Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1901.  / 
Pharmacy  Legislation. 
75 
accept  it  are  generally  well  understood  by  their  fellow-members, 
and  the  honesty  of  a  bill  is  at  once  open  to  suspicion  when  such 
men  become  active  in  its  support.  They  really  possess  very  little 
influence  beyond  the  partners  with  whom  they  work.  No  greater 
mistake  can  be  made  by  the  promoters  of  a  bill  than  to  secure  the 
championship  of  these  men.  If  they  are  willing  to  vote  for  the  bill, 
well  and  good,  but  their  active  support  should  not  be  solicited,  as  it 
is  more  likely  to  injure  than  to  benefit.  If  any  attempt  is  made  to 
extort  money  it  should  be  met  by  the  statement  that  the  committee, 
is  without  funds  for  this  purpose.  If  one  such  demand  is  complied 
with,  the  recipient  passes  the  word  along  to  his  brother  pirates,  and 
then  each  one  will  demand  a  share  of  the  blood  money,  while  if  the 
impression  is  given  out  from  the  start  that,  the  committee  has  no 
money  to  spend,  they  will  be  spared  the  annoyance  of  having  to 
refuse  corrupt  solicitations. 
SUBSIDIZING  THE  NEWSPAPERS. 
Another  place  where  money  is  frequently  demanded  is  by  the 
newspapers.  In  nearly  every  capital  city  there  are  one  or  more 
newspapers  which  directly  or  indirectly  solicit  money  in  exchange 
lor  their  support  of  bills  before  the  legislature,  and  some  of  them 
will  threaten  opposition  if  their  demands  are  not  complied  with. 
While  this  practice  is  little  better  than  blackmail,  it  is  usually  justi- 
fied by  the  journals  on  the  ground  that  the  writing  up  of  a  measure 
occasions  extra  expense  and  that  it  is  no  more  than  fair  that  the 
advocates  of  the  measure  should  bear  some  of  the  cost.  As  a  rule 
it  is  not  advisable  to  pay  newspapers  for  their  support,  though 
there  may  be  occasions  where  such  a  course  would  be  justified  by 
necessity,  as  when  some  other  organ  has  come  out  in  opposition 
and  by  misrepresentation  or  misstatement  of  facts  is  liable  to  create 
a  wrong  impression  with  the  public.  On  the  whole,  unless  the  sub- 
ject is  first  brought  into  the  public  prints  by  the  opposition,  a  news- 
paper  discussion  had  better  be  avoided,  as  it  may  and  generally 
does  arouse  antagonism  without  materially  adding  to  the  strength  of 
the  measure  before  the  legislature. 
THE  LEGITIMATE  USE  OF  MONEY. 
While  we  have  deprecated  the  use  of  money  in  the  legislature 
or  for  subsidizing  the  press,  there  is,  nevertheless,  a  legitimate  place 
