524     National  Wholesale  Druggists  Association,  {^oV^mbeMgoS1" 
promise  to  avoid  the  old  evils  when  temptation  comes,  and  hold  fast 
to  promises  to  the  new  friends  and  the  better  order  of  things,  hon- 
estly and  manfully  adopted  in  the  resolutions  and  acts  of  the  con- 
vention, to  which  each  subscribed.  The  election  of  officers,  as 
reported  by  the  Committee  on  Permanent  Organization,  and  the 
adoption  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws  were  the  closing  acts  in 
the  drama  which  ushered  into  being  the  '  Western  Wholesale  Drug; 
Association.'  " 
The  organization  whose  early  history  Mr.  Merriam  wrote  as 
above  continued  to  be  known  up  to  1882  as  the  Western  Wholesale 
Drug  Association.  At  the  meeting  of  that  association  held  in 
Cleveland  that  year,  a  large  representation  from  prominent  whole- 
sale drug  firms  in  the  East  was  present,  and  also  a  large  delegation 
from  the  Association  of  Manufacturers  and  Wholesale  Dealers  in 
Proprietary  Articles,  which  is  now  known  as  the  "  Proprietary  As- 
sociation of  America."  At  this  meeting,  the  interests  for  which 
the  Western  Association  was  originally  formed  having  extended 
throughout  the  trade  circles  of  the  entire  country,  it  was  decided  by 
a  unanimous  vote  to  change  the  title  to  the  "  National  Wholesale 
Druggists'  Association,"  and  amid  great  enthusiasm  the  East  joined 
hands  with  the  West,  and  the  history  of  the  N.W.D.A.  in  the 
past  eighteen  years  is  a  continued  repetition  of  increasing  interest 
and  loyalty. 
While  much  has  been  accomplished  by  this  organization  in  the 
way  of  lessening  trade  evils  in  many  directions,  that  which  called  it 
into  existence  in  the  first  place,  and  has  always  commanded  its  chief 
interest  since,  is  the  regulation  of  the  prices  of  proprietary  medi- 
cines, composing  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  business  of  the  whole- 
sale druggist.  The  success  of  the  effort  to  regulate  these  prices  has 
been  so  marked  since  1882,  and  is  so  well  known,  that  it  is  not 
necessary  to  do  more  than  refer  to  it  in  this  connection.  The  re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  Proprietary  Articles  has  always  been  the 
most  important  of  all  of  the  reports  submitted  by  the  various  com- 
mittees at  our  annual  meetings ;  and  the  work  of  this  committee 
has  not  been  confined  to  looking  after  the  interests  of  the  wholesale 
dealers  alone,  but  it  was  early  recognized  that  the  interests  of  the 
retailers  and  of  the  wholesalers  and  of  the  proprietors  were  so 
closely  related  that  we  were  bound  to  aid  in  every  way  in  our  power 
in  the  establishment  of  a  plan  which  should  protect,  as  far  as  it  was 
