522     National  Wholesale  Druggists'  Association.  {\^0vemberP1foom' 
prompt  and  unanimously  expressive  in  favor  of  the  movement,  and 
the  majority  sentiment  decided  that  the  geographical  position  of 
Indianapolis  was  best  adapted  for  the  convention.  The  official 
call  was  then  sent  out,  and  on  the  15th  day  of  March,  1876,  the 
warring  elements  of  the  trade  first  convened.  Maay  had  never 
seen  each  other  before,  but  by  reputation  formed  by  exaggerated 
reports  through  unbridled  competition  they  were  prepared 
"  'To  meet  the  very  d — 1  in  human  form, 
Emasculated  only  of  hoof  and  horn.' 
"  The  registers  at  the  hotels  were  rapidly  filling  with  the  names  of 
well-known  firms  from  Cleveland,  Toledo  and  Pittsburg  on  the  East  ; 
St.  Paul,  Milwaukee,  Detroit  and  Chicago  on  the  North  ;  Louisville 
and  Cincinnati  on  the  South,  and  St.  Louis  and  other  points  on  the 
West. 
"  It  was  a  memorable  gathering,  and  when  such  men  as  James 
Richardson,  C.  F.  G.  Meyer,  A.  A.  Mellier,  Jacob  S.  Merrell,  St. 
Louis;  Daniel  R.  Noyes,  St.  Paul;  Henry  W.  Fuller,  Thomas  Lord, 
Peter  Van  Schaack,  Chicago ;  S.  M.  Strong,  Horace  Benton,  Daniel 
Myers,  Cleveland  ;  George  A.  Kelly,  John  Ewing,  B.  S.  Fahnestock, 
Pittsburg;  Arthur  Peter,  R.  A.  Robinson,  J.  B.  Wilder,  W.  A.  Rob- 
inson, Louisville ;  Robert  Macready,  James  S.  Burdsal,  William  S. 
Merrell,  Cincinnati ;  Jacob  S.  Farrand,  Thomas  H.  Hinchman,  De- 
troit ;  Henry  H.  Button,  F.  Dohmen,  B.  B.  Hopkins,  Milwaukee ; 
Charles  West,  William  C.  Williams,  Toledo;  Robert  Browning,  A. 
Kiefer,  Daniel  Stewart,  Indianapolis,  met  to  deliberate  on  the  '  affairs 
of  trade,'  it  augured  well  for  the  success  of  the  convention.  The 
first  session  met  in  Exchange  Hall  at  10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  fifteenth  of  March,  and  was  organized  by  the  election  of  James 
S.  Burdsal  temporary  Chairman  and  A.  B.  Merriam  temporary  Sec- 
retary. 
"  Mr.  Burdsal,  on  taking  the  chair,  addressed  the  convention  in  a 
forcible  speech,  briefly  reviewing  the  action  of  the  wholesale  drug- 
gists of  Cincinnati  in  the  initiatory  steps  they  had  taken  looking  to 
the  call  of  this  convention ;  the  presentation  of  some  of  the  evils 
that  had  fastened  themselves  upon  the  trade ;  the  excessive  compe- 
tition, resulting  in  the  general  demoralization  of  values  ;  the  unwise 
and  unmercantile  policy  of  sacrificing  sound  business  principles  in 
the  strife  for  precedence,  and  closed  by  expressing  an  earnest  hope 
