Medicinal  Plant  Supplies. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1918. 
MEDICINAL  PLANTS— PRESENT  AND  FUTURE 
SUPPLIES.1 
By  Prof.  Henry  Kraemer.  University  of  Michigan. 
We  have  heard  so  much  about  our  country's  unpreparedness  and 
the  apparent  inability  of  the  government  to  adequately  cope  with  the 
war  situation,  that  it  must  be  indeed  a  relief  to  learn  that  in  the 
domain  of  medical  and  surgical  supplies  there  has  been  a  spirit  of 
coordination  between  the  government  forces  and  the  manufacturers 
of  the  United  States,  which  has  resulted  in  the  highest  possible  effi- 
ciency and  could  hardly  have  been  improved  upon  had  it  been  fore- 
shadowed that  the  World  War  situation  would  arise. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  in  August,  1914,  and  for  a 
short  time  thereafter,  owing  to  the  erratic  trade  conditions  which 
prevailed,  the  drug  market  was  in  a  turmoil.  There  was  a  dispo- 
sition on  the  part  of  some  to  overstock,  while  others  refused  to  pur- 
chase at  the  increasing  prices  which  were  prevalent.  Very  soon, 
however,  there  was  a  reaction  and  a  marked  stabilization  was  effected 
by  the  large  drug  dealers  and  manufacturers  who  advised  caution, 
but  not  to  the  point  of  restricting  trade.  At  the  time  of  the  formal 
declaration  of  war  with  Germany,  the  news  was  received  in  the 
drug  market  with  a  marked  absence  of  excitement  of  any  kind.  In 
other  words  while  there  was  a  suspicion  that  there  ultimately  would 
be  a  break  with  our  country  and  the  German  Empire,  our  markets 
retained  their  conservative  position  to  an  unparalleled  extent. 
There  was  no  attempt  made  to  increase  prices  beyond  the  point 
actually  called  for  by  the  unsettled  conditions.  Furthermore,  I 
have  been  unable  to  discover  a  single  instance  in  which  there  was 
any  disposition  to  speculate  in  the  drug  market,  even  though  for  a 
time  there  was  a  steady  increase  in  prices,  which  in  some  instances 
attained  from  ten  to  twenty  times  the  quotations  current  prior  to 
the  war. 
In  a  remarkably  short  time  the  chaotic  conditions  were  mas- 
tered. Other  foreign  sources  of  drug  supplies  were  opened.  New 
industries  were  developed  and  incorporated,  so  that  as  the  war  has 
progressed  the  high  prices  prevalent  two  years  ago  have  decreased 
on  the  average  about  35  per  cent.    Probably  no  one  industry  has 
1  Presented  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Friday  A.  M.,  April  19. 
