which provides that no bill 
should be considered or passed providing 
for appropriation prior to the first day of 
May. 
Unfortunately, the resolution was in¬ 
troduced just after the roll call; many of 
the senators did not understand it, and it 
carried. Immediately following, Senator 
Wells, Chairman of the Appropriation 
Committee before whom this Committee 
had appeared, and which Appropriation 
Committee had reported unanimously in 
favor of the bill, objected seriously to this 
resolution, stating that it was unfair to a 
man who introduced a bill that his meas¬ 
ure should be put off until May when oth¬ 
er resolutions and bills calling for appro¬ 
priation would be put in, and he moved a 
reconsideration. His motion was lost. 
Every day in the Senate until yester¬ 
day, for four or five sessions, this matter 
has been under discussion. Unfortu¬ 
nately, the citrus canker appropriation be¬ 
ing up and ready for the third reading, in 
almost every discussion it has brought 
out a debate on the merits of the bill. We 
are unable to do anything about it; the 
only thing we can say is that every mem¬ 
ber of the Senate will certainly know ev¬ 
erything about it for it is up for debate 
every day. We have yet to hear one 
senator raise his voice in opposition to the 
bill. There are many who voted for a 
postponement of the consideration of the 
bill for the purpose of determining the 
amount of appropriations which would be 
offered to the Senate and obtain some 
idea of the revenues, but so far as this 
Committee is able to judge, our measure 
in the Senate of this Legislature is in very 
safe hands. 
We have thought it best not to press the 
measure in the House until we can get 
action in the Senate, for the reason that 
if it goes to the House as a Senate meas¬ 
ure, having passed that body it would 
have a certain prestige which we need in 
the House. 
When we presented this subject to the 
Congress of the Nation, during a time 
when great questions were being consid¬ 
ered, when appropriations of millions of 
dollars were being asked for prepared¬ 
ness, we had no divided House. 
Every item we have secured from Con¬ 
gress but one, has been in a bill subject to 
a point of order, which means it was not 
