558  Pharmaceutical  Meeting.  { ^VeE^S?" 
One  member  said  that  a  preparation  made  with  vaseline  as  the  base  was  the 
nicest  he  had  ever  seen,  and  he  had  known  it  to  be  applied  both  by  practi- 
tioners and  others  with  the  most  satisfactory  results. 
The  paper  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Publication. 
Mr.  Joseph  W.  England  read  a  paper  on  Tax-Free  Alcohol. 
The  paper  elicited  a  very  lively  discussion,  and  it  was  thought  that  the 
interests  of  the  retail  pharmacists  had  never  been  properly  brought  before  the 
Government,  that  it  was  unworthy  a  government  like  our  own  to  admit  that 
the  fraudulent  use  of  tax-free  alcohol  could  not  be  controlled.  Other  nations, 
notably  England.  France  and  Germany,  were  able  to  do  so,  and  so  could  ours. 
It  was  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  a  strong  effort  upon  the  part  of  the 
retail  pharmacists  throughout  the  entire  land  should  be  made,  and  that  we 
should  emphasize  our  opinions  on  this  subject,  that  there  was  no  class  in  the 
community  who  were  so  heavily  burdened  in  proportion  to  their  business 
ability  to  bear  such  taxation,  and  that  the  best  of  reasons,  both  ethical  and 
commercial,  made  such  an  appeal  for  relief  most  important  for  us. 
A  series  of  resolutions  were  read  by  Mr.  Robt.  England,  as  follows  : 
Whereas,  Alcohol  enters  so  largely  into  the  making  of  medicinal  prepara- 
tions, is  at  present  of  such  excessive  cost,  due  to  the  continuance  of  an  internal 
revenue  tax  which  results  in  making  a  product  worth  but  53  cents  a  gallon  cost 
$2.50,  and  its  lessened  cost  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  public  and  the  phar- 
macist alike  ;  and 
Whereas,  Congress  at. its  last  session  passed  the  Hoar  Bill,  making  alcohol 
tax-free  when  used  for  manufacturing  medicinal  preparations,  after  regulations 
to  be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  been  satisfactorily  com- 
plied with  ;  and 
Whereas,  These  regulations  have  not  been  issued,  and  it  is  believed  will 
not  be,  on  the  ground  that  the  law  is  defective  and  that  Congress  has  failed  to 
provide  sufficient  funds  to  carry  it  into  effect ;  therefore, 
Resolved,  That  we,  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  in  pharmaceutical 
meeting  assembled,  place  ourselves  on  record  as  favoring  tax-free  alcohol  for 
manufacturing  medicinal  preparations,  believing  that  practicable  regulations 
can  be  devised  whereby  the  Government  can  be  adequately  protected  against 
fraud,  and  pharmacists,  and  the  public  indirectly,  be  given  the  almost  priceless 
boon  of  tax-free  alcohol  ;  and 
Resolved,  That  we  urge  the  pharmacists  of  Philadelphia  and  of  the  country 
at  large,  to  earnestly  appeal  to  their  Congressional  representatives  to  prevent, 
at  their  next  session,  the  repeal  of  the  law,  to  amend  it  if  necessary,  and 
to  pass  if  needed,  a  sufficient  appropriation  to  put  it  into  effect ;  and, 
Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  entered  in  full  upon  the  minutes  of  this 
meeting,  and  printed  in  the  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  and  the  Alumni 
Report. 
G.  M.  Beringer  seconded  the  resolutions,  and  said  that  according  to  the  news- 
paper accounts  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  conferred  with  representa- 
tives of  the  wholesale  drug  trade,  the  manufacturing  pharmacists  and  the  man- 
ufacturers of  proprietaries,  but  not  with  the  retail  pharmacist.  The  American 
Pharmaceutical  Association  was  generally  supposed  to  voice  the  sentiments  of 
the  retail  drug  trade.  In  the  past  this  association  had  repeatedly  adopted  reso- 
lutions in  favor  of  tax-free  alcohol  for  pharmaceutical  purposes  and  had 
