Aljanu°aUry  ^i™'  ^  National  Pharmaceutical  Service  Association.  49 
gaged  in  the  government  service  is  established.  This  necessity  has 
long  been  recognized  by  some  and  is  now  understood  and  demanded 
by  more  of  our  people  than  ever  before.  The  American  people 
expect  that  their  soldiers  and  sailors  shall  be  given  efficient  medical 
attention,  comparable  at  least  with  that  which  they  received  while 
in  civil  life  and  the  increasing  current  of  public  sentiment  to  secure 
this  end  is  marked  and  is  a  welcome  indication  of  the  progress  of 
the  propaganda  and  that  our  campaign  of  education  has  not  been 
futile. 
Every  educational  movement  must  be  continued  throughout  a 
number  of  years  before  definite  results  are  obtained  and  we  may 
now  consider  that  we  are  entering  the  second  stage  of  our  campaign. 
We  recall  that  the  Food  and  Drug  Act  became  a  law  only  after  the 
agitation  of  a  well-organized  movement  had  been  carried  on  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  Of  the  final  results  of  our  efforts  in  behalf  of 
a  pharmaceutical  corps  in  the  U.  S.  Army  there  can  be  no  doubt  as 
our  aims  are  along  the  lines  of  modern  medical  classification  and 
scientific  military  progress  that  have  already  been  adopted  by  most 
of  the  progressive  nations. 
The  prospects  for  the  enactment  of  a  law  embodying  the  prin- 
ciples contended  for  in  the  Edmonds  Bill  are  brighter  than  ever 
before.  Even  though  the  Edmonds  Bill  has  not  been  brought  out 
of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  and  in  deference  to  the  wish 
of  the  previous  Surgeon-General  has  not  been  acted  upon,  we  know 
that  many  prominent  and  influential  members  of  Congress  have  ex- 
pressed themselves  as  favorable  to  the  objects  advocated  and  we 
believe  that  we  are  fully  warranted  in  our  opinion  that  the  senti- 
ment in  this  branch  was  so  strong  that  the  Bill  would  have  passed 
the  House  if  it  had  been  voted  upon. 
Now  that  the  war  is  over,  the  objection  of  the  former  Surgeon- 
General  to  a  reorganization  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army 
no  longer  can  hold.  It  is  becoming  more  apparent  that  the  attitude 
of  that  department  was  due  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  desires  of 
pharmacy  and  the  purposes  that  a  pharmaceutical  corps  in  the  army 
should  serve  and  it  is  an  important  part  of  the  duty  of  your  officers 
and  executive  committee  to  explain  away  all  grounds  for  such  a  lack 
of  appreciation  of  the  services  that  pharmacy  can  and  will  render  the 
Medical  Department  of  the  Army  if  opportunity  be  afforded. 
The  reorganization  of  the  Army  and  of  its  Medical  Department 
is  sure  to  receive  the  early  consideration  of  Congress  and  in  any 
