AmAv{gusM909^'  }       National  Food  and  Drugs  Act.  365 
in  conducting  your  business  and  to  increased  financial  returns  as 
well. 
Every  true  business  man  likes  to  have  real  confidence  in  the 
wares  in  which  he  deals.  You  are  no  longer  completely  at  the 
mercy  of  the  manufacturers,  taking  what  you  can  get,  but  you 
can  more  readily  obtain  that  which  you  seek  and  what  the  public 
wants  and  should  have.  An  era  of  more  honest  dealing  in  drugs 
has  been  entered  upon,  and  the  time  is  ripe  for  you  and  for  us  all  to 
get  the  benefit  of  it. 
The  Food  and  Drugs  Act  has  been  of  benefit  to  the  retail  drug- 
gist by  making  it  possible  for  him  to  get  goods  of  high  grade  and 
standard  quality  from  almost  every  wholesaler  with  whom  he  deals, 
instead  of  from  a  small  proportion  of  them.  It  has  benefited  the 
retail  druggist  who  has  always  handled  nothing  but  standard  goods 
by  forcing  his  competitors  to  raise  their  prices  in  consequence  of 
having  to  carry  a  higher  quality  of  goods  than  was  necessary  under 
former  conditions.  It  has  also  benefited  him  by  increasing  his 
standing  in  the  community  and  among  those  who  are  familiar  with 
the  provisions  of  the  law  and  the  fact  of  its  enforcement. 
The  law  has  benefited  the  honest  wholesale  druggist  who  has 
always  sought  to  comply  with  the  standards  as  established  by  the 
Pharmacopoeia  and.  the  various  authorities.  For  instance,  formerly 
if  a  retail  pharmacist  asked  the  price  of  oil  of  sweet  almond  from 
the  wholesale  druggist,  he  would  get  a  certain  price  from  the 
reputable  jobber  who  handled  only  the  pure  goods  and  he  would 
get  a  very  much  lower  price  from  the  jobber  who  was  in  the  habit 
of  substituting  oil  of  peach  kernel  or  some  other  similar  seed  and 
labelled  oil  of  sweet  almond.  This  condition  of  affairs  is  now 
changed  so  far  as  interstate  commerce  is  concerned,  and  it  is 
apparent  that  all  jobbers  are  on  the  same  basis. 
Under  the  law  it  is  forbidden  to  manufacture  or  sell  in  the 
territories  or  to  ship  in  interstate  commerce  any  misbranded  or 
adulterated  drug.  Under  this  provision  of  law  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  has  been  very  active,  and  most  of  you  have  observed, 
no  doubt,  that  the  labels  of  many  proprietary  articles  have  been 
toned  down  and  no  longer  promise  to  cure  all  the  ills  of  humanity. 
You  will  be  interested  in  a  brief  description  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal drug  cases  in  which  convictions  have  been  had  in  the  courts 
In  August,  1907,  one  of  the  inspectors  of  the  Department  pur- 
chased a  number  of  samples  of  a  drug  preparation  extensively  used 
