470 
The  Legislative  Year. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
X     October,  1903. 
considered.  The  druggists  of  California  are  quite  pleased  over  the 
enactment  of  a  measure  in  their  State  which  imposes  an  annual  tax 
of  $200  upon  all  itinerant  venders  of  drugs — "  kings  of  pain," 
"  Quaker  herb  doctors,"  and  others  of  this  numerous  and  versatile 
class.  In  Nebraska  a  law  was  secured  providing  that  henceforth 
pharmaceutical  graduates  shall  not  be  exempted  from  examination 
by  the  Board  of  Pharmacy;  New  York  State  added  one  to  the 
several  laws  throughout  the  country  which  prohibit  the  promiscuous 
distribution  of  medicine  samples  around  on  door-steps  and  in  yards  ; 
in  Utah  a  measure  was  passed  that  restores  to  pharmacists  a  class 
of  business  which  the  general  storekeeper  had  attempted  to  usurp ; 
in  Arkansas  the  druggists  secured  amendments  to  the  pharmacy  law 
which  provide  for  re-registration,  and  which  also  strengthen  the 
enforcement  features  of  the  act ;  in  Maine  an  amendment  was 
gained  placing  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  the  Board  of  Phar- 
macy in  the  hands  of  the  State  Association ;  and  in  North  Dakota 
the  pharmacy  law  was  so  modified  that  persons  who  desire  to  become 
apprentices  shall  register  as  such,  shall  possess  educational  qualifi- 
cations sufficient  to  gain  entrance  into  a  high  school,  and  shall  not 
be  permitted  to  enter  the  examination  for  assistant  pharmacists  ex- 
cept after  two  years  of  service  as  registered  apprentices. 
s  Almost  without  exception,  if  not  entirely  so  indeed,  the  foregoing 
list  of  the  year's  legislation  spells  progress.  Perhaps  the  only  act 
which  proves  the  general  rule  by  an  exception  is  one  which  unfor- 
tunately gained  a  place  upon  the  statute  book  of  Virginia.  This 
permits  regularly  licensed  physicians  in  towns  and  rural  districts  of 
less  than  1,500  inhabitants  to  register  as  pharmacists  without  exam- 
ination. The  druggists  of  Virginia  deserve  much  sympathy.  They 
are  subject  to  assaults  of  a  similar  nature  at  nearly  every  session  of 
the  State  legislature.  In  1900  eight  bills  were  made  law  which 
required  the  Board  of  Pharmacy  to  register  specified  individuals 
without  compelling  them  to  go  through  the  needless  and  annoying 
formality  of  an  examination.  In  1901  an  act  was  passed  permitting 
all  persons  who  had  had  three  years  of "  experience "  before  the 
pharmacy  law  was  first  enacted  in  1889  to  become  registered  for  the 
mere  asking  within  a  specified  time.  In  1902  an  additional  number 
of  bills  passed  the  legislature  privileging  certain  persons  to  register 
without  examination ;  but  this  time  the  Governor  had  the  courage 
and  the  wisdom  to  say  "  Nay."    And  now,  in  1903,  when  the  civili- 
