Am'jJuiy^'i89h9arm*}    Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association.  349 
why  this  Association  (the  foremost,  I  think,  in  most  respects  of  any  of  the  State 
associations)  should  not  be  able  to  attract  to  its  ranks  more  than  10  per  cent,  of 
the  whole. 
It  is  true  that  we  have  had  fpr  several  years  a  Committee  on  Trade  Interests. 
It  does  not  appear  to  me,  however,  that  the  druggists  of  this  State  have  felt 
that  this  Committee  has  fully  met  their  expectations,  or  that  the  Association 
has  made  itself  sufficiently  valuable  to  them  to  induce  them  to  become  mem- 
bers. While,  according  to  our  Constitution,  the  aim  of  this  Association  is 
"  to  unite  the  educated  and  reputable  pharmacists  and  druggists  of  the  State, 
to  improve  the  science  and  art  of  pharmacy,  and  to  restrict  the  dispensing  and 
sale  of  medicines  to  regularly  educated  druggists  and  apothecaries,"  and  this 
has  generally  been  construed  to  mean  that  our  deliberations  are  to  be  largely 
scientific,  the  latter  portion  of  the  above  quotation  from  Article  II  of  the  Con- 
stitution certainly  warrants  us  in  assuming  that  "restricting  the  sale  of  medi- 
cines to  regularly  educated  druggists"  is  a  part  of  our  work.  Believing  that 
the  word  "medicines  "  here  was  not  intended  to  refer  only  to  those  dispensed 
upon  physicians'  prescriptions,  but  to  apply  also  to  ready  packeted  remedies 
known  as  "patent  medicines,"  I  felt  warranted,  when  the  call  for  a  meeting  of 
those  interested  in  the  formation  of  a  National  Association  of  Retailers  to  act 
upon  trade  matters  was  promulgated,  and  I  was  asked,  as  President  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association,  to  appoint  delegates  from  this  Asso- 
ciation, to  comply  with  the  request.  I  consulted  with  our  Secretary  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee,  and  as  a  result  appointed  the  follow- 
ing delegates:  Charles  L.  Hay,  of  Dubois;  J.  H.  Redsecker,  of  Lebanon;  Wm. 
Mclntyre,  of  Philadelphia;  A.  J.  Kaercher,  of  Allegheny. 
Messrs.  Redsecker  and  Mclntyre  were  unfortunately  unable  to  attend  this 
meeting,  but  Messrs.  Hay  and  Kaercher  were  present  and  rendered  valuable 
aid  in  the  formation  of  the  National  Association.  Mr.  Hay  was  made  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Trade-Marks  and  Patents  and  Mr.  Kaercher, 
Chairman  of  the  Auditing  Committee.  Under  what  favorable  auspices  this 
Association  was  launched  at  its  meeting  in  October  last,  and  what  it  has  since 
accomplished,  has  been  so  fully  brought  to  your  notice  through  the  columns 
of  the  pharmaceutical  press  that  it  is  useless  to  refer  to  it  here  in  detail. 
I  venture,  however,  to  express  the  opinion  that  many  of  the  errors  made  by 
former  similar  organizations  formed  during  the  last  fifteen  years  were  carefully 
and  wisely  avoided  by  this.  It  was  at  once  seen  that  if  anything  of  value  was 
to  result  from  the  efforts  which  were  to  be  made  by  this  new  and  latest  organi- 
zation, it  must  come  as  the  result  of  co-operation  between  the  manufacturer, 
the  wholesaler  and  the  retailer.  Acting  upon  this  conviction,  a  brief  platform 
was  adopted  on  which  all  three  classes  could  unite,  and  as  the  three  organiza- 
tions representing  these  three  classes  were  then  in  session  simultaneously  in 
the  city  of  St.  Louis,  the  endorsement  of  each  was  secured  before  adjournment. 
The  application  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  this  platform  and  the  work  of 
the  Association  was  committed  to  an  able  executive  committee  and  a  most 
efficient  Secretary,  Mr.  Thos.  V.  Wooten,  with  headquarters  in  the  city  of 
Chicago.  Membership  of  each  State  and  local  association  was  made  up  of 
delegates,  each  locaPand  State  association  being  entitled  to  one  delegate  for 
each  100  active  members  or  fraction  thereof.  It  was  stipulated  that  "such 
delegates  shall  be  actively  engaged  in  the  retail  drug  business."    It  was  recog- 
