Am.  Jour.  Pharm.1 
September,  1904.  J 
Correspondence. 
449 
find  fit.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  too  much  to  expect  that  these 
laws  be  so  construed  as  to  require  at  least  two  years  of  high-school 
work  immediately  and  full  high-school  graduation  within  five  years, 
as  a  preliminary  to  registration  by  the  boards,  and  whenever  the 
boards  so  decide  the  good  schools  of  pharmacy  may  be  depended 
upon  to  conform. 
There  is  no  civilized  country  in  the  world  requiring  less  than 
high- school  graduation  or  its  equivalent  for  admission  to  the  ranks 
of  pharmacy  except  England  and  America,  and  I  am  sure  that 
America  is  ripe  for  a  decided  step  forward.  There  will  be  no  objec- 
tion on  the  part  of  druggists  in  business,  who,  as  employers,  are 
financially  interested  in  this  subject,  for  while  it  is  probably  true 
that  the  wages  of  drug  clerks  will  be  somewhat  increased  if  none 
but  high-school  graduates  can  ultimately  become  full-fledged  phar- 
macists, it  is  also  true  that  the  number  of  druggists  will  not  grow 
as  rapidly  as  in  the  past,  and  druggists  already  registered  and  in 
business  will  not  object  to  having  competition  diminished. 
Yours  truly, 
Oscar  Oldberg. 
Northwestern  University. 
August  9,  1904. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  endorse  practically  all  of  Professors  Searby's  article 
on  "  Entrance  Requirements,"  which  appeared  in  the  August  num- 
ber of  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy.  The  entrance  require- 
ments «hould  not  fall  below  an  education  equivalent  to  that  obtained 
from  a  good  high  school.  Now  is  as  good  a  time  for  a  universal 
movement  that  way  as  any.  Let  us  do  it  voluntarily  before  we  are 
forced  to  it  by  the  other  professions  or  have  lost  our  prestige. 
Pharmacy  is  a  young  profession,  and  it  has  gained  much  in  the  eyes 
of  the  public.  We  must  move  along  with  other  professions,  or  we 
will  lose  what  has  been  gained. 
The  thing  that  has  impressed  me  more  than  anything  else,  per- 
haps, is  the  scarcity  of  good  clerks.  Calls  come  repeatedly  from  all 
over  our  land  for  good  clerks,  and  the  supply  does  not  meet  the  de- 
mand. I  believe  that  if  the  colleges  required  their  students  to  have 
a  high-school  education,  or  its  equivalent,  before  entering  college, 
that  this  demand  would  be  met.  I  believe  that  we  are  going  to  see 
better  times  for  the  drug  clerks — I  mean  good  clerks — and  for  pro- 
fessional pharmacy. 
