Am.  Jour.  Pbarm.l 
March,  1900.  J 
Editorial. 
137 
on  Practical  Pharmacy  and  Dispensing  of  the  A.  Ph.  A.,  so  have  the 
opportunities  for 'business  enterprise  been  increasing.  The  retail 
pharmacist  with  a  small  monopoly  of  certain  products  has  grown  to 
be  in  many  instances  the  successful  manufacturer.  Furthermore, 
the  retail  pharmacist  of  years  ago  doing  a  small  business  with  large 
profits  has  been  met  in  recent  years  by  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
pharmacies  sharing  these  profits.  We  observe  that  the  same 
principle  which  has  obtained  throughout  the  professional  and  busi- 
ness world  also  applies  to  the  retail  pharmacist. 
While  corporations  have  been  organized,  so  have  i  ndividual  business 
enterprises  been  developed,  each  contributing  its  share  to  the  welfare 
of  the  race.  Unfortunately,  many  who  have  not  adjusted  themselves 
to  existing  conditions  cannot  but  refer  to  the  "  good  old  times'* 
and  look  painfully  upon  the  present.  All  who  fail  to  read  the  signs 
of  the  times  and  adapt  themselves  to  the  inevitable  decrees  of  com- 
merce find  that  during  this  adjustment  period  they  are  either  par- 
tially or  wholly  losing  their  grip  upon  their  profession  and  business. 
It  is  the  wise  man  who  benefits  by  the  achievements  made  possible 
by  corporations  and  yet  observes  the  peculiar  advantages  of  inde- 
pendent professional  and  business  labors. 
The  retail  pharmacist  has,  in  the  first  place,  been  met  by  compe- 
tition in  the  numbers  who  have  entered  the  business  solely  because 
of  the  apparent  "  millions  in  it."  Some  of  the  more  intelligent  phar- 
macists soon  recognized,  in  the  supplying  of  the  mediocre  class  who 
now  swelled  the  ranks  of  pharmacy  and  who  were  incompetent  to 
make  their  own  preparations,  that  here  was  an  unusual  opportunity 
of  supplying  them  with  pharmaceutical  products.  This  fact,  as  well 
as  the  natural  development  of  the  corporation,  has  made  possible 
the  condition  which  exists  to-day. 
The  evolution  of  the  retail  pharmacist  is  in  the  direction  of  the 
manufacturer,  and  we  witness  the  large  number  who  either  on  a 
small  or  large  scale  have  developed  their  business  from  small  begin- 
nings to  large  and  even  still  greater  manufacturing  enterprises.  The 
ambition  of  many  college  graduates  is  either  to  become  associated 
in  some  way  with  a  manufacturing  firm,  or  himself  to  become  a 
manufacturer. 
Every  pharmacist  who  is  true  to  his  profession  makes*  as  many 
of  his  medicaments  as  possible.  Every  pharmacist  who  makes  any 
medicaments  for  other  than  his  own  use  in  filling  prescriptions,  etc., 
