FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
23 
people. I believe in her eager boys and 
winsome girls, in her schools and colleges, 
in her churches of divers faiths, in her 
institutions of philanthropy and mercy, 
and in her press, the voice and the instruc¬ 
tor of her common mind and will. 
In fine, I believe in Florida, the com¬ 
monwealth old, yet young, unformed as 
yet, but palpitant with energy and faring 
forth into the future with high hope and 
swift step; and believing thus, I cove¬ 
nant with all her citizens of like mind to 
give myself to her service, mind and heart 
and hand and purse, to explore and de¬ 
velop her hidden resources, to celebrate 
her praises truthfully, to win worthy citi¬ 
zens for her void spaces, to till her fields, 
to keep pure her politics, to make more effi¬ 
cient her schools, to strengthen and unify 
her churches, to cleanse and sweeten her 
social life, and thus to make her in full 
fact what she is by human right and Di¬ 
vine dower, 
The Oueen of Commonwealths. 
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF TRADE 
D. C. Gillett, President Tampa Board of Trade 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
Representing the Tampa Board of 
Trade, I heartily appreciate this oppor¬ 
tunity and the privilege accorded me in 
being permitted to bid you a sincere and 
cordial welcome to the most prosperous 
and progressive city of Florida—and des¬ 
tined to be the greatest city of the South. 
We people of Tampa believe that state¬ 
ment, and we are strenuously and stead¬ 
fastly working to that end with a firm 
and an abiding faith. 
As a member of your organization, and 
keenly alive to its usefulness and possibili¬ 
ties, I feel a personal pleasure in extend¬ 
ing to you the hospitality of my home 
town. I want all of you to come to know 
Tampa as she is, and to believe in her as 
she is to be. 
It seems to me that it is peculiarly ap¬ 
propriate that the State Horticultural So¬ 
ciety should meet here at this particular 
time. Tampa business men have just had 
a revival. We have all joined forces, 
and in a systematic and persistent way we 
are going to exert our every effort in the 
determined endeavor to build a greater 
and a better city. 
We know that primarily and funda¬ 
mentally all wealth comes from the soil, 
and that every city, in large measure, is 
necessarily dependent on the surrounding 
country, and we realize that as the terri¬ 
tory tributary to us grows and prospers, 
just so will we thrive and attain to civic 
greatness—if we do our part. 
Our revivified Board of Trade will be 
divided into departments, and one of the 
departments which will have our most 
thoughtful and persistent attention will 
be known as the Bureau of Agriculture. 
The men of Tampa know and appreci¬ 
ate the worth and importance to a city of 
the farmer, the fruit grower and the 
