^'MS;i9n'""'}     Wholesale  Druggists'  Association.  117 
good  feeling.  Old  ties  of  friendship  were  renewed,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  discomforts  afforded  by  the  Southland  Hotel,  the  meet- 
ing would  have  been  in  every  way  a  memorable  one.  This  hotel 
evidently  calculated  that  the  National  Wholesale  Druggists'  Associa- 
tion would  not  be  likely  to  meet  again  in  Dallas  for  at  least  twenty 
years,  and,  therefore,  proceeded  in  a  cold-blooded  way  to  make 
what  it  could  out  of  its  guests  before  they  should  escape  from  its 
clutches.  One  man  upon  being  shown  his  room  at  the  Hotel  South- 
land, and  finding  it  uninhabitable,  decided  to  leave  and  go  to  another 
hotel.  The  management  charged  him  for  the  day  before  and  the 
day  on  which  he  rejected  the  room,  before  they  would  release  his 
baggage.  Such  treatment  is  not  calculated  to  make  Dallas  attrac- 
tive as  a  convention  city,  though  in  the  past  a  number  of  conventions 
have  held  their  meetings  there. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  separate  from  Texas  the  idea  of  a  bound- 
less plain,  unbroken  by  habitation,  through  which  wild  steers  gallop 
unrestrained.  As  a  matter  of  fact  a  wild  steer  could  not  gallop 
more  than  a  few  hundred  yards  before  coming  into  contact  with  a 
modern  up-to-date  wire  fence.  The  state  is  completely  fenced  from 
one  end  to  the  other,  and  is  dotted  over  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see 
with  innumerable  farm-houses.  There  is  very  little  of  it  that  is  not 
cultivated.  The  cotton  fields  are  exceedingly  fine,  stretching  for 
miles  and  miles  over  the  level  plains.  The  cotton  plants  them- 
selves appearing  far  more  productive  than  those  I  have  formerly 
seen  in  the  south.  According  to  the  natives  that  I  interviewed, 
this  is  correct,  as  the  Texas  cotton  fields  are  said  to  produce  about 
twice  as  much  per  acre  as  those  in  the  South  Atlantic  States.  For 
the  accuracy  of  this  statement  I  will  not  be  responsible,  as  the  aver- 
age native  Texan  is  exceedingly  proud  of  his  state,  and  very  boast- 
ful of  what  it  can  do. 
The  meetings  of  the  Convention  were  very  ably  presided  over 
by  the  President,  Mr.  Chas.  S.  Martin,  who  made  an  unusually  effi- 
cient presiding  officer,  and  whose  ability  went  far  toward  expedit- 
ing business  and  whose  personality  injected  into  the  meetings  an 
atmosphere  of  cordial  geniality.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more 
able  President  than  Mr.  Martin  has  proven  himself  to  be. 
The  newly-elected  President,  Dr.  Wm.  J.  Schieffelin.  is  well 
known  to  every  one  connected  with  the  drug  business  in  the  United 
States  to-dav,  and  his  selection  as  President  of  the  Association  can- 
nf)t  help  but  be  approved  by  every  one  who  has  the  pleasure  of  his 
