^u^Tst'  ^gilm' }  Cooperation  as  Well  as  Organization. 
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a  menace  to  the  existence  of  drug  stores.  There  is  a  real  public 
need  for  legitimate  commercial  pharmacy ;  in  fact,  the  service  of  the 
American  drug  store  in  this  respect  is  of  the  greatest  public  con- 
venience, but  this  is  a  far  cry  from  the  illegitimate  commercialism 
that  is  masquerading  in  the  name  of  pharmacy,  and  which  is  injuring 
the  professional  character  and  standing  of  retail  drug  stores  with 
the  American  public,  particularly  with  the  medical  profession. 
It  is  hardly  worth  while  discussing  the  responsibility  for  this 
condition.  It  is  here  and  the  problem  is  how  best  to  meet  it.  But  it 
may  be  said  in  passing  that  the  medical  profession  is  primarily 
responsible  because  it  has  been  indifferent  to  the  profession  of  phar- 
macy as  a  profession,  failing  to  give  it  that  support  and  cooperation 
that  was  essential  for  its  proper  functioning,  ignoring  the  fact  that 
there  is  a  very  vital  relationship  between  therapeutics  and  pharmacy 
and  what  affects  one  will  affect  the  other.  The  responsibility  is  due, 
also,  to  the  economic  conditions  that  have  forced  retail  druggists  to 
depend  more  and  more  upon  commercialism  to  eke  out  a  livelihood. 
The  solution  of  such  a  problem — the  betterment  of  the  conditions 
of  pharmaceutical  practice — is  not  a  state  problem  merely,  it  is  one 
that  is  of  interest  to  the  retail  druggists  of  the  whole  country,  and 
the  way  to  solve  it  successfully  is  by  state  and  national  cooperation. 
There  are  many  other  questions  of  like  import.  We  need,  for 
example,  better  relations  with  the  medical  profession.  We  want 
physicians  to  recognize  the  importance  and  usefulness  of  pharmacy 
to  medicine.  We  don't  want  tolerance,  but  we  do  want  and  need 
the  sympathetic  support  and  cooperation  of  the  medical  profession 
with  the  profession  of  pharmacy,  and  the  way  to  get  this  is  by 
affiliation  of  the  state  associations  with  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  which  stands  preeminently  for  professional  pharmacy, 
and  by  the  latter  with  medical  organizations. 
There  are  many  ways  in  which  such  cooperation  could  be  made 
mutually  helpful.  For  example,  there  is  needed  to-day,  in  the  cities 
and  towns  of  the  country,  laboratory  technicians — experts  in  bac- 
teriology, biology,  radiography,  microscopy,  clinical  chemistry,  etc. 
Pharmacists  could  readily  train  as  such  and  be  of  real  service  to  the 
medical  profession  in  helping  to  confirm  or  solve  problems  of  diag- 
nosis. But  such  a  service  would  not  be  used  unless  it  had  the  en- 
dorsement of  the  medical  profession. 
Furthermore,  the  problem  of  compulsory  health  insurance  legis- 
lation, national  and  state,  is  looming  large  on  the  political  horizon, 
