350       Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Association.  {AmjSj^8$arm' 
nized  that  the  immediate  regulation  of  prices  of  proprietary  medicines  was  not 
to  be  insisted  upon,  but  that  local  organizations  should  be  encouraged  to  get 
together  with  a  view  of  effecting  some  change  in  the  margins  on  such  articles, 
and  that  as  large  a  proportion  of  the  retail  druggists  of  this  country  as  could 
be  interested  should  be  united  under  this  N.  A.  R.  D.  banner,  and  an  ameliora- 
tion of  the  trade  conditions  be  effected  whenever,  wherever  and  however  pos- 
sible. 
The  next  meeting  of  this  Association  is  to  be  held  in  Cincinnati,  on  Octo- 
ber 3d,  4th,  5th  and  6th  of  this  year.  We  are  requested  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, through  the  Secretary,  to  officially  endorse  the  purposes  of  this  Asso- 
ciation, to  provide  for  a  representation  through  delegates  at  this  next  meeting, 
and  to  contribute  by  an  assessment  of  25  cents  upon  each  of  our  active  mem- 
bers for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  N.  A.  R.  D.  put  into  execution  the  plans 
formulated  at  their  last  convention,  or  such  as  may  be  agreed  upon  at  the 
coming  convention.  I  suggest  that  these  requests  be  referred  to  our  Com- 
mittee on  Trade  Interests,  and  that  they  be  asked  to  bring  before  us  for 
our  action  resolutions  placing  our  Association  in  line  with  this  request. 
Whether  the  assessments  shall  be  upon  the  basis  outlined  in  the  request  is  a 
question  which  that  Committee,  owing  to  the  condition  of  our  finances,  must 
carefully  consider. 
We  must  acknowledge  that  that  which  our  Committee  on  Trade  Interests  has 
been  unable  to  do  for  the  druggists  we  may  hope  to  accomplish  more  effectu- 
ally by  co-operating  with  this  national  body.  If,  at  its  next  meeting,  the  delib- 
eration of  the  National  Association  be  as  wise  and  conservative  as  the 
action  of  its  Executive  Committee  has  been  hitherto,  I  am  free  to  say  that  I 
have  the  strongest  confidence  in  their  success  in  many  of  their  undertakings. 
One  of  the  questions  which  has  been  agitating  our  neighbors  in  New  York 
State  and  City  has  been  the  question  of  shorter  hours  for  drug  clerks.  As 
this  is  a  question  which  may  confront  the  members  of  our  own  Association 
in  the  near  future,  I  have  thought  proper  to  refer  to  it  in  this  address. 
No  amendments  or  alterations  to  the  Pharmacy  Law  were  proposed  during 
the  last  session  of  Legislature,  though  several  recommendations  were  made  by 
the  President  in  his  last  annual  address  (who  was  again  made  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Legislation),  and  though  the  Association,  at  the  last  meeting, 
endorsed  the  general  Pharmacy  Law  sent  to  us  for  our  approval  by  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  I  would  like,  however, 
to  reiterate  the  importance  of  at  least  one  amendment  recommended  by  my 
predecessor.  Sufficient  time  has  now  elapsed  since  this  law  has  been  in  effect 
to  show  the  importance  of  its  being  amended,  in  this  one  important  particular, 
namely,  that  after  the  expiration  of  a  limited  time,  say  two  years  from  the  date 
of  its  passage,  every  applicant  for  a  proprietor's  certificate  should  be  required, 
when  appearing  before  the  Pharmaceutical  Examining  Board,  to  have  a  diploma 
from  some  accredited  college  of  pharmacy.  Nothing  is  clearer  than  that  a 
sufficient  number  of  young  men  are  willing  and  able  to  thoroughly  equip  them- 
selves for  the  responsible  position  of  compounding  the  prescriptions  of  phy- 
sicians, through  pharmaceutical  education,  to  fully  supply  the  needs  of  our 
growing  population,  to  warrant  this  recommendation. 
It  was  wisely  provided,  when  this  law  was  first  passed,  that  those  then  in  busi- 
ness, whether  having  a  pharmaceutical  education  or  not,  should  not  be  dis- 
