AMERICAN  PHARMACEUTICAL  ASSOCIATION. 
485 
grasp  their  hands  once  more,  with  double  welcome,  and  a  cordial  sympa- 
thy, at  least,  in  all  earnest  desire  to  promote  the  good  of  our  chosen  art. 
"Death  has  been  busy  in  our  ranks  since  1860, — so  much  so,  that  the 
gain  in  numbers  of  members  from  this  State,  since,  is  not  equal  to  the 
loss  thereby.  From  the  proper  Committee  you  will  learn  of  those  who 
have  left  us  since  last  we  met.  It  is  only  proper  for  me  to  here  bear 
respectful  testimony  to  the  untiring  activity  and  courtesy  of  John 
Meakim,  in  executing  the  arrangements,  social  and  otherwise,  at  that 
session  of  1860. 
The  enlarged  sphere  of  action  naturally  assumed  by  this  Association 
since  its  inception, — as  all  questions  relating  to  our  art,  in  national  polity , 
and  affecting  our  interests  nationally,  of  necessity  fall  into  our  hands  for 
discussion  and  fostering  care  or  development, — it  is  evident  that  the 
objects  and  duties  of  this  Association  must  bear,  henceforth,  the  same 
relation  to  the  local  Associations,  and  to  the  individual  pharmaceutist,  as 
does  the  general  government  to  the  local  government  and  to  the  citizen. 
Take  the  subject  of  internal  revenue,  wherein,  aside  from  the  tariff  on 
foreign  goods,  the  necessity  of  the  time  calls  for  a  levying  of  specific  and 
stamp  taxes  upon  the  various  products  of  national  industry;  it  becomes 
the  manifest  duty  of  this  Association, — the  only  national  representative 
of  our  art, — to  use  its  influence  and  knowledge  to  place  before  the  proper 
authority  with  whom  lies  the  tax-placing  power,  such  facts,  statistics, 
and  knowledge,  as  will  tend  to  render  our  portion  of  the  public  burthen 
just  and  equitable. 
At  the  meeting  in  Detroit,  1866,  a  Committee  on  Internal  Revenue 
(the  forerunner  of  a  permanent  one,  it  is  to  be  hoped)  was  appointed  to 
consider  and  act  upon  the  whole  subject  of  the  internal  revenue  law.  The 
appointment  of  such  a  committee  was  judicious,  but  unfortunately  it  was 
directed  that  your  President  should  act  as  chairman  of  the  Committee. 
Now  as  committee  work  is  usually  done  by  the  chairman,  and  as  the 
chairman  in  this  instance  resided  far  from  the  commercial  and  govern- 
ment centres,  it  was  as  good  as  an  effectual  shelving  of  the  Committee. 
Your  President,  after  appointing  the  members  of  the  committee  as 
required,  resigned  the  chairmanship  to  one  of  them, — Mr.  Parrish, — 
from  whom  I  presume  you  may  expect  a  report. 
My  suggestion  is,  in  regard  to  the  working  machinery  on  this  revenue 
business,  the  appointment  of  a  committee,  with  the  chairmanship  at  least 
continued  or  permanent  j  the  chairman  a  resident  of  either  Washington, 
Philadelphia,  New  York  city  or  Boston;  and  the  raising  of  sufficient 
special  revenue  to  meet  inevitable  expenses  attending  the  work  of  such  a 
committee. 
The  above  naturally  leads  me  to  the  subject  of  our  treasury  and  income. 
The  report  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  Association  will  show  you  that  the 
Association  is  in  debt,  and  for  years  it  has  had  to  anticipate  the  resources 
of  the  future  to  cancel  the  obligations  of  the  past.    This  is  not  as  it 
