Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
May,  1920.) 
Association's  Latent  Power. 
337 
GREAT  POSSIBILITIES  IN  THE  ASSOCIATION'S  LATENT 
POWER. 
RKPORT  OT^  THE  SECRETARY,  W.  J.  WOODRUFF,  AT  THE  NINTH  ANNUAI, 
MEETING  OF  THE  AMERICAN  DRUG  MANUFACTURERS*  ASSOCIA- 
TION   AT    THE    HOTEly    BIETMORE,    NEW  YORK, 
APRIIv  12-15,  1920. 
This  year's  report  of  the  Secretary  is  inspired  by  a  conviction 
that  has  been  growing  firmer  in  his  mind  for  some  time.  If  I  may 
be  permitted  to  indulge  myself  in  a  home-made  text  for  my  sermon, 
let  me  offer  this — "The  horse  in  the  barn  doesn't  turn  any  furrows." 
To  be  less  figurative,  your  presumptuous  Secretary  believes  that, 
while  the  membership,  with  industry  generally,  is  complainingly 
permitting  itself  to  be  seriously  hampered  by  adverse  influences, 
it  possesses  vast  potentialities  for  correcting  those  evils  of  which 
it  is  not  availing  itself. 
GREAT  I.ATENT  POWER. 
It  is  safe  to  assert  that,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  Proprie- 
tary Association,  no  single  factor  in  the  Drug  Trade  or  Medicine 
possesses  the  potential  power  for  remedying  its  evils  that  this  indus- 
try possesses.  It  is  likewise  safe  to  say  that  no  industry  is  using  so 
small  a  proportion  of  its  potential  power  in  its  attempts  to  meet 
its  problems. 
The  fact  that  an  association  represents  a  manufacturing  indus- 
try implies  powerful  reserves  of  organization  experience — of  big 
caliber  men — the  association  can  say  the  last  without  immodesty 
for  men  who  manage  such  great  units  can  be  nothing  else — and — 
but  here  I  must  focus  my  meaning  well — if  I  mention  capital  as  a 
source  of  power,  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  its  use  as  a  force  for  coercion, 
corruption,  undue  influence  or  suppression  of  truth  or  justice,  or  for 
any  other  use  immoral  or  even  unethical.  I  mention  it  rather  for 
the  legitimate  uses  to  which  it  can  be  put,  uses  in  no  way  inconsis- 
tent with  the  public  welfare.  We  could  be  charged  with  nothing 
worse  than  a  desire  to  have  justice  done  us  if  we  used  it,  let  us  say 
for  the  dissemination  of  truthful  information  that  would  make  the 
public  proof  against  the  misrepresentations  of  either  those  with 
ulterior  motives  or  of  well  intentioned  but  ignorant  reformers. 
The  A.  M.  A.  has  long  been  regarded  by  many  in  pharmaceutical 
and  medical  circles  as  the  dominant  factor  in  these  fields,  with 
