Address of the President. 
By Dr. Wm. C. Richardson. 
Ladies and Gentlemen: 
In accordance with the requirements of 
precedent and duty it devolves upon me 
as your president on this occasion to de¬ 
liver an address. 
A year ago when you unexpectedly 
elected me to the office of president, I was 
reposing in a pool of ambitionless lethargy. 
I told you at that time that I was unfitted 
for the place both by inclination and 
equipment, and that I did not feel quali¬ 
fied to discharge its onerous duties, how¬ 
ever your call was unanimous and in ac¬ 
cepting the office I did it fully aware of 
its responsibilities and with a high appre¬ 
ciation of its honors. 
I am very much of an optimist, not be¬ 
cause optimism is pleasant or fashionable, 
but because it is a prerequisite to all suc¬ 
cess and achievement. Optimism and 
hope nerve the weary toiler’s arm and in¬ 
spire the sinking heart to renewed effort 
and ultimate victory. 
As Horticulturalists we are so beset 
with difficulties, disappointments and 
temporary failures that I confess it re¬ 
quires a large and vigorous supply of op¬ 
timism to keep us from falling into de¬ 
spair and despondency. 
There are those who look to the past 
for their models; whatever has the haze 
of antiquity has for them peculiar charms. 
They think and speak a great deal of 
“the good old times.” And, when they 
look forward, it is with forebodings of 
evil and prophecies of disaster. 
The world in general, is making pro¬ 
gress, and is better to-day than in any 
century of the past. As an illustration, 
permit me to refer to the “labor ques¬ 
tion,” now agitating this great country 
from center to circumference. There is 
much of fallacy in argument, and ignor¬ 
ance of fact, apparent in the discussions 
of this subject by leading agitators and 
demagogs in the various political parties 
of our land. It is asserted that the con¬ 
dition of the laborer is becoming worse 
from generation to generation; that the 
rich are getting richer, and the poor are 
getting poorer. The falsity of these 
statements will appear from even a slight 
acquaintance with history. The circum¬ 
stances of the poor are vastly better now 
than they were during the Middle Ages, 
or at any other period of the world. The 
laborer of our time wears finer clothes, 
sits down to a more sumptuous table, 
sleeps in a better ventilated and regulat¬ 
ed house than the former king and noble 
enjoyed. A faithful picture of the rags, 
the filth, the wretchedness, the stolid in¬ 
difference to manly aspirations, the ig¬ 
noble contentment with their very poverty 
and ignorance in which multitudes of 
poor people were once brought up, or 
rather allowed to struggle down to the 
grave, would doubtless astound many a 
grumbler, who is fond of exaggerating 
his own hard lot in comparison with that 
of his ancestors. “Say not thou, what 
is the cause that the former days were 
