40 
Correspondence. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\    January,  1909. 
To  demonstrate  the  importance  and  value  of  the  services  of  prop- 
erly trained  pharmacists  to  civilization,  and  the  necessity  of  restrict- 
ing the  dispensing  of  medicines  to  their  hands ; 
To  uphold  the  dignity  of  the  pharmacist's  calling  and  extend  the 
field  of  his  usefulness  to  the  community; 
To  enforce  due  observance  of  established  standards  defining  the 
identity,  purity,  quality  and  strength  of  medicines ; 
To  aid  in  the  suppression  of  empiricism,  the  regulation  of  the 
sale  of  dangerous  drugs,  and  the  protection  of  the  public  health ; 
To  maintain  respect  for  right  ethical  standards  in  the  practice 
of  pharmacy; 
To  promote  relations  of  comity  and  mutual  respect  between  physi- 
cians and  pharmacists. 
This  Association  aims  to  protect  in  all  proper  ways  the  right  of  the 
pharmacist  to  a  fair  chance  to  make  a  respectable  living  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  calling,  corresponding  to  his  technical  training  and 
services. 
Every  American  pharmacist  should  be  a  member  of  this  Asso- 
ciation and  contribute  to  its  influence  for  good. 
In  no  other  country  is  pharmacy  so  handicapped  by  intolerably 
discouraging  economic  conditions  as  in  the  United  States.  The 
absence  of  legally  fixed  educational  requirements  for  the  license  to 
start  and  conduct  drug  stores  is  the  chief  cause.  We  already  have 
several  times  as  many  drug  stores  as  can  be  maintained  in  a  satis- 
factory state  of  efficiency,  and  yet  thousands  of  new  licenses  are 
issued  every  year  authorizing  their  holders  to  further  increase  the 
number  of  stores,  which  they,  of  course,  promptly  do.  The  result 
is  disastrous  to  the  material  welfare  of  the  pharmacist  as  well  as 
to  the  public  health  and  morals. 
For  this  and  other  evils  which  beset  the  drug  business  the 
usual  commercial  methods  of  treatment  are  costly,  futile  and  even 
hurtful.  The  only  effective  remedies  are  those  advocated  by  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association.  Those  remedies  are  clearly 
set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  National  and  State 
Legislation  to  be  found  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  56th  Annual  Meet- 
ing, soon  to  be  issued.  They  are  right  and  enduring,  readily  ap- 
plied, just  to  all  concerned,  and  will  receive  the  hearty  approval  of 
the  public  and  the  medical  profession  as  well  as  all  true  phar- 
macists. They  will  not  in  the  least  degree  disturb  any  one  already 
licensed  to  practice  pharmacy. 
