^iSv/,im?'}         Protection  Afforded  by  Law.  91 
THE  PROTECTION  THAT  SHOULD  BE  AFFORDED  THE 
PHARMACIST  BY  LAW. 
By  C.  P.  Gabexi,. 
The  world  is  ever  ready  for  an  advance,  be  it  in  inventions,  in 
science  or  in  trade.  Once  it  grasps  the  fact  that  what  is  pre- 
sented is  an  actual  improvement,  the  success  of  that  advance  is 
assured. 
The  present  condition  of  the  pharmaceutical  trade  is  open  for  im- 
provement, and  it  rests  with  the  pharmacist  to  present  such  an 
improvement  to  the  public.  Just  what  step  should  be  taken  or  what 
should  be  done  is  a  question  which  is  being  debated  throughout 
the  country  and  action  being  taken  with  the  result  that  to-day  we 
have  an  organization  comprising  the  greater  number  of  the  pharma- 
cists of  the  country.  Several  lines  of  action  are  being  carried  out 
with  varying  results,  the  main  one  being  the  endeavor  to  raise  the 
price  of  patent  medicines  over  the  present  existing  prices,  with  the 
idea  that  the  increased  revenue  would  benefit  the  business ;  this 
measure  will  no  doubt  be  beneficial,  but  only  to  a  degree.  I  have 
never  favored  this  action,  because  in  it  I  can  see  no  permanent  good. 
It  is  a  branch  of  the  business  which  savors  of  deceit,  has  not  the  ap- 
proval of  the  best  and  well-thinking  minds,  and  to-day  is  being 
radically  criticised  by  our  magazine  writers. 
I  have  to  present  to  you  an  idea  which  I  have  presented  to  indi- 
viduals both  laymen  and  pharmacists,  and  it  has  been  received  with 
approval  by  the  majority.  I  favor  action  along  legislative  lines  and 
offer  this  contention. 
Pharmacists  should  be  the  dispensers  of  all  poisons  and  products 
containing  poisons  to  the  laity.  This  carries  considerable  breadth 
in  the  statement  and  may  be  construed  to  be  very  radical,  but  when 
we  go  back  to  the  inception  of  why  a  poison  law  was  ever  framed, 
we  find  it  was  not  made  to  favor  a  few  men  in  a  chosen  business  or 
profession,  but  was  intended  to  safeguard  the  general  community 
from  doing  itself  harm  or  causing  others  harm.  We  find  that  con- 
ditions existing  to-day  are  the  same  as  in  the  past ;  we  find  also  that 
instead  of  poisons  and  allied  products  passing  through  qualified  and 
experienced  hands  they  are  being  dispersed  indiscriminately  by 
ph  -supply  houses,  grocers,  department  stores,  seed  stores,  hard- 
ware stores  and  others,  to  the  detriment  of  that  class  of  men  who 
have  qualified  themselves  to  handle  these  articles  intelligently. 
