THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
297 
tion. Williiii llu' next few days a wai‘ lax will Ix' Ic'vied 
on praetieally evt'rylliin^' w(‘ toiudi, from lli(‘ earria^ 4 (‘ of 
your lelt(‘r to the bill of lading' IssikmI foi’ the earria^i' of 
your goods to llu' eustonier. Posilividy llu* only tax 
from whieli yon will 1)(‘ exemj)l will l)e lh(‘ tax on your 
net earnings, and thereby hangs our story. We otfer 
no j)rotest against our jjart of this war tax, for tlu' nur¬ 
serymen are loyal eilizens and will heai‘ uneomj)lainingly 
tlu'ir part of the eost of this eonlliet, hut what I want to 
get before you is that we must shape our affairs to nuaU 
these new eonditions or go out of business. There is no 
product used in the maintainence of your business whieh 
has not advanced and is not advancing daily at an alarm- 
coin help ours(dv('S and oiu' anolluM’ through co-operativa; 
(‘9011 dir(‘cl('d Ihiough the l(*adership of a strong bus¬ 
iness organization. 
STANDAItlUZ.VTION 
One ol our gr(‘al(‘st nei'ds is standardization, and I use 
the t(‘rm in the liroaih'st possilih' s(‘nse. Bight lu'ia* I 
am reminded ol the magni(ic(‘nt address d(‘liv('red at tin; 
Milwauk(‘(‘ convention by oui‘ worthy jirc'sident on this 
sidiject, and 1 only wash th(‘ sugg(*slions which he made' 
last year at Mih\auk(‘e had lieen followc'd, when I f(‘(*l 
sure that we waiuld have accomjilished much toward 
standardization wdiich has been delayed. We have ac¬ 
complished something, to be sure, in the recent past here, 
Princeton Nurseries Office. 
ing rate. You cannot do liusiness during the season ot 
1917-18 on the same basis of prices and under the sanu' 
policies of the past season without incurring loss. I am 
not an alarmist and I do not believe the world is going to 
the '‘demnition” bow -wow s. I believe, on the contrary, 
that out of all this chaos w ill come order and law. and 
that liusiness as individual, purged of the dross thi’ough 
this mighty contlict. w ill live and render moie eHiciiad 
service because of its travail. If what I jirojiose s(‘ems 
to abridge your rights as an individualist, h't 
me say in advance that it is only destructive individualism 
with wdiich my plans would interfere. Individualism 
is the sacred and inherent right of every true American, 
but I think w e are all agreed that unless our individualism 
is constructive we can woll afford to dispense with it. 
I want, then, for a little wdiile, to tell you how I think w e 
but I hardly think wo have accomplished all that is 
needed. 
(a) First, there should be standardization as it per¬ 
tains to grading and packing, and this standard should 
he applicable and binding anywhere within the United 
States. 
Every tree and jilant should be sent out under a correct 
standai'd of gi-ading and should be as good in Western 
New' York as in Iowa. Alabama, or Texas. The stan¬ 
dard case or bale should be of certain size and should be 
charged for, not as is true to-day, at $1.50 to $4.00, but at 
a standard price. In adopting a standard which should 
ajiply all the weiy through, care should be exercised so 
that no doubt would remain in any member’s mind per¬ 
taining to grading and packing. Under existing condi¬ 
tions, a car load of shade trees, for instance, purchased of 
