AFebr°uaryT^r-}  Pharmacy  Legislation.  73 
measure  and  desires  his  representative  and  senator  to  support  it. 
Even  if  the  member  has  previously  made  up  his  mind  to  oppose 
the  bill,  he  will  oppose  it  less  vigorously,  or  possibly  not  at  all,  if 
he  receives  a  few  letters  from  his  constituents  in  its  favor. 
To  secure  those  letters  is  really  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  work 
of  the  committee. 
The  temptation  is  usually  great  to  send  out  printed  letters  to  the 
druggists  throughout  the  State,  requesting  them  to  sign  and  for- 
ward the  same  to  their  members  in  the  legislature.  At  the  best, 
this  plan  is  a  waste  of  postage  and  white  paper.  Members  of  the 
legislature  usually  regard  such  methods  as  an  attempt  on  the  part 
of  some  person  or  committee  to  manufacture  fictitious  sentiment, 
and  very  justly  consider  that  if  their  constituents  do  not  have  suffi- 
cient interest  in  the  bill  to  compose  a  letter  in  its  favor,  they  must 
care  very  little  what  becomes  of  it.  The  best  way  is  for  the  com- 
mittee on  legislation  to  make  a  direct  appeal  to  prominent  phar- 
macists throughout  the  State  to  write  to  their  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives. If,  say,  fifty  such  men  can  be  induced  to  write  to  their 
members  in  the  assembly,  and  the  endorsement  of  the  local  societies 
and  colleges  has  been  secured,  the  bill,  if  it  is  a  good  one,  is  almost 
sure  to  pass. 
Not  only  should  retail  pharmacists  be  appealed  to  to  write  such  let- 
ters, but  wholesalers,  manufacturers,  physicians,  and  in  fact  any  good 
citizen  who  by  virtue  of  his  social  or  political  position  should  have 
influence  in  the  legislature.  It  is  all  the  better  if  persons  entirely 
disconnected  with  pharmacy  can  be  induced  to  interest  themselves, 
as  this  is  justly  regarded  by  the  legislature  as  evidence  of  the  fact 
that  the  measure  is  really  of  public  interest,  and  not  a  merely  selfish 
effort  on  the  part  of  druggists  to  create  a  monopoly  for  themselves. 
CONCILIATING  THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION. 
If  the  passage  of  a  pharmacy  bill  through  the  general  assembly 
is  to  be  free  from  hard  knocks  the  influence  of  the  medical  profes- 
sion must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  The  members  of  the  latter  profession, 
by  virtue  of  their  greater  activity  in  politics,  have  proportionately  a 
much  larger  influence  in  moulding  legislation  than  pharmacists,  and 
there  is  probably  not  a  legislature  in  the  United  States  which  does 
not  contain  from  three  or  four  to  a  dozen  or  more  physicians.  Out 
of  courtesy  to  the  profession,  these  are  generally  all  placed  on  the 
