Am.  jour.  Pharm.  \  National  Pharmaceutical  Service  Association. 
January,  19 19.  } 
posed  of  Samuel  L.  Hilton,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
National  Defense  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
and  Eugene  G.  Eberle,  Joseph  W.  England  and  Geo.  M.  Beringer 
representing  this  association.  Pursuant  to  this  conference,  a 
formal  brief  was  filed  with  the  Surgeon-General  setting  forth  in 
further  detail,  the  work  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  foreign 
armies  and  the  need  for  such  in  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
This  brief  was  very  widely  circulated  and  has  been  the  basis  of 
many  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  a  pharmaceutical  corps  in  the 
army,  that  have  since  appeared  in  the  pharmaceutical  press,  and 
newspapers  of  the  country. 
Shortly  after  the  organization  of  the  National  Pharmaceutical 
Service  Association,  it  was  learned  that  Congressman  George  W. 
Edmonds  of  Pennsylvania,  who  in  his  earlier  days  had  been  a 
pharmacist,  approved  the  objects  of  the  association  and  the  purpose 
to  secure  a  Pharmaceutical  Corps  in  the  army  and  that  he  would 
be  willing  to  introduce  and  further  the  passage  of  a  measure  having 
this  in  view.  Thus,  it  became  one  of  the  first  duties  of  your  execu- 
tive committee  to  prepare  the  draft  of  an  act  of  Congress  which  was 
subsequently  introduced  in  Congress  as  H.  R.  No.  5531  and  com- 
monly spoken  of  as  the  Edmonds  Bill. 
Quite  naturally,  a  bill  proposing  such  an  innovation  in  the 
methods  so  long  in  vogue  in  the  medical  department  of  the  United 
States  Army  met  with  some  criticism  and  some  opposition.  The 
Surgeon-General  was  averse  to  such  a  reorganization  of  the  medical 
department  during  the  progress  of  the  war.  For  the  most  part, 
the  criticisms  published  evidenced  prejudice,  lack  of  knowledge  of 
the  duties  of  the  pharmaceutical  corps  in  foreign  armies  or  a  mis- 
understanding of  the  provisions  of  the  Bill.  Constructive  criticisms 
are  desirable  so  that  any  real  defects  in  the  measure  may  be 
corrected.  * 
At  the  hearing  held  on  the  Edmonds  Bill  before  the  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs  of  the  House  of  Representatives  on  March  19. 
1918,  this  association  was  well  represented  and  in  addition  to  the 
verbal  arguments,  a  formal  brief  was  submitted  which  has  likewise 
been  published  in  the  pharmaceutical  journals. 
From  the  first,  your  officers  realized  that  the  association  was 
engaged  in  a  campaign  of  education  and  that  to  arouse  the  public 
to  the  actual  conditions  under  which  medicines  are  supplied  to  the 
sick  and  wounded  in  the  military  service  of  the  nation  and  the 
