3°4 
National  Food  and  Drugs  Act. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharttl. 
|     August,  ,1909. 
kind  of  drugs  and  chemicals  placed  on  the  market.  Because  of 
competition  with  unscrupulous  dealers,  the  man  who  wished  to 
carry  on  his  business  with  clean  hands  was  either  forced  to  adopt 
the  tactics  of  the  unscrupulous  or  go  to  the  wall.  Those  who  wished 
to  conduct  business  in  clean  fashion  were  in  the  majority,  but  it 
took  only  a  few,  who  were  willing  and  ready  to  adopt  dishonest 
tactics,  to  create  havoc  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  wished  to  be 
honest.  Just  so  long  as  there  was  no  restraining  hand,  adulteration 
of  drugs  was  profitable  and  easy,  but  now  the  Government  has  a 
powerful  weapon  in  hand  to  protect  the  honest  man  conducting  his 
business  in  a  decent,  reputable  fashion.  As  a  result,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  the  business  integrity  of  the  honest  wholesale  and 
retail  druggists  is  protected.  If  for  no  other  reason,  the  law  has 
been  well  worth  while.  The  dishonest  we  still  have  with  us,  and  it 
will  be  many  years  before  the  millennium,  but  the  haling  into  court 
of  some  of  these  adulterators  and  "  misbranders  "  is  having  a  whole- 
some effect.  It  is  of  interest  to  know  that  after  the  passage  of  this 
law  some  concerns  practically  went  out  of  business  of  their  own 
volition.  This  is  certainly  a  wholesome  result,  for  it  was  not  the 
legitimate  business  that  thus  suspended,  but  the  business  whose 
very  existence  was  based  on  fraud. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  argue  pro  and  con,  whether  a  high  class 
article,  with  merit  back  of  it,  has,  everything  else  being  equal,  a 
better  chance  in  the  business  world  than  one  lacking  in  such  quali- 
ties. If  there  is  one  place  where  merit  is  appreciated  it  is  in  drugs, 
as  the  use  of  no  other  class  of  articles  so  affects  the  home.  The 
physician  gives  his  medicines  with  the  expectation  that  they  are 
of  a  certain  potency,  and  he  expects  certain  results.  If  the  results 
are  not  obtained  because  the  drugs  used  are  adulterated,  it  may  be  a 
matter  of  life  or  death.  The  refinements  of  prescription  filling, 
where  the  slightest  variation  from  the  standard  worked  out  by 
learned  and  painstaking  experimenters  through  many  years  is  very 
objectionable,  demand  that  the  retail  druggist  be  supplied  with 
pure  drugs  and  standard  preparations.  Nothing  can  more  seriously 
threaten  the  health  of  the  people  than  an  unsafe,  substandard  drug 
supply.  Under  the  pure  food  and  drugs  law  you  are  able  to  obtain 
much  more  readily  drugs  of  known  potency.  This  places  your 
business  on  a  much  more  substantial  basis.  It  increases  the  con- 
fidence of  the  practicing  physician  as  well  as  of  the  laity  in  your 
wares,  and  ultimately  it  will  lead  to  increased  personal  satisfaction 
