S34 
Ihe  Apprentice  of  Former  Days. 
( Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  November,  1902. 
(thirty-one  years  ago),  and  I  have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  I  fol- 
lowed his  advice.  It  was  like  the  German  wander  year — a  new 
world  was  opened  to  me,  and  the  meetings  are  now  an  ever-recur- 
ring source  of  healthful  pleasure  and  profit. 
What  obligations  we  owe  to  John  M.  Maisch — "  er  war  ein  guter 
deutscher  Mann," — and  the  many  other  willing  workers  who  have 
labored  for  our  good  in  the  social  and  scientific  meetings  of  this 
College  !  The  necessity  of  keeping  up  with  the  valuable  and  vol- 
uble suggestions  of  an  extended  pharmaceutical  horizon  is  very 
great,  and  few  indeed  are  fortunate  in  being  beyond  the  necessity  of 
asking  for  information ;  and  here  has  been  the  opportunity  of  meet- 
ing men  of  strong  mind,  with  knowledge  and  experience,  and  by  the 
discussions  get  a  better  understanding  of  many  subjects  and  be 
thus  able  to  apply  with  skill  ideas  in  every-day  store  life. 
I  believe  every  drug  store  is  just  as  the  owner  makes  it.  A  model 
pharmacist  believes  in  his  right  to  succeed  and  will  attend  the  meet- 
ings of  his  State  and  National  Associations.  He  will  keep  really 
desirable  and  attractive  goods  of  the  sort  the  people  want,  sell 
them  at  a  moderate  profit,  advertise,  and  attend  to  his  own  business 
and  not  be  concerned  about  that  of  his  neighbor,  no  matter  how 
great  a  competitor  he  may  be. 
I  have  so  far  been  able  to  maintain  a  drug  store  without  soda 
water  and  ice  cream,  female  pills  and  appliances  with  advertisements 
designed  to  deceive  no  one,  exercise  due  caution  in  the  sale  of 
poisons  and  narcotics,  content  with  a  limited  business,  the  responsi- 
ble part  of  which  was  done  at  highest  pay  to  fully  equipped  assist- 
ants and  the  merchandise  part  by  intelligent  help  who  did  not 
attempt  in  other  directions. 
If  "pro  bono  publico"  I  was  expected  to  destroy  the  character 
of  my  store  and  convert  it  into  an  office  for  newspaper  advertise- 
ments, express  and  other  like  business,  my  not  doing  so  may  have 
been  a  business  mistake  which  I  have  survived. 
Where  are  we  now?  is  perhaps  the  question.  The  aggression  of 
the  large  manufacturing  pharmacists  with  assayed  and  physiologic- 
ally tested  drugs  and  serums,  the  increased  number  of  proprie- 
tary and  trade-marked  articles  and  the  introduction  of  a  newer 
materia  medica  seem  to  give  thought  to  what  has  been  said  by  one 
who  has  had  experience  as  a  teacher  in  a  college  of  pharmacy,  fol- 
lowed by  time  spent  in  a  pharmaceutical  laboratory — his  judgment 
