162 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
and showed a poster with the quarantine line making it 
possible to see at a glance the laws governing shipping in 
the quarantined area. 
Mr. Detwiler is now at work on a condensed summary 
of all quarantines gotten up in the same manner that 
should prove of great convenience to nurserymen. 
PRESIDENT S ADDRESS 
By Lloyd C. Stark, President of American Association of 
Nurserymen 
I N ADDRESSING you today, I shall strive to be as 
brief as possible and to speak frankly with the hope 
that if any of you hold contrary opinions, you will 
realize that whatever I say is, in my opinion, for the 
best interests of the whole profession and for the final 
benefit of the great American public whom we serve. 
We have made many internal changes in the past few 
years and we have moved rapidly. We have made some 
mistakes, it is true, but certainly no more than other as¬ 
sociations that are sincerely and conscientiously en¬ 
deavoring to upbuild their respective professions. 
In the past we have found within our organization cer¬ 
tain discrepancies and abuses. We have, without undue 
delay, set about quietly, but determinedly, to correct 
these abuses. A great deal has been accomplished. Some 
mistakes have been corrected and others will continue 
to be corrected. Recause we have not accompanied our 
efforts with much bluster and noise is of no importance. 
We do not believe in washing our dirty linen in public 
nor do we believe in accompanying our “policeman” 
with “brass bands” when we go out to look for the mur¬ 
derer. One quiet “plain-clothes man”—in the shape of 
our Vigilance Committee—will get more results and 
catch more crooks than a dozen big starred policemen 
lined up against the lamp post in the bright light where 
every rascal can see them. 
Vigilance Committee: After the Philadelphia Conven¬ 
tion in June, 1917 when you first honored me with the 
office of president, I took it upon myself to appoint our 
first Vigilance Committee. This, of course, was not an 
original idea but was simply an adoption of the methods 
used in many other industries, but more particularly 
was it modeled after the Vigilance Committee of the Ad¬ 
vertising Clubs of the World, of which association I hap¬ 
pened to he a member at that time. Their Vigilance Com¬ 
mittee was doing a great work and I saw a like possibil¬ 
ity for such a committee in our own association. 
Recause of the hearty backing the work of the Vigil¬ 
ance Committee has received at the hands of our mem¬ 
bers, and those we serve, and because of our good for¬ 
tune in obtaining hard-working, conscientious men to 
serve on this committee, it has done splendid work. In 
our \ igilance Committee today, gentlemen, you have the 
gieatest power for house-cleaning and keeping your 
house in order. Its workings are quiet hut persistent. It 
protects the honest nurseryman and the honest planter 
alike; it protects the nurseryman against unjust criti¬ 
cism of the public and the dishonest planter; it protects 
the planter and the public against dishonest nurserymen. 
This committee working in connection with your Execu¬ 
tive Committee is a great power for the elimination of 
fraudulent practices and unscrupulous men. You should 
continue in every possible way to give the Vigilance Com¬ 
mittee your unanimous support. 
Executive Committee: Your Executive Committee, 
gentlemen, has worked hard and long, not only this year 
but every year. These gentlemen have been selected by 
you because of your belief in their integrity, sincerity, 
ability and willingness to serve you to the limit of their 
power with “Malice toward none and charity for all.” 
Your Executive Committee this year, and heretofore, 
has not been able to serve you as well as it might be¬ 
cause, due to the geographic restrictions laid down in our 
constitution, a meeting of your Executive Committee at 
the present time involves a great amount of traveling ex¬ 
pense and loss of time to the members. I recommend 
that the constitution be amended so that the members of 
the Executive Committee may be more centrally located 
and thus enabled to hold frequent meetings which are 
necessary if your association is to progress. 
At the present time your constitution provides that 
special meetings of the Executive Committee may be 
called by the President and that the expenses of the com¬ 
mittee incident thereto may be paid out of the treasury. 
Heretofore, because of the burdensome expense and loss 
of time in connection therewith, these meetings have not 
been held as often as they should have been and the asso¬ 
ciation’s affairs have seriously suffered in consequence. 
I, therefore, make this further recommendation, that by 
vote or otherwise, you direct that your Executive Com¬ 
mittee shall hold at least three special meetings annually, 
one in the early fall, one winter meeting, and one late 
spring meeting, and that at the same time you specifically 
authorize the payment of the expenses in connection 
therewith. This, gentlemen, I believe is the most impor¬ 
tant recommendation I shall make to you today. These 
meetings are really necessary to properly carry on the 
association’s affairs in a harmonious and constructive 
manner. 
Transportation: Within the year the members of this 
Association, in spite of the hard fight put up by our 
Traffic Manager, have found themselves face to face with 
great, and what we believe to be, unfair increases in ex¬ 
press charges on shipments of nursery stock. For your 
information, I will quote a few average examples from 
the Mississippi River to various points in the United 
States. 
TOWN 
STATE 
OLD RATE 
Per 100 lbs. 
NEW RATE 
Per 100 lbs. 
Boston 
Mass. 
$2.56 
$4.16 
Pittsburgh 
Pa. 
1.86 
3.12 
Richmond 
Ya. 
2.44 
4.08 
Cape Girardeau 
Mo. 
1.24 
2.08 
Winchester 
Tenn. 
1.86 
3.11 
D urant 
Okla. 
2.68 
4.50 
Des Moines 
Iowa 
1.29 
2.14 
Denver 
Colo. 
3.18 
5.33 
Phoenix 
Ariz. 
6.15 
10.42 
Los Angeles 
Calif. 
7.23 
12.12 
Our Traffic Manager appeared at the hearing of the In¬ 
terstate Commerce Commission and made every effort to 
hold the old second class classification on nursery stock. 
In spite of everything he could do, the Interstate Com¬ 
merce Commission decided rather arbitrarily, w r e think, 
