Address of Welcome 
Dr. David Fairchild, Coconut Grove 
I don’t know why I have been asked 
to welcome you to this southern tip of 
Florida. I am not a resident of the State, 
though I would be if I could and shall be 
some day. Perhaps those who chose me 
to speak felt sure that I would tell you 
something which would make you feel 
that you are doing a great work in the 
world. 
I am conscious of the compliment and 
I am grateful for the opportunity, though 
had I my way I should have brought the 
greatest man in America to do honor to 
you, for in my opinion no praise is too 
high for those, of you who are making 
of the sandy and rocky and swampy lands 
of this State one of the greatest garden 
spots which the world has ever seen. 
There was once a time, ladies and gen¬ 
tlemen, when to scribble more than one’s 
name on paper was to be a contemptible 
scrivener in the eyes of the then leaders 
of society. There was a time when to 
perform a surgical operation was to be. 
classed among the barbers—a class which 
then begged for admission to the house¬ 
hold at the convenience of the patron. 
There was even a time when to watch 
the stars and speculate with regard to the 
universe was to be cast into dungeons for 
heresy. There was a time, and it was 
not long ago, when to work with one’s 
hands among the plants was to be classed 
with the horse jockies whose stable talk 
shut them out of polite society. 
But as civilization has advanced it has 
brought with it a better understanding 
of the value of things and tonight, if I 
were a prophet, I would promise you, 
ladies and gentlemen of the Florida Hor¬ 
ticultural Society that your time is nearly 
here. And by your time I mean the, era 
when any educated man will be as much 
ashamed of not knowing an elm from an 
oak as he is today of not knowing the cap¬ 
itals of the principal countries of the 
world. 
If I were a prophet I would even prom¬ 
ise you your share of the honor which is 
due you for saving from extinction the 
rarest and most beautiful of living things 
which still exist on this planet and which 
the populations of future ages will prize 
and cherish with a love which we in our 
present state of development are totally 
incapable. I mean the trees and shrubs 
and flowering plants, which are threat¬ 
ened with extinction. 
In my many years of travel I have met 
all kinds of men and women and I feel 
a certain confidence when I say to you 
that in so far as you are enthusiasts and 
investigators in the great field of horti¬ 
culture you are already above any class 
of people in the world—the one class to 
be envied. 
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