Am.  jour.  Pharm.  \       Pharmacists  and  the  War. 
November,  191 7.  -* 
527 
drawn-out  war  is  over.  To-day,  the  pharmacist  has  the  best  oppor- 
tunity for  service  in  the  navy.  He  also  has  a  place  in  the  army  and 
one  in  the  Public  Health  and  Marine  Hospital  Service.  All  young 
men  now  in  pharmacy,  and  particularly  those  just  entering  as  ap- 
prentices should  make  certain  of  having  sufficient  preliminary  edu- 
cation. They  should  push  their  studies  in  pharmacy  at  college  or 
home,  as  the  case  may  be.  Those  who  cannot  enlist  will  find 
plenty  to  do  without  going  to  war.  The  cry  for  drug  clerks,  is  al- 
ready loud  and  will  become  more  insistent  as  the  drafts  follow  each 
other.  The  Medical  Section  of  the  Council  of  National  Defence  is 
pleading  with  physicians  to  enlist.  We  do  not  hear  a  government 
cry  for  more  pharmacists  but  this  country  is  just  approaching  par- 
ticipation in  the  war. 
We  are  equally  concerned  with  problems  affecting  the  pharma- 
cists who  remain  at  home  to  follow  their  calling.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  they  will  be  affected  by  all  general  taxes,  food  regula- 
tions and  other  conditions  imposed  on  the  public  at  large.  The 
special  taxes  on  their  business  and  high  cost  of  drugs  they  should  be 
able  to  pass  on  to  the  consumer,  where  these  belong.  I  regret  that 
some  retail  druggists  continue,  even  at  this  late  date,  to  sell  drugs  at 
figures  based  on  original  cost  instead  of  market  value.  One  druggist 
disposed  of  his  entire  stock  of  potassium  permanganate  at  less  per 
pound  than  he  can  replace  the  chemical  per  ounce.  Similar  cases 
occur  daily  in  spite  of  drug  price  lists  and  market  reviews.  Phar- 
macists are  quite  as  likely  to  make  a  success  of  drug  gardens  as 
they  are  to  glut  the  market  from  their  home  truck  gardens,  but  that  is 
not  saying  much.  No  one  should  attempt  a  drug  garden  before 
consulting  with  the  government  Department  of  Agriculture,  at 
Washington.  In  England,  the  British  government  reports  quite  as 
much  success  in  harvesting  wild  drugs  as  in  cultivating  plants.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  England  has  a  much  more  restricted  flora 
than  is  the  case  in  the  United  States.  We  have  a  long  list  of  in- 
digenous drugs  and  the  varied  climate,  latitude,  altitude,  etc.,  neces- 
sary for  the  growing  of  many  exotic  plants. 
Now,  to  be  more  personal,  I  bring  home  to  you  the  duty  we  owe 
the  Missouri  Pharmaceutical  Association  which  secured  our  orig- 
inal pharmacy  law  of  1879  and  for  nearly  forty  years  has  had  a 
hand  in  all  pharmaceutical  progress  in  Missouri.  War  or  no  war, 
we  should  continue  to  develop  and  expand  the  organization.  Here 
we  can  solve  practical  questions  in  a  practical  way. 
