AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
443 
prescribe  senna,  and  let  the  patient  infuse  it  himself.  Where  the  apothe- 
cary does  it,  according-  to  the  Pharmacopoeia,  he  must  be  paid  for  it  a 
good  price. 
Mr.  Nichols. — If  the  increase  in  price  [of  alcohol]  was  not  so  exorbitant, 
we  should  not  have  reason  to  complain  ;  but  the  increase  is  not  in  pro- 
portion to  other  things  ;  the  increase  is  greater.  We  used  to  buy  a  pint 
of  alcohol  for  four  and  a  half  cents  ;  now  we  pay  sixty  cents.  This 
margin  is  very  great ;  so  great  that  it  bears  very  heavily  on  the  poor.  We 
ought  to  look  at  that.  There  are  two  views  to  take  :  the  patriotic  and 
the  benevolent.  Many  depend  on  the  druggist  for  their  medicines,  which 
are  a  serious  expense  to  them.  If  means  could  be  devised  to  reduce  the 
cost  of  alcohol,  it  would  yield  as  much  revenue  to  the  Government  as  it 
does  to-day.  This  heavy  tax  seems  to  me  to  be  striking  a  heavy  blow  at  the 
industry  of  the  country.  We  have  lost,  and  are  now  losing  entirely,  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  those  articles  into  which  alcohol  enters.  There 
are  none  shipped  to  the  Provinces,  none  to  Melbourne.  These  sources  of 
revenue  have  all  dried  up,  owing  to  this  increase  in  the  price  of  alcohol. 
I  am  inclined  to  think  there  should  be  some  action  taken  in  relation  to 
the  price  of  alcohol.  The  loss  in  manufacturing  is  great,  and  the  drug- 
gist does  not  get  back  its  cost.  He  cannot  charge  for  tinctures  in  propor- 
tion to  its  cost.  In  relation  to  Dr.  Squibb's  views,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  argument  relative  to  increased  wages  must  be  received  with  some 
reservation  ;  as  this  greater  amount  is  consumed  in  the  price  of  necessities 
of  living,  but  little  is  saved.  I  have  talked  with  Congressmen  on  this 
point.     They  are  willing  to  act  on  any  feasible  remedy. 
Dr.  Pile  thought  that  a  more  important  point  was  in  relation  to  the 
license.  We  are  required  to  take  out  a  license  for  selling  alcoholic 
liquors,  legitimately  used  as  medicines.  We  are  obliged  to  take  out,  in 
addition,  a  tavern-keeper's  license  to  sell  brandy,  wine,  and  whisky,  as 
medicines.  I  think  this  a  serious  mistake  made  by  the  assessors.  It  was 
declared  in  Philadelphia  that  every  druggist  must  take  out  a  tavern- 
keeper's  license.  A  physician  orders  three  or  four  ounces  of  brandy : 
some  assessors  declare  that  we  cannot  sell  unmixed  liquors,  by  prescrip- 
tion, without  a  license.  Then,  again,  some  determine  that  all  articles  we 
make,  make  us  manufacturers,  and  we  must  take  out  a  manufacturer's 
license,  in  addition  to  the  others  ;  and,  if  the  amount  we  manufacture  for 
our  sales  is  over  $600,  we  must  pay  6  per  cent,  additional  duty  or  tax. 
Dr.  Squibb  believed  this  trouble  to  arise  from  the  difficulty  of  discrimi- 
nation on  the  part  of  Congress  in  legislating  for  a  class  of  dealers  who 
have  among  them  many  who  do  not  hesitate  to  be  dishonest,  in  this  mat- 
ter of  selling  liquors  as  a  beverage.  As  regards  irregularity  in  the  action 
of  assessors,  this  is  a  matter  to  be  reformed,  and  may  be  done  by  proper 
representations  to  the  proper  authority.  To  tax  apothecaries  as  liquor 
dealers  is  right  when  they  sell  it  indiscriminately,  to  increase  their  profits, 
as  many  will  do.    Not  to  have  a  license  would  be  to  open  another  loop- 
