THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
85 
tioii ol' iNurseryiiieii, but lliis one thing I know, and you 
know, lliat there never lived a truer and more unsellish 
corps of men tlian those who have been responsible lor 
the Association’s allairs. They have labored while many 
of us slept in peace, they have spent their own money and 
traveled many thousands of miles to protect the interests 
of whom—even the humblest man engaged in the hand¬ 
ling of trees. It has made no dillerence whether one has 
been faithful in meeting the linancial obligations of the 
Association or not, he has received through the efforts of 
our Association workers benelits great beyond computa¬ 
tion. Whether he be retailer or wholesaler, whether he 
be dealer or agent, if he deals in trees and plants his bus¬ 
iness is woith more to-day because of the eternal vigil¬ 
ance of our Association ollicers. 
Is there any considerable difference among us any way, 
my friends, whether one ships his stock in car load or by 
local freight and express? Are not our interests in a 
very large degree at least mutual? Can we afford to 
view with equanimity an effort to divide our forces when 
every thinking man must realize the hazard of such a 
division? Let us as retailers and wholesalers get away 
from our own little affairs and, shoulder to shoulder, 
work together for the upbuilding of the nursery interests 
of America. Let us quit talking about “big fellows ver¬ 
sus little fellows,” for none of us are big unless our per¬ 
spective of life is true, unless we can lose sight of selfish 
interests in service to our fellows, and none of us are 
little except that we be selfish. 
On a former occasion I declared myself against further 
organization, and am of the same opinion to-day because 
I think the ground is entirely covered and the interests 
of all are protected within our present organizations. 
As one interested principally in the sale of stock through 
retail endeavor, I feel that I have at all times received a 
square deal and am entirely satisfied that there is no 
present need of any member of the fraternity but that 
can be met satisfactorily through our present organiza¬ 
tions. 
WHAT DIVISION WOULD MEAN FROM A FINANCIAL POINT OF 
VIEW AND OTHERWISE 
During a period of more than forty years, the com¬ 
bined efforts of the nurserymen of America have resulted 
ill gathering together a membership of between four and 
five hundred. Every possible effort has been made to 
interest every worthy man engaged in the nursery bus¬ 
iness or in closely allied trades. The great need of our 
officers through all the past has been money, and much 
more would have been accomplished had it not been for 
this handicap. At the Detroit meeting in June of 1915 
I had the honor of presenting a plan for the reorganiza¬ 
tion of the Association which provided a better financial 
system than we had had in the past, and the plan was 
adopted by practically an unanimous vote of the members 
present. It is believed by the Executive Committee that 
when'this plan is in thorough working order it will pro¬ 
vide approximately $10,000.00 annually, an amount suf¬ 
ficient to meet creditably the needs of our officers. No 
plan for raising funds could be fairer than that provided 
by our new constitution, where every member’s assess¬ 
ment is based upon his earnings. 
We are just beginning to get the machinery of this new 
organization to working smoothly, when along comes the 
suggestion llial the majority of the members secede and 
form an organization of those who are interested es¬ 
pecially in the retail end of the business. What effect 
all this would have on the affairs of the Association is, to 
be sure, a matter of conjecture. The way the question 
presents itsell to my mind is that there is room in the 
American Association of Nurserymen for every worthy 
nurseryman in America, but there is no room in America 
for another association, retail or otherwise. further¬ 
more, while the present Association would suffer should 
any considerable number of its members set up shop for 
themselves, the only thing to be gained would be an 
empty name. A very large part of the funds provided 
for the running expenses of the Association come from 
men who are true to the principle, in union there is 
strength, and who, I believe, will not be easily persuaded 
to turn their backs upon the Association that has succored 
them through all these years. The natural result would 
be an Association without adequate funds to accomplish 
anything worth while. 
FURTHER REFORMS IN THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION ENTIRELY 
IN ORDER 
Once before I have referred to certain resolutions 
which were before the Milwaukee convention and which 
are, in some measure at least, the basis for the agitation 
of a retail association. I have no criticism for the pur¬ 
poses of this resolution, in fact I am in heartiest accord 
with the principles enunciated, that wholesale trade lists 
> should go only to bona fide nursei’ymen. I am not in 
accord with the methods proposed for gathering the in¬ 
formation as to who are entitled to trade lists, but this 
is a different question. What I started out to say was 
that I am in hearty sympathy with this reform which is 
not new, but which has occupied a place on every pro¬ 
gram both state, district, and national for the past twenty- 
five years, and I am definitely sure that 90 per cent, of 
our wholesale friends would not knowingly send whole¬ 
sale lists to any person not entitled to them. Is it not 
probable that such irregularities can be corrected within 
the Association as it at present exists? The wholesale 
nurseryman would not run through one season without 
his best customer, the retailer, and I take it that whatever 
policies pursued by the few and which work a hardship 
or loss on the retailer will be heartily condemned by one 
and all alike. 
Whatever is necessary to make our present organiza¬ 
tion more useful in serving the interests of all, that let 
us do, but let that be done in union. The present is per¬ 
haps the most critical period in the whole life of the nur¬ 
sery business. Beset on all sides by unfair legislation, 
each state vying with every other state in the enactment 
of laws which are proving an onerous burden, entails a 
fight for our very existence. Many ol our leading nur¬ 
serymen are giving up the fight because of pecuniaiy 
losses and are turning their attention to other lines of 
business, and many more of us wmuld follow their ex¬ 
ample, perhaps, if we knew how to effect the change 
without ruin. 
In such a time it behooves us to stand squarely behind 
our chosen officers, furnishing them the sinews of w ar 
and urging them on to victory. I am not in sympathy 
