Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1 918. 
Editorial. 
401 
THE  ANNUAL  PHARMACEUTICAL  MEETINGS. 
The  season  for  the  annual  conventions  of  many  of  the  state 
associations  of  pharmacists  is  at  hand  and  the  time  for  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  is  rapidly  approaching. 
The  programme  as  announced  for  the  meeting  of  this  national  as- 
sociation at  Congress  Hotel,  Chicago,  August  12  to  17,  is  a  well- 
balanced  arrangement  replete  with  a  menu  of  scientific,  professional, 
educational  and  trade  interest  problems  and  interspersed  with  suffi- 
cient entertainment  features  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  a  too  heavy 
diet. 
Despite  the  fact  that  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association 
was  organized  in  1852  and  that  many  of  the  State  Pharmaceutical 
Associations  date  back  more  than  twenty-five  years,  it  is  disap- 
pointing to  note  that  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  men  engaged  in  phar- 
macy and  drug  trade  pursuits,  who  are  eligible  for  membership,  are 
not  yet  associated  with  either  local,  state  or  national  associations  of 
pharmacists. 
These  various  associations  have  important  duties  to  perform  in 
order  to  advance  the  professional  status  of  pharmacy  and  to  protect 
those  practicing  pharmacy  and  the  various  trade  interests  connected 
with  the  collection,  manufacture  and  distribution  of  drugs  and  chem- 
icals. In  the  discharge  of  these  duties  an  association  serves  all  and 
cannot  discriminate  between  those  who  are  members  and  non-mem- 
bers. Conversely  it  would  appear  as  a  universal  duty  for  pharma- 
cists and  druggists  to  give  loyal  support  as  members  of  these  or- 
ganizations. 
Throughout  many  years  of  membership  in  pharmaceutical  asso- 
ciations the  writer  has  never  met  a  member  who  has  not  expressed 
himself  as  well  repaid  for  attendance  at  a  meeting.  No  matter 
what  may  be  the  line  of  work  of  the  individual  he  will  find  sufficient 
of  interest  to  him  at  the  meeting  to  at  least  obtain  his  quid  pro  quo. 
This  is  an  age  of  cooperative  effort  and  the  opportunities  for  per- 
sonal profit  are  in  direct  proportion  to  the  amount  of  cooperation 
given.  The  following  abstract  from  a  publication  of  a  contem- 
porary movement  is  applicable  alike  to  the  professional  side  of 
pharmacy  as  to  the  trade  interests. 
Every  business  man  who  is  alert  to  the  trend  of  the  times  must  realize 
that  the  day  of  the  old-fashioned,  selfish,  non-cooperative  merchant  is  rapidly 
