Am.  Jour.  Pbariu.) 
October,  1903.  J 
The  Legislative  Year. 
473 
were  introduced  in  various  legislatures.  Great  concern  was  aroused 
in  New  York  State  over  the  Bostwick-Dowling  measure,  which 
would  have  rendered  the  druggist  amenable  to  criminal  prosecution 
if  he  dispensed  in  a  prescription  the  preparation  of  one  manufacturer 
when  the  preparation  of  another  was  indicated,  and  which  was 
defeated  only  after  the  most  determined  and  able  opposition  of  the 
leading  pharmacists  of  the  State.  Equal  interest  was  felt  in  a  Wis- 
consin  measure  which,  introduced  at  the  behest  of  a  cutter,  would 
have  prohibited  the  operation  of  the  tripartite  plan  in  that  State, 
and  the  death  of  which  was  accomplished  only  through  the  earnest 
efforts  of  representatives  of  the  N.  A.  R.  D.  and  the  local  associa- 
tions. 
A  Massachusetts  bill  provided  for  the  abolition  of  the  Board  of 
Pharmacy,  while  two  other  measures,  one  in  Massachusetts  and  one 
in  Missouri,  made  provision  for  the  consolidation  of  the  Boards  of 
Pharmacy,  Dentistry  and  Medicine.  It  was  in  Massachusetts  also 
that  effort  was  made,  as  it  had  frequently  been  made  before,  to  take 
away  from  the  Board  of  Pharmacy  the  salutary  authority  which  it 
has  over  the  issuance  of  liquor  licenses  to  the  pharmacists  of  the 
State.  Poison-cork  or  poison-bottle  bills,  contrary  to  the  usual 
condition  of  things,  appeared  in  but  three  legislatures1  this  year. 
In  four  States 2  bills  were  introduced  through  the  efforts  of  the 
saloon  interests  which  in  some  instances  would  have  compelled 
pharmacists  to  pay  a  tax  nearly,  if  not  quite,  equal  to  that  of  saloon- 
keepers and  which  would  have  placed  the  druggist  almost  upon  the 
saloon-keeper's  level.  A  New  York  measure  would  have  given  gen- 
eral dealers  the  right  to  deal  in  pretty  much  everything,  if  only  in  pack- 
ages bearing  the  label  of  a  registered  pharmacist.  And  in  Massachu- 
setts and  New  York  bills  were  brought  forward  which,  like  those  that 
failed  in  a  number  of  States  a  year  ago,  would  have  rendered  it 
illegal  for  the  pharmacist  to  carbonate  his  own  soda  water  on  the 
premises. 
A  bird's-eye  glance  backward  over  the  legislative  year  can 
scarcely  fail  to  arouse  feelings  of  gratification.  Two  pharmacy  laws 
have  been  enacted  in  territories  which  previously  had  no  measures 
at  all ;  one  of  these,  that  placed  upon  the  statute  book  of  Hawaii,  is 
1  New  York,  Minnesota  and  Tennessee. 
2  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Connecticut  and  Missouri. 
