Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
November,  1906.  / 
Phar  maceu  tic  a  I  Meeting, 
523 
I  hold  that  the  proprietor  and  his  clerks  are  as  much  entitled  to  the  Seventh 
Day  rest  as  any  other  body  of  men  and  there  can  be  no  demonstration  to  prove 
that  they  are  different  beings  either  in  the  peculiar  character  of  their  mentality, 
in  their  moral  make-up,  or  in  the  physical  constitution  of  their  bodies.  I  be- 
lieve that  it  is  possible  to  conduct  our  business  successfully  by  limiting  the 
duties  on  Sunday  to  works  of  necessity  or  mercy  and  abridging  the  hours, 
of  labor  so  as  to  give  both  the  proprietor  and  clerk  ample  time  for  rest  and 
attendance  at  a  house  of  worship  if  they  so  elect. 
Two  questions  will  no  doubt  arise  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  somewhat 
sceptical  of  the  "  Sunday-Rest  Movement "  and  the  first  one  might  be  this: 
If  the  Sunday-rest  movement  is  such  an  excellent  one  why  has  it  not  been 
adopted  long  ago  ? 
The  query  seems  almost  superfluous,  but  may  be  answered  by  saying  : 
(1)  That  we  do  not  know  how  to  start. 
(2)  That  we  have  a  natural  fear  that  our  business  may  slip  away  from  us  ; 
and  no  man  wants  to  fast. 
(3)  We  are  too  much  used  to  the  old  way. 
(4)  We  ourselves  are  unwilling  to  start  unless  our  competitor  will  do  the 
same. 
(5)  Some  of  us  at  least  fight  Sunday  closing  from  pure  mercenary  reasons. 
This  is  especially  true  of  druggists  who  have  a  large  Sunday  soda  and  cigar 
trade  and  more  particularly  of  men  whose  income  is  increased  upon  that  day 
because  his  neighbor  refuses  to  sell  such  commodities  on  Sunday. 
The  second  question  that  might  be  asked  is  1 '  Would  the  proprietors  and 
clerks  welcome  such  an  abridgment  of  their  labors?  " 
Three  years  ago  Mr.  J.  G.  Bone,  of  Scranton,  introduced  a  resolution,  at  the 
annual  convention  of  the  N.  A.R.D.  at  St.  Louis,  that  was  unanimously  accepted; 
the  following  year  it  was  again  reaffirmed  and  this  year  the  same  welcome 
victory  was  accorded  it  upon  its  re-presentation. 
Would  the  druggists  welcome  Sunday  rest  ?    Surely  yes. 
Another  letter  bearing  on  the  same  subject  was  received  from 
Mr.  J.  H.  Redsecker,  Lebanon,  Pa.,  who,  in  sending  his  regrets,  said, 
in  part : 
We  have  long  since  taken  up  the  question  of  shorter  hours,  in  a  practical 
way,  and  close  our  store  at  9  o'clock.  I  should,  however,  be  willing  to  do  as 
other  merchants  in  our  town  do,  close  our  store  every  evening  at  6  o'clock, 
except  Monday  and  Saturday  evenings.  With  a  view  of  learning  whether  or 
not  it  was  profitable  to  keep  open  even  this  late  every  evening  (9  o'clock), 
we  made  a  series  of  observations  several  years  ago,  and  found  that  on  nights 
when  other  business  places  were  closed  the  increase  in  business  in  our  store, 
between  the  hours  of  6  and  9,  was  only  about  7  per  cent,  on  the  day's  sales, 
while  on  Monday  and  Saturday  evenings,  when  the  other  stores  in  town  were 
open  until  9  o'clock,  the  increase  was  very  much  larger  ;  some  40  per  cent,  of 
the  day's  sales. 
Sunday  closing  has  also  been  adjusted.  We  have  adopted  hours  of  our  own. 
From  9  to  10.30,  from  12  to  1.30,  and  from  5  to  7  in  the  evening  with  one 
