530  Cooperation  as  Well  as  Organization.  {Ar\J^ 
This  paper  was  hurriedly  written  in  order  to  fulfil  a  promise, 
but  the  writer  believes  it  conveys  a  message  which  the  members  of 
the  association  can  discuss  with  profit  to  themselves,  the  association, 
and  pharmacists  generally. 
COOPERATION  AS  WELL  AS  ORGANIZATION.1 
By  J.  W.  England,  Ph.M., 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 
What  is  most  needed  to-day  in  American  pharmacy  is  unity  of 
effort — not  only  better  national  organization,  not  only  better  state 
organization,  but  also  better  national  and  state  cooperation. 
The  state  bodies  can  and  do  take  care  of  state  interests,  and  suc- 
cessfully, but  there  are  many  questions  of  state  interest  that  are  of 
national  importance,  and  many  of  national  importance  that  are  of 
state  interest.  In  other  words,  the  interests  of  each  are  the  interests 
of  both ;  they  are  interdependent. 
The  wonderful  success  of  the  American  Medical  Association  as 
the  spokesman  of  American  Medicine  has  been  due  to  its  recognition 
of  the  vital  importance  of  national  and  state  affiliation,  and  to  its 
campaigns  of  publicity,  both  professionally  and  to  the  general  pub- 
lic ;  and  American  pharmacy  may  well  profit  by  its  example. 
The  mainspring  of  pharmacy  is  the  profession  of  pharmacy. 
Eliminate  this  from  the  drug  store  and  it  becomes  a  drugless  drug 
store. 
During  the  past  fifty  years,  the  American  drug  store  has  under- 
gone a  radical  change,  and  rightly  or  wrongly,  commercial  pharmacy 
has  become  its  dominant  feature. 
But  there  are  two  kinds  of  commercial  pharmacy — a  legitimate 
kind  which  consists  in  the  buying  and  selling  of  drugs  and  such  side 
lines  as  reasonably  relate  to  pharmacy,  and  an  illegitimate  kind  which 
consists  in  the  buying  and  selling  of  almost  any  class  of  merchandise 
that  brings  money  into  the  till,  the  pharmacy  end  of  the  business 
being  simply  incidental. 
It  is  this  trend  toward  illegitimate  commercial  pharmacy — 
towards  commercialism,  pure  and  simple — that  is  rapidly  becoming 
1  Presented  at  annual  meeting  of  Pennsylvania  Pharmaceutical  Associa- 
tion, June,  1919. 
