THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
187 
President’s Address 
Gentlemen of American Association of Nurserymen: 
I am reminded of a statement made to me some years ago by a 
friend who had been invited to deliver an address on a very im¬ 
portant occasion, to this effect, “I would give almost anything to 
be able to say what is in my heart today and to say it in a way 
that every man and woman in my audience would understand.” 
I am sure that every public speaker feels something of this every 
time he speaks, but there are times which call for the supreme 
effort of one’s life because that particular opportunity will not 
come in just such fashion again. I wish, therefore, my friends, 
that I might today speak concerning the things which are of mu¬ 
tual interest to us and with the mind, heart, and tongue of a 
prophet, for I am persuaded that if we fail to avail ourselves of 
the opportunity which this hour brings to reconstruct our bus¬ 
iness along lines of service to ourselves and to the public not 
heretofore approached; if we fail to take cognizance of the fact 
that this is a great hour in the progress of the world and that 
the industry here represented has a real part in this hour of 
reconstruction; we will miss the greatest opportunity which ever 
came to us and one which will not come again. 
He who receives at the hands of his fellows such signal honors 
as I have received from you, receives as well serious obliga¬ 
tions, and I have been decidedly more concerned about the 
latter than the former, and because this is true, I ponder well 
the things which I would say on this occasion. Under our con¬ 
stitution, the presidency of this Association, aside from the 
great honor, makes the incumbent chief executive of the most 
important horticultural body in the world, and representative of 
a great industry in which is invested millions of dollars. 
Through the exercise of his office, he comes to feel a “fatherly 
interest” in every nurseryman of Amei’ica, because he has in 
a peculiar manner come into possession of facts concerning our 
problems hitherto unknown, because he has assiduously studied 
these problems from a different angle to that formerly, and 
from the vantage ground of the mountain tops of a new exper¬ 
ience. Through this experience, he comes to desire in a very 
peculiar and unselfish way the success of every member of this 
Association and to plan to that end. If, therefore, following in 
the well-beaten path of my predecessors, I bring to you recom¬ 
mendations which are general, definite, and profuse, will you 
not judge all in a spirit of tolerance and in the knowledge that 
in such recommendations I am striving to serve your best in¬ 
terests. Might I say right here that in view of the fact this 
address was prepared before coming to the convention, very 
naturally due recognition of recommendations of the Execu¬ 
tive Committee are omitted, and such recommendations may or 
may not be in accord with my address. For practically two 
years, one as acting president and one as president in fact, I 
have served you as efficiently as circumstances, coupled with 
my limited ability, would permit, but I could have done some 
things for you which I have not done had you not withheld, for 
a time at least, the plans I presented to you a year ago for an 
organization competent to accomplish the task of caring for 
your interests. In the knowledge gained through these years of 
study of your problems, I am confident that your best interests 
will be served by the adoption of an order directing your Exe¬ 
cutive committee to provide such organization as will do for 
you everything that such an organization can do. 
A year ago in the adoption of amendment to constitution you 
made ample provision for financing a competent business or¬ 
ganization, and this will be evidenced by reports which your 
Secretary and Treasurer will make. It is gratifying indeed to 
note that whereas a year ago your treasury was in a depleted 
condition, the cash balance in bank today is adequate to meet 
the demands which may be made on the treasury for another 
year. Word has come to me from a few members with sug¬ 
gestions that we return to the old plan of $5.00 per year mem¬ 
bership fee, that we are going at too rapid a gait for staid old 
nurserymen, but such a thing is, to my mind, unthinkable. Hav¬ 
ing put our hand to the plow we are not going to look back, we 
are going forward, and we are going to make the nursery bus¬ 
iness of America more profitable and more serviceable than has 
been true of the past. It can be done and I believe it will be 
done. I therefore urge that at this convention you direct the 
Executive Committee to expend the funds of your treasury in 
providing a thorough business organization. Return to the old 
regime! Not in a thousand years. We had “the fiesh pots 
back there in Egypt,” were we satisfied? At Detroit in 1915 
the nurserymen burned their bridges behind them and launched 
out upon a comprehensive business program and 
every day since has been one of progress. In 
the light of what has been accomplished dur¬ 
ing these four years, who will say that the reorganization in 1915 
was unwise? The season just ended has been the most profitable 
in many years and the future is bright with promise, then why 
should we not go forward? 
Our memory is treacherous. If the conditions of the present 
had obtained in 1915, there would have been no occasion for a 
reorganization, but history will repeat itself and conditions like 
those of 1915 will return, like Banquo’s ghost, to haunt us. Our 
success of the present, if not safe-guarded, creates a menace su¬ 
preme. Good nursery stock for the fall of 1919 and spring of 
1920 will sell at prices hitherto unknown. In fact it is no longer 
a matter of prices, but rather a matter of procuring stock at any 
price. This leads me to say that the solemn duty of every mem¬ 
ber to-day is to cooperate with every other member in an en¬ 
deavor to make the limited supply serve the unprecedented de¬ 
mand. Turn your surplus to the man who needs it, and in the 
transaction remember that the retail nurseryman has been in the 
past and will he in the future your best customer. This condition 
of shortage will most probably obtain for two or three years, then 
look out. Stimulated by high prices, enormous plantings will be 
made, and about the year 1922-23 the bottom will drop out unless 
the whole matter can be safe-guarded. You who believe “this 
thing will take care of itself,” mark my words. In about the 
year 1923 you will be crying for somebody to help you turn loose 
that bear of overproduction, unless, as I have already intimated, 
we are able to work out some plan which will obviate, in a 
measure at least, this matter of overproduction. I believe, fur¬ 
thermore, that this is the psychological hour to accomplish some¬ 
thing definite in standardizing prices. Stock is worth today what 
it should have been selling for all these years, and represents at 
present prices better values than is true of any other commodity 
on the market. If you do not believe this is a fact, make a table 
of comparisons between nursery stock and almosf any other pro¬ 
duct you can imagine, and you will be convinced that the state¬ 
ment just made is true. With a competent organization to direct 
in an educational way both production and distribution, we 
should make secure for the future the success of the present. 
Because the details of the management of the Association’s 
affairs are very wisely committed to the Executive Committee, I 
will not elaborate the suggestion I again make for a more effec¬ 
tive organization, but, having served as a member of this Com¬ 
mittee since our reorganization in 1915, I know the Committee 
