278 
Pharinaccutical  Legislation, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
.Tune,  1911. 
from  the  pharmacopoeial  standard,  did  the  language  of  the  Act 
requiring  the  fact  of  difference  to  be  plainly  stated,  justify  the  Board 
in  requiring  the  use  of  the  words  "  Not  of  official  strength  "  and 
indeed  in  any  instance  if  the  vendor  had  printed  on  the  label  what 
was  to  his  mind  a  plain  statement  although  not  in  the  form  directed 
by  the  Board,  might  it  not  still  be  sufficient  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  ; 
at  least  these  are  the  questions  very  shortly  to  arise  in  prosecutions 
recently  instituted  by  the  State  Board. 
At  once  certain  manufacturers  claimed  that  a  hardship  was 
imposed  upon  them  when  they  were  compelled  to  print  a  different 
label  for  every  State  in  which  their  sales  were  made.  In  Penn- 
sylvania, where  the  regulation  required  the  words  in  certain  in- 
stances, Not  Official  Standard "  necessitated  the  printing  of  a 
separate  set  of  labels,  cartons,  containers,  and  literature,  etc.,  for 
every  sale  made  within  the  confines  of  the  State  oi  Pennsylvania, 
different  from  that  used  elsewhere.  To  this  reply  was  made  that 
since  no  other  State  could  legitimately  object  to  this  language,  the 
hardship  was  not  as  great  as  appeared  on  first  impression.  And 
they  were  advised  to  adopt  the  Pennsylvania  form  generally. 
With  changes  so  rapid  in  sO'  diversified  a  country,  with  so 
many  sovereign  communities  there  is  bound  to  be  difference  of 
opinion,  failure  to  keep  pace  with  the  times ;  special  interests  un- 
deservedly protected,  all  producing  a  lack  of  uniformity  in  legisla- 
tion and  diversity  in  the  execution  of  the  law.  Nowhere  is  this 
better  illustrated  than  in  the  case  of  manufacturers  who  furnish 
their  products  to  retailers  in  48  different  States,  subject  to  a  variety 
of  legislation  and  still  greater  variety  of  regulation  so  that  a  general 
law  enforced  through  uniform  regulations  is  a  consummation  de- 
voutedly  to  be  wished  for,  although  hardly  likely  to  be  achieved 
while  the  States  are  independent  sovereigns. 
Some  measure  of  co-ordination  might  be  accomplished  by  the 
general  adoption  by  the  States  of  the  national  law,  then  by  means 
of  a  parliament  of  Pharmaceutical  Boards  to  harmonize  the  various 
views  and  opinions  represented  there  might  be  evolved  a  compre- 
hensive and  uniform  system  for  their  enforcement  throughout  the 
United  States. 
While  this  discussion  in  some  respects  wants  application  to 
you  as  individuals,  yet  it  may  offer  new  avenues  of  thought  sug- 
gestions of  matters  concerning  your  brethren  which  the  minute  they 
do  apply  become  intensely  real  and  important. 
