m.  Jour.  Pharm.  "1 
August,  1900.  J 
Editorial. 
38i 
EDITORIAL. 
STATE  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 
During  June  and  July  two-thirds  of  all  the  State  pharmaceutical 
associations  hold  their  annual  meetings.  The  places  of  meeting 
are  generally,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  reports  of  the  various  asso- 
ciations, in  another  part  of  this  Journal,  at  some  recreative  resort 
rather  than  in  the  larger  cities.  The  advantages  of  each  of  these 
places  for  the  holding  of  conventions  have  already  been  alluded  to 
in  an  editorial  in  this  Journal  (1898,  p.  453).  At  that  time  some  of 
the  benefits  of  conventions  were  also  given.  There  was  one  benefit, 
however,  which  was  not  referred  to,  but  which  really  is  one  of  the 
most  important  that  accrue  from  these  annual  meetings.  The  bene- 
fit which  most  of  us  see  in  these  conventions,  with  their  accompany- 
ing pleasures,  is  one  which  is  individual  or  extends  at  the  most  to  the 
family ;  but  there  is  really  a  greater  benefit  to  the  professions,  sciences 
and  arts,  whose  members  are  thus  brought  together.  It  is  true  that 
the  members  do  have  a  good  time  and  return  home  with  renewed 
vigor  for  the  work  to  be  done ;  but  this  is  probably  one  of  the  least 
benefits  from  these  gatherings.  The  greatest  benefit  possibly  accrues 
from  the  organization  itself  to  the  profession,  science  and  art  which  it 
represents.  The  power  for  good  here  is  apparently  seldom  referred  to 
or  realized  to  its  greatest  extent.  President  Dohme,  in  his  address, 
to  the  Maryland  Pharmaceutical  Association,  showed  the  great  possi- 
bilities of  organization.  "  If,  "  said  he, "  we  could  only  get  our  mem- 
bership up  to  a  fair  proportion  of  the  total  number  of  pharmacists  in 
the  State,  we  would  have  a  much  better  opportunity  and  standing 
before  the  Legislature,  when  we  appear  before  it  in  behalf  of  a  bill 
we  are  offering."  If  each  pharmacist  would  recognize  his  obliga- 
tions to  his  profession  by  becoming  affiliated  as  a  member  with  his 
State  organization,  there  would  be  nothing  that  would  be  denied 
him  by  legislature  and  there  is  no  question  but  that  his  importuni- 
ties would  be  heard.  This  is  an  age  of  organization  and  every  man 
counts  in  the  work,  be  it  in  politics  or  in  the  professions.  If  appeals 
and  resolutions  to  legislatures  were  backed  up  by  organizations  upon 
whose  rolls  are  names  of  all  the  pharmacists  of  the  State,  there  would 
be  fewer  difficulties  in  the  way  of  reforms.  Every  pharmacist  should 
appreciate  this  phase  of  the  benefits  of  organizations,  and  even  though 
he  cannot  attend  the  meetings,  his  name  on  the  roll  of  the  State 
