•
ELECTION OF OFFICERS.
The Nominating Committee, consisting of S. H. Gaitskill, B. N. Bradt and F.
D. Waite, through the Chairman, presented a ticket, whicn was as follows: "
President-George L. Taber, Glen St.
Marr·
Vice-Presidents-Dr. George Kerr,
Pierson; G. W. Wilson, Jacksonville; W.
A. Cooper, Orlando.
Secretary--;-Stephen Powers, J acksonville.
Treasurer-W. S. Hart, Hawks Park.
Executive Committee-Lyman Phelps,
Chairman, Sanford; E. S. Hubbard, Federal Point; E. .0. Painter, DeLand.
Each of the above-named gentlemen,
in succession, on motion made and seconded, was unanimously elected by the
Secretary being instructed to cast the
vote of the Society for him. In case of
the Secretary the Treasurer was so instructed. Each of the officers elect returned grateful acknowledgements in a
few fitting and occasionally humorous remarks.
SELECTION OF NEXT PLACE OF MEETING.
This function, on this occasion, proved
to be uncommonly spirited and exciting.
There was a strong sentiment among
many of the older members that, since
the Society had met, at one time or another, in nearly every representative section of the State-Orlando three 'times,
Ocala twice, Ormond, DeLand, Interlachen, Jacksonville three times, Pensacola-that the West Coast should be accorded the courtesy of meeting in that
section this time. This view was ably
presented by W. S. Hart, wh~, as a resident of the East Coast and one of the
oldest members of the Society, spoke
from a vantage ground of great strength.
Early in the session the West Coast
had two candidates, Tampa and St. Pe-
tersburg, but before the election <JI;me ")11
the friends of the two places harmont7.ed
their views by agreeing to work unitedly
for St. Petersburg. The attractions and
inducements of St. Petersburg in particular and West South Florida in general,
especially of that fertile and rapidly advancing region, the Manatee river valley, were earnestly and eloquently presented by C. W. Butler, M. E. Gillett, A.
J. Pettigrew, F. D. Waite and Dr. F. W.
Inman. It was urged, with little possibility of successful contradiction, that extreme Southwestern Florida is now
practically the only productive orange
belt of the State; that this section has
scores of splendid pineries in fruit or in
building; that this Society, if it is any-
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
thing, is a gro·wer of oranges and selnitropical plants; and that to be at honle
and see once nlore magnificent towering
orange trees, all unharlned and bending
tlnder their burdens of fruit, the members of the Society should visit this region and gladden their orange-hungry
eyes. Nothing could have been more
cordial and eloquent than the solicitations of these South Florida delegates.
Dr. H. E. Stockbridge also sided with
South Florida, urging the mutually educating effect of the Society upon the
place of meeting and conversely.
Rev. E. V. Blackman, in a few scenic
sentences invited tIle Society to come to
Miami, "which is in the tropics, where
the 'frosts do not come to disttlrb us,
where there' is always sunshine, on the
most beautiful bay that our Heavenly
Fat~er ever placed upon this earth."
Capt. C. E. Garner, on behalf of tIle
Board of Trade, extended a cordial invitation to the Society to meet in Jacksonville, and followed this up with a well,vorded business-like address.
Maj. G. P. Healy, at great length, and
C. T. McCarty, with lawyer-like incisiveness and logic, presented the 1?usiness
considerations of tllis matter. Major
Healy .argued that the Society is old
enough and dignified enough to have a
fixed abiding place. That the Society is
paramount and the individual or the locality entirely secondary. That by having a fixed local habitation as well as a
name, we could say to the transportation
companies:
"Here we stand; we do business here;
this is our home, and we want to know
what you will charge our people to bring
them here. We want to have a library,
99
and if we adopt the recommendations of
we will have a library; \ve
will become one of the fixed institutions
of Florida, and be no longer nOlnads and
wanderers, traveling up and down like a
circus. This is the most accessible place
in the State, where we can get better
rates than to any other; this is the place
for this Society, and it is a great deal
easier for a nlan to come here than it is
for the Society to go to the man. If you
go to St. Petersburg, you discommode
just as many as if you came to Jacksollville."
Mr. McCarty argued in a som~what
similar vein : "We should not be ambulatory; we want a home, a permanent
place to meet, live and do business. I
submit to this Society that there has been
more good will, enthusiasm, etc., ill our
meetings here than at any other meetings. The influence of the meeting of
this Society on any little town is very
small indeed. We have the best facilities
for getting here more easily and more
rapidly than to any other point; we have
these elegant rooms of this Board of
Trade to meet in; we have here a stenographer; we have here the facilities for
getting before the people of the State
everything we say and all we do. This
alone surpasses all other arguments. The
people of the co·untry come here for
amusement, as well as for entertainment;
the ladies like to come here to see the
styles; the men like to come here to get
a new crash suit; there is everything to
come here for, and we must have a library and a home with everything around
us to work with. We will have as good
a membership, more fidelity, more life
here than at any other place. While not
our_~President,
100
FLORIDA STATE HORTIOUL1'UR.AL SOCIETY.
antagonizing South Florida I do not care
to run froul place to place to see tIle
country; that is not the object oj this
Society."
The President appointed W. M. Ben-
nett, Prof. J. Y. McKinney and B. N.
Bradt as tellers.
Upon.counting tIle votes it was found
that Jacksollville had received fifty-eight
and St. Petersburg forty-one.
REPORT OF SECRETARY.
Stephen ·Powers.
In my department the past year has
been one of uneventful routine labor, but
not unpleasant because it has been relieved of its tedium by the evident fact
that a great majority of t'he Inembers appreciated the nlission of the Society and
contributed cheerfully to its support.
About six weeks before the date of our
meeting a letter was sent to the general
passenger agents of the leading railroads
of th~ State, asking the customary courtesy -of reduced transportation and suggesting that the old rate of one cent a
mile each way would be very acc~ptable.
Much negotiatio-n ensued and when the
concession was finally received, April 17,
it WflS a rate of one and a quarter fares
for the round trip. President Taber and
Vice-President
Wilson
immediately
made fresh representations to the ot-:
ficials, earnestly requesting a restoration
0.£ the former genero·us rate. All such
matters have to be referred to the 80utl1eastern Passenger Association at Atlanta,
then back to the several companies, and
again much 'delay occurred, so that it was
Saturday, April 28, before the Secretary
was notified of a restoration of last year's
rate. This did not leave sufficient tinle
for the notification of all local agents ancl
our members living in remote places to
enable them to secure tickets on the basis of one cent a mlle e'ach way, and a
considerable number were deterred fronl
coming who would otherwise have at...
tended.
Up to the time when the new transportation rate was announced tl1e fees
were comirig forward rapidly and the outloo-k was for a larger paid-up membership than last year; but when the new
rate was sent out there was a heavy falling off at once.
Several who had
planned to- come to the meeting abandoned the intention. But even under
these unfavorable circumstances the
melnbership has nearly- held its own, and
is as follows up to six o'clock p. m. May
2:
Annual members · ..
Life Inembers · ..
Honorary-members...
Total
.
293
39
2
· .0 • . . . . . . . 334
Receipts.
Annual memberships
.
$293 .00
Back numbers sold
49.9 1
Life memberships
50 . 00
Donation from Amos 'Wakelin.
4. 00
Total
$396 .9 1
.