THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
189 
In the June issue of this periodical, under the caption, “No Right 
to Misrepresent,” the following quotation from “a well known 
nurseryman” appears: “Import nurserymen and jobbers, in their 
efforts to have the law rescinded, have no right to misrepresent 
the attitude of the majority of the nurserymen who are gro\vers 
and who welcome exclusion.” This statement, gentlemen, is 
manifestly unfair to the officers of this Association and misrep¬ 
resents the pronounced attitude of this body. What are the real 
facts in the case? In 1917, your Executive and Legislative Com¬ 
mittees, anticipating the action of the Federal Horticultural 
Board in regard to plant exclusion, brought the whole matter 
before you in their report and asked that you direct them, and I 
hereby remind you that you directed your officers by adopting 
unanimously the following resolution: “Resolved that the Exe¬ 
cutive Committee recommends that the Association do not ap¬ 
prove of the exclusion of foreign grown nursery stock, but that 
the subject be referred to the incoming Executive and Legisla¬ 
tive Committees with power to act.” On page 123 of the report 
of proceedings of the Philadelphia convention, after a full dis¬ 
cussion of the matter, this statement appears: “The resolution 
recommended for adoption by the Executive Committee being 
before the convention, there being no further discussion, was 
unanimously adopted.” Now, how does the propaganda dissem¬ 
inated at Washington by members of this body “that the Exe¬ 
cutive Committee, through its Legislative Committee and Coun¬ 
sel, represent special and selfish interests at Washington rather 
than the majority of the nurserymen of this Association,” square 
with the last word you have spoken on this subject? You stand 
pledged, by unanimous vote, against plant exclusion, and if you 
have changed your mind it is entirely in order to rescind your 
former action. Your will in this or any other matter is law unto 
your Executive Committee, and until you delegate authority to 
some one else, let it be understood that no individual or corpora¬ 
tion has authority to speak for this Association. When it be¬ 
comes necessary for your officers to present any question af¬ 
fecting the policies of this Association, they should have the 
unqualified support of members, particularly when they are act¬ 
ing under direct orders from the Association. Personally, and as 
chairman of the Executive Committee, I take the responsibility 
of directing the Legislative Committee to oppose this quarantine 
order, not because I thought the order wise or unwise, fair or 
unfair, but because I was pledged to carry out your expressed 
will. The action of the Committee, gentlemen, is absolutely in 
the clear, and any discussion of the matter should, in justice to 
all, be founded upon the resolution referred to. If you are now 
of a different mind to that expressed at Philadelphia two years 
ago, rescind your former action. In dealing with questions of 
legislation in general, I firmly believe we can make some im¬ 
provement, and I shall make certain recommendations to the 
Executive Committee thereon which I hope may come before you 
in the form of recommendations. There is one other thing I 
want particularly to say, and that is that in the minds of quite a 
few of us there is a feeling that the interests of the nurserymen 
and our law-making bodies are antagonistic, and this, in a large 
measure, is as untrue as it is unfair. 
WASHINGTON OUR FRIEND 
Right here allow me to say that in the conduct of negotiations 
at national and state capitals we are not dealing with enemy 
aliens, but with A|mericans who have American interests at 
heart and who are our friends, and I believe it is time for us to 
take cognizance of this fact. Our differences are most often the 
result of a different view point, and I suspect the other fellow is 
as often right as are we. If what we want is right and we go 
after it in the right way, there are not many times we do not get 
it, and I remember, and so do you, some things we have asked 
for that should have been and were denied us. Washington knows 
more about our business than we do, more about some of our 
policies than we think they know, and if we will set to work to 
clean house from cellar to garret, if we will drive out of our 
councils men of questionable character and policy, we will find 
less occasion to defend our policies before law-making bodies and 
will have better success in our pleadings. The reason we have 
to fight such legislation as the Arkansas fraud act before legis¬ 
lative committees is because of the fraudulent practices on the 
part of a large element of dealers in our products, and because 
we have countenanced this thing, and because we have associated 
with the “gang,” no distinctions are drawn. I want you to get 
this: we can make the membership of A. A. of N. stand for 100% 
in efficiency, service, and character, and when we do we can send 
a committee of laymen to Washington or into the legislative halls 
of any state in the union, and they will be heard, not for their 
much speaking, but for their honesty of purpose. We often find 
ourselves in a very embarrassing position defending the “gang” 
before legislative bodies, which reminds me of a story I heard 
the other day and which illustartes my point. A certain Jew 
down in my state left a very important case in the hands of his 
lawyer and went to California for his vacation. In the course of 
time a verdict was rendered in the case and the lawyer wired his 
client as follows: “Justice has triumphed.” Immediately the Jew 
wired back: “Appeal the case.” 
LABOR 
Probably the greatest problem confronting the world at this 
hour is labor, and there is no industry in all the land more vi¬ 
tally interested than are you gentlemen who sit before me. For 
some years there has been growing up in this land of ours an 
unfortunate antipathy between the forces of capital and labor, 
and every hour is full of forebodings as we bring our minds to 
contemplation of this gigantic question. A review of history 
shows us that the present wage system is but one of the stages 
in the evolution of the world, and in the mind of some of the stu¬ 
dents of political economy, is transitory. Be that as it may, we 
know that the situation is critical and that almost anything is 
liable to happen. I think in no other industry in all the country 
does the employer of labor so regard the rights of the employee 
as is true in the nursery business, and while this is true, it is 
becoming more and more difficult to command competent labor 
sufficient to our needs. I hope that we may during this conven¬ 
tion find time for a full discussion of this question, for it is one 
of vital concern to every grower and paramount to every other 
problem at this particular time. 
COMMITTEE ON POLICY 
One of the things I determined before leaving Chicago a year 
ago was to attempt, through a very carefully selected Committee, 
to bring before this convention definite recommendations in As¬ 
sociation policies. We should be able to say to our members 
and to the world, “here is what the American Association of Nur¬ 
serymen stands for.” We are many men of many minds, and 
very naturally and very properly there are some great big dif¬ 
ferences of opinion among us as it relates to questions generally. 
The question is often asked, what does the American Association 
stand for, and echo answers. Now, when this is written, the re¬ 
port of this special Committee has not been trained and I have 
no definite idea as to the scope of the report to be brought before 
you, but this much I want to say, that if this Committee can 
agree upon recommendations, their report should receive at your 
hands the most careful consideration. Believing that this will 
prove to be the most important matter to come before the con¬ 
vention, the afternoon of the first day will be given over to the 
consideration of this report, and I urge every member to be In 
his seat when this report is presented at 2.30 o'clock this after¬ 
noon. You have been annoyed by wholesale lists reaching your 
prospective customers in some mysterious manner. The Com¬ 
mittee’s report will make recommendations here that will be in¬ 
teresting to all of us. 
MARKET DEVELOPMENT 
For two years, under their own organization but closely af¬ 
filiated with this Association, the Market Development Commit¬ 
tee has been perfecting plans for the extension and development 
