Am*No0vUr'i9Pi3arm' )       What  of  the  Edmonds  Bill?  755 
cists  were  told  a  few  weeks  ago  in  Washington  that  qualified  and 
trained  pharmacists  were  now  in  charge  of  all  important  army  dis- 
pensaries, although  it  was  impossible  and  unnecessary  to  make  such 
provision  for  smaller  units. 
Notwithstanding  this  assurance,  letters  continued  to  come  to  the 
secretary's  office,  describing  inefficiency  in  the  dispensing  of  medi- 
cines, poor  stocks,  and  wholly  unsatisfactory  pharmaceutical  con- 
ditions. The  acknowledgment,  however,  that  the  services  of  a 
trained  pharmacist  are  important,  at  least  in  the  larger  divisions  of 
the  army,  is  of  itself  a  big  advance.  In  the  medical  supply  division, 
a  number  of  pharmacists  have  been  gradually  assimilated  and  given 
recognition  ;  in  some  instances,  lieutenancies  having  been  secured.  In 
the  Sanitary  Corps,  which  is  largely  covering  a  line  of  work  which  a 
pharmaceutical  corps  should  embrace,  trained  pharmacists  are  find- 
ing a  place,  to  a  limited  extent,  and  winning  recognition.  The  facts, 
therefore,  are  that  the  pharmaceutical  profession  is  gradually  being 
assimilated  into  the  medical  corps  on  a  basis  quite  identical  with  that 
proposed  in  the  Edmonds  Bill,  and  this  is  itself  sufficient  evidence 
to  prove  that  the  principles  and  claims  of  the  pharmaceutical  pro- 
fession, as  expressed  in  the  Edmonds  Bill,  are  just  and  true. 
As  a  result  of  careful  development,  the  United  States  Navy  and 
the  Marine  Corps  have  developed  a  division  of  their  medical  depart- 
ment which  closely  resembles  the  plan  for  a  pharmaceutical  corps  in 
the  Army,  for  which  we  have  been  struggling.  This  organization 
is  of  itself  convincing  proof  that  physicians  in  military  organizations 
can  use  advantageously  this  important  adjunct  to  the  medical  and 
sanitary  division  of  the  army.  Why,  therefore,  have  the  efforts  for 
recognition  up  to  this  time  been  a  failure?  There  are  those  who 
would  believe  that  unworthy  motives  have  actuated  the  heads  of  the 
medical  department  of  the  Army  in  refusing  officially  to  recognize 
the  claims  of  pharmacy,  but  we  believe  it  is  largely  because  of  mis- 
understanding. We  must,  in  loyalty  to  the  Nation,  give  unqualified 
support  to  those  who  have  proven  so  conclusively  their  desire  to 
place  the  machinery  for  maintaining  the  health  and  physical  welfare 
of  the  defenders  of  liberty  upon  the  firmest  foundation  of  modern 
medical  science,  and  believe  that  they  have  conscientiously  opposed 
this  modification  of  the  medical  corps  of  the  American  Army.  We 
must  acknowledge,  too,  that  in  the  pharmacists'  desire  to  serve  the 
country  effectively,  they  have,  perhaps,  failed  at  times  to  recognize 
the  methods  essential  to  the  control  of  a  military  organization,  and 
