400 
Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1918. 
Unfortunately  much  of  the  discussion  engaged  in  has  been  purely 
academic  and  not  based  upon  "  that  careful  consideration  "  which 
such  important  subjects  should  command.  Before  any  official  pro- 
mulgation be  made  of  changes  in  legal  standards  or  of  regulations 
affecting  the  needs  of  the  drug  trade  for  medical  supplies,  a  thorough 
survey  of  the  actual  conditions  and  needs  should  be  made  by  practical 
men  and  not  by  theorists.  The  necessity  of  conserving  the  indus- 
tries of  the  country  and  manitaining  these  at  their  maximum  efficiency 
has  at  times  appeared  to  be  overlooked  by  over-enthusiastic  officials 
or  notoriety  seekers. 
At  the  hearing  referred  to,  it  was  stated  that  more  alcohol  was 
available  at  the  present  time  than  would  be  required  by  the  United 
States  and  our  allies  for  some  time  to  come  and  further  that  im- 
mense stores  of  corn  unsuited  for  food  consumption  as  such  would 
rot  unless  used  as  a  source  for  alcohol  production.  Other  sources 
for  the  production  of  alcohol  available  to  the  American  people  in- 
dicate no  lack  of  supplies  or  possibility  of  need  for  conservation. 
Regarding  sugar,  it  developed  that  the  consumption  of  sugar  for 
medicines  was  but  a  very  small  percentage  (possibly  not  more  than 
one  fifth  of  one  per  cent.)  of  the  total  consumption.  Since  in  the 
recent  regulations  promulgated  for  the  conservation  of  sugar  sup- 
plies, the  production  of  ice  cream,  surely  a  pure  luxury,  was  to  be 
encouraged  and  allotted  a  full  one  hundred  per  cent,  of  sugar  re- 
quirements, consistency  will  require  that  the  same  privilege  be  ex- 
tended to  druggists  and  manufacturers  needing  sugar  for  medicines 
which  must  be  classed  with  the  necessities. 
The  statement  then  made  that  upwards  of  twenty  per  cent,  of 
the  glycerin  produced  in  the  country  was  consumed  in  medicines, 
we  are  inclined  to  doubt.  It  may  be  true  that  such  a  percentage  of 
the  total  amount  produced  passes  through  the  drug  and  chemical 
trades,  but  it  is  within  our  knowledge  that,  in  recent  years  especially, 
much  of  this  has  been  resold  and  diverted  to  industries  not  at  all 
associated  with  medicinal  products.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
an  actual  survey  made  would  prove  the  unreliability  of  the  statistics 
upon  which  this  statement  was  made. 
G.  M.  B. 
