580  Chairman  s  Address-  on  Education.      { ^ecem^w^ 
can  this  year  take  a  stand  for  a  full  high-school  course,  it  seems  to 
me  that  one-fourth  of  that  might  be  stood  with  equanimity  by  the 
States  of  the  cultivated  and  aristocratic  East  !  With  a  unanimity 
no  less  significant  than  satisfying,  the  standard  of  one  year  of  high- 
school  work  has  been  adopted  in  the  prerequisite  law  of  New  York, 
in  the  prerequisite  resolutions  of  Wisconsin,  and  likewise  in  the 
resolutions,  already  referred  to,  of  the  Ohio  and  Indiana  boards  of 
pharmacy.  This  standard  is  low  enough.  We  should  be  ashamed 
to  ask  for  less  if  we  desire  our  graduation  prerequisite  laws  to  be 
possessed  of  any  efficiency  at  all. 
It  may  be  argued  by  some  fearful  souls  that  we  cannot  secure  this 
much  from  the  legislatures,  but  it  stands  to  reason  that  any  legisla- 
ture which  would  grant  a  college  course  would  not  strain  over  the 
gnat  of  so  low  a  standard  of  preliminary  education  as  one  year  ol 
high-school  work.  At  any  rate  we  should  ask  for  it,  and  then  submit 
to  failure  only  when  it  becomes  necessary  to  do  so.  If  we  attempt 
nothing  we  shall  certainly  gain  nothing. 
In  addition  to  prescribing  definite  entrance  and  curriculum  stand- 
ards there  is  one  other  thing  needed  of  prerequisite  laws.  The  acts 
of  the  various  States  must  so  far  as  possible  be  uniform  in  character 
if  the  best  results  are  to  be  attained.  As  the  United  States  grows 
more  and  more  homogeneous,  and  becomes  every  year  in  reality 
more  and  more  a  single  commonwealth  instead  of  an  aggregation  of 
forty-five  separate  and  distinct  ones,  it  is  increasingly  necessary  that 
legislation  be  alike  in  the  various  States  if  the  conditions  are  to  be 
coped  with  successfully,  and  if  unnecessary  confusion  and  hardship 
are  to  be  avoided.  We  are  to  discuss  this  morning  a  specimen  pre- 
requisite law  which  a  special  committee  has  been  appointed  to  draft. 
Let  us  hope  that  the  measure  will  prove  eminently  suitable  for  our 
purposes,  as  we  have  every  reason  to  expect  it  will,  and  let  us  hope 
also  that  it  will  then  be  accepted  as  the  standard  by  the  various 
States  in  order  that  uniformity  of  legislation  may  be  obtained. 
In  conclusion  let  me  repeat  that  we  have  much  reason  to  be  proud 
and  hopeful  over  what  has  been  accomplished  during  the  past  year. 
It  is  clear  that  a  new  cycle  of  development  has  been  entered  upon, 
and  it  is  equally  clear  that  it  promises  much  for  the  general  better- 
ment of  the  calling — as  much,  indeed,  for  financial  and  social  and 
commercial  betterment  as  for  educational  and  professional  improve- 
ment, for  one  set  of  results  carries  the  other  with  it. 
