FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
87 
member whose words bore weight, this 
question is a business one and should be 
settled upon a business basis. The ob¬ 
ject of the Society should not be forgot¬ 
ten and the greatest good of the greatest 
number should be considered; and there 
seems no place that so much needs your 
aid as the part around Tampa. The 
seeds of good you could sow there would 
be very great, and with the encourage¬ 
ment that comes from the presence of 
the Society I doubt not we should get 
new members. I would be willing to 
guarantee seventy-five. I am more 
than sorry Mr. Gillett was not here, be¬ 
cause in my feeble way I am not able to 
present the situation, but I ask each 
member to think of this matter and to 
accept his better impulses. 
Mr. F. D. Waite and Mr. J. C. Carter 
supported Mr. Butler in his invitation. 
Mr. Painter—I move that we meet at 
Tampa. 
Mr. McCarty—I believe the question 
is before the house now. Mr. Chair¬ 
man, there is probably no necessity to 
say much, but there are some phases of 
this matter that ought to be placed be¬ 
fore the members of this Society in or¬ 
der that we may all understand each oth¬ 
er, in order that harmony may prevail 
now and in the future. 
Standing in a hall so beautifully deco¬ 
rated as this has been by the hands of 
the hospitable people of St. Augustine, 
and taking this vote, it might be enough 
to give them the impression that we do 
not appreciate their hospitality. There 
never was a meeting where we have en¬ 
joyed ourselves more, where there has 
been more cordiality and hospitality ex¬ 
tended to us, and in parting with them 
this year we wish to assure them that 
they have a warm place in our hearts. 
No other place in the State was better 
able to entertain us in an emergency 
like this. They had everything neces¬ 
sary. They have done so nobly we wish 
to extend to them the token of our re¬ 
gard and appreciation. 
Last year I, in conversation with many 
members of this Society, reached the 
conclusion that the time had arrived 
when this Society should have a perma¬ 
nent home. When we should not be a 
jumping Association from year to year 
running around the State. We believe 
that we should have a permanent home 
where we could have a hall and a library 
and many other things that this Society 
needs. Events have transpired that 
have swept these things away, that have 
dashed that for the present from the 
lips of Jacksonville. I wish to say this 
in favor of our meeting in Tampa, that 
we appreciate that magnanimity with 
which they submitted to defeat last year. 
There is no nobler trait in the human 
race than to take disappointment grace¬ 
fully. We pay them that tribute now 
and if they ever had a sore spot in their 
hearts, we hope that we are forgiven. 
Further than that, I wish to say this 
with reference to our future, and when I 
say this I speak not only for a large num¬ 
ber of the individual members of this 
Society, but for some of its ablest mem¬ 
bers, we do not relinquish, in going to 
Tampa this year, the position that we 
took last year, that Jacksonville offers 
the proper place for the permanent 
home of this Association. 
With these few statements, I take 
pleasure in seconding the motion that 
the meeting be held at Tampa next 
year. 
