54 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
WESTERN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN 
Address of President Earl D. Needham at Kansas City, 
Mo., January 28, 1920 
Gentlemen of the Western Association of Nurserymen: 
E ACH one of us came here today for profit. The 
30th annual meeting of the Western Association 
of Nurserymen will be better than those of for¬ 
mer years, or not so good, more profitable, or less so to 
each of us, depending entirely upon our action during 
the next few hours and tomorrow. If you don’t like 
what is said or done, say so now! Possibly a mistake is 
about to be made and your judgment is now very much 
needed. If the thing you think should be said or done 
is left unsaid or undone, speak up! Whose meeting is 
this, anyhow? It's your advice we want—that is what 
we came for. 
Your committees have been at work for your best in¬ 
terests as will be shown by their reports. 
The Program Committee has arranged a program that 
I believe will prove of unusual interest, but not of in¬ 
terest alone. It will doubtless be of help to each nur¬ 
seryman whether producer or distributor. The papers 
on trade relations will open up avenues where each 
branch of the industry may appreciate more fully than 
ever before its obligations to the others. 
Local Organization 
Most of us belong to the “Mother of Nurserymen,” 
The American Association of Nurserymen, at least each 
one of us should. While the A. A. of N. is best able to 
attend to some features of our business, it is neverthe¬ 
less important that local or district organizations be 
maintained. 
Nurserymen should become identified by attendance 
as well as by payment of dues to their State Horticul¬ 
tural Societies. Really it is a pleasant surprise to some 
members of these Societies to find that nurserymen 
wear no horns and look and act like other honest mer¬ 
chantmen. 
Through the State Horticultural Societies and State 
Nurserymen’s Associations, much good and constructive 
state legislation can be started on its way. It will stand 
us well in hand, I think, during the next few years to 
take the initiative in the matter of legislation and see 
that our policy be a positive rather than a negative one. 
If one half as much effort as well as money had been 
spent in a positive program starting desirable legisla¬ 
tion, as has been devoted to killing undesirable legisla¬ 
tion, our business today would be on a far more satis- 
actory basis. The desirable, progressive, legislation 
we most need is to be had through the State rather than 
the Federal Laws. The vital importance of strong 
local Nurserymen's Organizations and Horticultural So¬ 
cieties in which the influence of nurserymen is felt is, 
therefore, readily appreciated. 
Proposed Appropriations 
4 our attention will be called to the work of the Amer¬ 
ican Associateon of Nurserymen before the House Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture in endeavoring to secure appro¬ 
priations for the work proposed in the former Gould 
Bal and also for a crop report furnishing information 
as to the amount and size of nursery stock throughout 
the United States. 
The former we should have at once in view of the 
attitude of the Bureau of Plant Industry towards Quar¬ 
antine 37 and without any doubt we are entitled to the 
crop report. 
An action of this body properly expressed to Hon. 
Gilbert Haugen, Chairman of the House Committee on 
Agriculture, may prove of considerable assistance in 
securing these two very desirable appropriations. 
Business Methods 
During these times when it is so difficult to secure 
many varieties, there is a good deal heard about stock 
being untrue to label. I am somewhat surprised that an 
old practice of mis-labeling is not so dead as many of us 
had supposed. This practice is more likely to prevail 
among nurserymen who do not take the advantage of 
the benefits to be derived from membership in the dif¬ 
ferent Associations now open to them. Therefore, it is 
quite apparent that one of the activities of an organized 
association must be the raising of the standard of bus¬ 
iness ethics of non-members as well as that of members. 
Not one of us would buy an automatic revolver for 
our young son to play with. We would protect him and 
ourselves by keeping that dangerous thing out of his 
hands, nor would we sell such a revolver to our neigh¬ 
bor so that he could give it to his small son for a toy. 
We would do all we could to prevent that. Are we then 
going to sell to the tree dealer our surplus M. B. Twig 
when we have good reason to believe he will not hesi¬ 
tate to label them Delicious? Is our business any safer 
and does the nursery business suffer less when it is the 
tree dealer instead of ourselves who sells M. B. Twig for 
Delicious? 
The members of the W. A. of N. should not, and I be¬ 
lieve do not, need any caution about their own labels, 
but we all need to be careful that we do not become a 
party to the offence, by permitting the other fellow to 
sell our surplus under a wrong label. Care, more than 
that which evidently has been given this matter in the 
past, must be exercised or else we shall get some very 
drastic legislation, which our rather loose methods now 
invite. 
Vigilance Committee 
Special interest by many nurserymen is shown re¬ 
garding the work of the Vigilance Committee. This com¬ 
mittee rightfully assumes the position of a Clearing- 
House, or a place where complaints can be properly 
lodged against any unethical practices of those con¬ 
nected directly, or indirectly with our industry. It is 
hardly fair to assume that this committee should itself 
secure the information necessary to make its work effec¬ 
tive. This burden is upon our shoulders individually. 
Practices which are unfair to the trade when called to 
the attention of those guilty are frequently discontinued 
regardless of the fact whether they hold membership in 
this, or any other Association. The moral effect of an 
action of an Association is far greater than many may at 
first suppose it to be. 
When such unethical practices are not discontinued 
it is well within the power of the different organiza¬ 
tions of the nursery business to bring considerable pres¬ 
sure to bear, so that in the end, fair and honorable prac- 
