THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
233 
bers may be settled without expensive lawsuits. I wish 
to impress upon you the wisdom and fairness of our ar¬ 
bitrating all disputes that may arise, with the penalty of 
expulsion in cases where members are unwilling to ad¬ 
just differences by arbitration. Our present committee 
is composed of fair minded men of the highest type, well 
qualified to act as arbitrators. This committee is serv¬ 
ing without compensation. It is a thankless task and 
those men only exemplify the loyalty of our membership. 
Finance: —The treasurers report will show that our 
finances are in good shape, and that your Executive Com¬ 
mittee has been careful of expenditures. The cost of 
Counsel Smith’s services may seem high to many of you, 
but his work covers a wide latitude. He is watching 
Legislative matters closely to prevent unfair legislation. 
He acts as general counsel for the Association and all its 
committees, furnishing free legal advice to the member¬ 
ship, and is always ready and willing to serve our inter¬ 
ests wherever possible. In this connection, we should 
not overlook the importance of legal preparedness for 
protecting our interests. As President of the Associa¬ 
tion, I have been able to keep in touch with his work and 
consider that he lias rendered valuable and efficient ser¬ 
vice during the past year. Mr. Smith will give an ac¬ 
count of his work during the convention. 
Free Distribution of Nursery Stock: —In some sec¬ 
tions of the United States Government Experiment Sta¬ 
tions are undertaking the free distribution of nursery 
stock. In one case, which has been called to my atten¬ 
tion, a large Railroad Corporation has established a nur¬ 
sery with the idea of distributing its products free to the 
people located along its lines. County Demonstration 
Agents, in some instances, have undertaken to provide 
for their people by supplying stock at the actual cost of 
growing. The legitimate expense of advertising, per¬ 
sonal solicitation, placing of stock, etc., being paid out of 
State and Federal funds. In some instances, these well 
meaning State and Federal employees have taken it upon 
themselves to warn people against buying from regular 
and legitimate sources. The practical effect of this to 
the business is disastrous and creates the impression with 
the buying public, that nurserymen doing business in a 
legitimate manner are selling at exorbitant prices. Our 
state, district and national organizations should co¬ 
operate in every way possible to prevent such practices. 
Committee on Nomenclature: —This committee has 
been very active and has done much toward making their 
work permanent. It has arranged for a definite co¬ 
operation with other organizations of similar character, 
and is in a fair way to secure an appropriation of 
$3000.00 by Congress to promote the work. In view of 
this activity, I would recommend an appropriation suf- 
licient to care for the actual expense involved in contin¬ 
uing the work during the ensuing year. 
Publicity:— This is one of the many important ques¬ 
tions which will be presented by able men at this conven¬ 
tion. We have talked about Publicity for a long time, 
and many of our progressive nurserymen feel that the 
time for action has arrived. It is a big question and de¬ 
serves our best attention. Publicity in many other lines 
of business, has accomplished very profitable results, 
and if we can largely increase the interest in, and demand 
for our products throughout the nation by reasonable ex¬ 
penditure of money through systematic publicity, it 
should be worthy of a trial; providing some practical 
method of securing the necessary funds can be devised. 
Membership .-—Secretary Hall reports that we have a 
paid membership ol 380 for Ibis meeting, which includes 
25 associate members. This is very gratifying to your 
officers, lor there were many misgivings regarding tin* 
number of old members, who would stand by the new or¬ 
ganization. Most of this number are old members, as 
our efforts, regarding membership were directed toward 
retaining last years members. 
T. J. Ferguson, 
Chairman Committee of Arrangements 
We felt we should let the new members seek the or¬ 
ganizations. We were pleased to receive quite a number 
of applications from those who were not members last 
year, some of them having been members during past 
years, but had dropped out. 
In our revision of the Constitution and by-laws, we 
provided that all members in the year 1915. upon pay¬ 
ment of membership fees, as per schedule adopted, shall 
constitute the membership of this Association, and, there¬ 
after, all applicants shall be elective by a majority vote 
of the active members present at any regular meeting; 
(or in the event of application at a time other than the 
annual meeting, then the Executive Committee may, upon 
