Well, I didn't know just exactly how to do it, so I fell back on my friend, Mrs. Negus for her suggestion. She suggested that the King Nut should wear a crown, so I said, "Now, that's your suggestion; I will leave it up to you." So here is the crown she made, with an ornament from the Chief pecan, which in my opinion today is the king nut of the Northern Nut Growers Association.
I don't know whose head she measured to make the crown, she didn't tell me, but it looks to me like it would just about fit George Salzer. (Applause.) George, it's a pleasure that I pass that on to you as I received it, and I hope you will wear it for a year or longer (putting crown on Mr. Salzer's head).
MR. SALZER: Well, they can't say I am big-headed. Why, honestly, folks, my very good friends of the Association, honestly, I don't know what to say. This is the greatest honor that I ever thought would come to me. I always refer to myself as one of the buck privates in the rear rank, and here I am the King Nut. I will assure you, every one of you that I really appreciate this, I honestly do, right from the bottom of my heart.
Ever since I have been a member of this organization and attended the meetings, I have had the finest times, most pleasant associations and the closest friends I ever had in my entire life right here among you people. Thanks a million.
MR. CHASE: Now I think we are entitled to a few words from our new and best president, Mr. Best.
PRESIDENT BEST: Ladies and gentlemen, it is quite a responsibility to take this job on again. It's the first time that I have ever questioned your judgment about anything, but I think there are other people here that could have done the job better than I could.
When I was asked if I would accept if I were elected, I turned to my wife, and I said, "Are you willing to do the work again for another year?" and she said, "Yes, I suppose I'll have to." And I said, "Well, then, I will accept." There is a lot more truth in that than there is poetry. Honestly, we just don't give these officers that work for us enough recognition. There is a whole page of them, as you know, about 11 committees, and all those folks have all done a fine job, at the expense of their work at home. I am not talking about myself, because I don't do any of it, I have it done, as I explained. But Carl Prell made a great sacrifice when he handled the Northern Nut Growers business in a very, very fine, thorough, business-like way.
I ought to give you a good example of what salesmanship really means and how it operates. This morning Carl was going down to the museum in a taxi. The taxi man professed an interest in nuts. Well, what did Carl do? Did he say, "Well, that's all right, but I can't get into that?" No, he said, "Man, you ought to belong to the Nut Growers Association. The fact that you don't know anything about it, that's nothing. Come right into the museum here, and I will show you the exhibits," and he took the taxi man in, and I don't know whether he sold him a membership, but he passed him on to the next man. He's got him going out to see Irondequoit, and we, are going to get a sale there. That's the spirit that it's going to take to get this job done.
I am reminded of a little story in Kipling. You know the story about the sergeant in India. He was a sergeant in the cavalry. They had been out in the hills, and the weather was hot, and they had an awful, awful time. Well, when the men came in and lined up, this sergeant got off his horse and he said, "Well, boys, I realize it's been hot, I know you sweat. But," he said, "from here on in this campaign we are not going to sweat, we are going to lather." That's what it's going to take to get this 2,000 members that we have set for our goal. It's going to take a lot of hard work, and our job is not to peer into the dim future, but to attack those problems which are right with us every day and ask some of our friends to join the Nut Growers Association. We are all widely separated in different walks of life, and each in his own world is just apt to see things a whole lot like the goldfish in a bowl. That is, he will see it twisted and distorted. So when all is said and done, it's up to us to support these committee heads and help get this job done.
A preacher had in his congregation an old lady who was ill. On one of his visits to her she appeared to be growing weaker all the time, and fearing the worst he said as he left her, "Well, sister, I suppose that we will meet Up There." And she looked at him and she said,