Specify Diamond Boule Diamond Bottles Specify They Build Good Will "Diamond I" Bottles lend substantial evidence to the quality of the drugs they contain. They bear witness to the intelligent discriminating care that is exercised behind prescription counters wherever they are found. The "Seal of Quality" supplied free with "Diamond I" Bottles makes every prescription a striking advertisement of your service. Order from your jobber. Illinois Glass Company --- Alton Il BULLETIN of PHARMACY Volume XLI A. L. BUZZELL, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER DETROIT, MARCH, 1927 Number 3 The Fight. Editorial Comment About twenty years ago conditions centering in saloons and gambling houses got bad in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, and the church influences thought they would straighten them up a little so they called a public meeting for the purpose of organizing a purity league. The wide-open element packed the meeting and elected a saloonkeeper president of the newly-formed league. That is what the N. A. R. D. and others say will happen if ever Secretary Mellon's so-called "whisky trust" bill, before congress during this winter's session, becomes law; we explained the provisions of this bill somewhat in detail in last month's BULLETIN. Later still another bill was introduced, this one having been presented by Congressman Hull of Peoria, Illinois. The name "Peoria" has a significant sound, somehow. In fact, there have been quite a number of significant points connected with the entire controversy. Under the Hull proposition two U. S. corporations would be formed, one to be known as the Purchasing Corporation, the other as the Distributing Corporation. The government would let the distillers operate individually and would buy supplies from them, contracts to be made on a 5-crop basis, whatever that may mean. The Distributing Corporation would sell and distribute to wholesale and retail druggists and the corporation would be required to brand its ryes and bourbons "U. S. Medicinal Whisky Bottled in Bond." What the sick man is interested in is good stuff; he wants the quality of his liquor, taken for medicinal purposes, to be above reproach. The retail drug trade is divided into two classes, those who handle gin, whisky, brandy, etc., and those who don't. Druggists in the latter class are not exercising themselves a great deal one way or the other; the administration's bill, the Peoria bill, or no bill at all makes little difference. Therefore the big fight that was and is being put up against legislation of this kind, insofar as the retail trade is concerned, is in the interests of druggists who have permits to sell and who fill liquor prescriptions. Other branches of the drug trade, and some branches of trade outside of it, wouldn't fare well at all, however, were the administration's bill the one discussed last month passed, and the fight is more than half in their interests. The wholesale druggist, for instance, would be cut out of the game entirely. Druggists would get their liquor (except alcohol, which isn't covered by the bill) from the government's corporation. The State and local associations affiliated with the N. A. R. D. were swung into line again, as they were when the bill was up to reduce the tax on alcohol, and for some little time telegrams of protest poured into Washington. Never has there been a time when the N. A. R. D. had so much power back of it as during the past year or two. Interesting. Various angles of the situation were brought out during the campaign to defeat the measures we have been discussing in the preceding paragraphs. While the government's bill, sometimes known as the Andrews Medicinal Spirits Bill, was being considered by the House ways and means committee, Chairman Green asked a witness if he didn't know that under the Volstead act a large number of concerns have entered the wholesale drug trade for the purpose of selling liquor. It will be recalled that there was quite a commotion made over this point a few years ago, much on it appearing in print. Some of it got into briefs, too, if our memory functions correctly. So perhaps Chairman Green wasn't altogether to blame. Nevertheless his question aroused a little resentment on the part of a number of influential men connected with the trade and it was thought best to refute the charge. As a result W. L. Crounse, Washington representative of the National Wholesale Druggists' Association, made the following statement before the committee: The number of wholesale drug houses in the United States today is but slightly larger than when the Volstead act became effective, the growth of this branch of trade having been proportionately less than that of almost any other. The National Wholesale Druggists' Association has cooperated heartily with the government in the successful efforts that have been made however, commanding the clerks and customers to go behind the prescription partition, where they compelled them to lie on the floor. One clerk was unnoticed, however; Miss Minetia Morger, and she slipped through a side entrance into the apartment building in which the Webster pharmacy is located and told the apartment manager what was going on. At once he called the police station and within three minutes, it is said, two officers entered the store. They came in without their weapons drawn and the bandits opened fire on them at once, dropping them both. One was killed outright, and the other, shot twice, once in the face, is now convalescing in a hospital. The two robbers left the store hurriedly, but as they stepped onto the sidewalk another officer, who had just arrived, shot one, inflicting a mortal wound. The other bandit ran down the street and met another officer who had been attracted by the shooting and who was hurrying toward the scene. The bandit ran into a blind alley, where the officer killed him. One of the customers suffered a severe laceration of the scalp, having been hit over the head by a revolver in the hands of one of the gunmen. A small amount of money was taken from the clerks and customers, but the arrival of the officers prevented a raid on the store's cash. The bandits hadn't got that far along before they were interrupted. nervous strain and may mistake the most innocent action and begin to shoot. 2. Talk quietly to the bandits, if possible, as this lessens the tension. 3. Study their features and compare their faces with those of other men you know. The noting of a small mole on the cheek of one bandit made his identification absolutely sure for me. 4. Don't keep pistols where excited customers may seize them. Have them hidden where you can reach them when the bandits leave. 5. Carry burglary insurance and keep the smallest possible amount of money in the safe and till. 6. If you have a vault, don't throw the vault door so that the door cannot be locked without running the combination. This is dangerous. The bandits may become irritated because of their inability to lock you in the vault, and shoot you or knock you unconscious. Moreover, have a phone installed in the vault. I have a phone hidden in the vault and can tell the operator just what to do. Mr. Whaley adds that "the best remedy for bank robbers is the death penalty. When some of them who held me up got life sentences they only smiled. When there was danger of the electric chair, they whined like curs." Mr. Webster is ex-president of the N. A. R. D. and known throughout the country. He is also a member J. & J. Won of the Detroit school board, a very responsible position. This is but one of many such occurrences, though far more tragic than most of them. Pending in the Michigan legislature is a capital punishment bill, and it is said that the Webster robbery influenced quite a number of votes in favor of the bill. It seems that what is needed in every State is capital punishment. Bandits should be killed just as mad dogs or rats are exterminated. Surely there can be no place for such men in the economic structure. Thousands of druggists who heretofore have been unfavorable to taking a life for a life now have changed their views. Capital punishment seems to be the only remedy. Another matter to which serious thought is given is, in some sections, a partial breakdown in the functioning of our courts. We do not always elect the right men to the bench; in fact, it may be wrong to elect them at all. Perhaps they should be appointed, then they could devote themselves to the business in hand entirely, rather than in some instances so shaping matters that they may feel reasonably sure of being reelected. There is a banker by the name of Storm O. Whaley in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, who bears the distinction of being the most-help-up banker in the United States and out of his experience he has formulated the following rules: 1. When the dread command comes, keep cool, hold your hands high and make no motions that may be Bok Award. Of particular interest to the retail drug trade is the recent announcement that the Johnson & Johnson research studies have been voted the outstanding advertising survey for the year 1926. This became known when the jury of the Harvard Business School founded by Edward Bok, awarded a prize of $2,000 to Barton, Durstine & Osborn, advertising counsellors for Johnson & Johnson for "the best research studies which have reduced or prevented unwise or wasteful expenditure in a particular advertising campaign." The jury making the award was composed of prominent advertising men representing well-known advertising agencies and publishers. The announcement was made at a dinner of the Harvard Business School, given in honor of the Bok prize winners, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 15. Instead of conducting a nation-wide investigation. among consumers by mail, Johnson & Johnson interviewed retailers and consumers personally. A corps of specially trained investigators were engaged to call on individuals in different parts of the country. About 150 cities in twent-six different States in the central west and eastern section were covered. Each investigator was armed with several different types of questionnaires-one each for druggists, doctors, hospitals, medical supply houses, dentists and consumers. They interviewed personally 10,752 individuals; 6760 of these were consumers, 2906 retail druggists, and the balance, 3992, made up of doctors, hospitals, medical supply houses and dentists. & Johnson from these 10,752 interviews. All of the reports were bound in thirteen volumes. They make a four-foot shelf of tremendously valuable material for study and future reference. An idea of the thoroughness with which the survey was conducted is shown from the reports secured in Cleveland. Of a total of 507 dealers, 256 were interviewed. All types of stores were called on; the better grade of retail stores, of course, but also others. The interviewers called on 540 consumers. They went into the Little Italy section, into the workingmen's section, into the middle-class section, and the better districts. In looking over the Cleveland reports on consumers, many names were found that were difficult to pronounce, and some interviews were conducted through interpreters. These represent the city's large foreign population. A dozen or more hospitals were also interviewed, ranging in size from the small Lakewood Hospital to the tremendous City Hospital with over 1000 beds and the Cleveland Clinic. A good piece of work throughout. Much good will result. Johnson & Johnson are to be congratulated, and also commended. Balloting Balloting on the American Pharmacy building, so far as the in Progress. first round is concerned. Here are the cities that were on the official sheet: Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Madison, New York, Omaha, St. Louis, and Washington. Nine of them, and from these cities five are to be selected, the other four being declared out of it. That is the prupose of the initial ballot; an eliminating process. It would be useless to hazard a guess as to which five will win a place on the next ballot, which is to be sent out April 1. Chicago, Cincinnati, New York and Washington-these names seem certain; the fifth one makes a good betting proposition. The purpose of the April 1 ballot (the second one to be taken) is to serve further in the process of elimination. From the five cities on the next ballot two will be chosen, and on June 1 a third list will be sent out. On July 1 the votes will be counted and the city receiving the largest number is to be the location of the headquarters building. The best offer has been made by Madison; that is, tentatively. In a folder sent out to the membership of the A. Ph. A. attention was called to the fact that the Wisconsin university, located at Madison, has a pharmaceutical experiment station supported by legislative action, that it has a forty-acre pharmaceutical garden, an annual budget of $5,000 for research work in the purely pharmaceutical field, a pharmaceutical library second to none in the United States, a drug museum pronounced by experts to be the best selection in the country, and a drug cabinet comprising more than 10,000 specimens. The university itself, it is contended, stands out boldly in italics, having a most enviable record in every way. The folder, too, brings out a thought that will bear a whole lot of consideration. "The amount paid into the A. Ph. A. fund," it is suggested, "will scarcely suffice for a modern building. Even if 75 per cent of the amount subscribed is collected, the amount will hardly be sufficient to purchase the necessary real estate in a large city and to erect a modest building. The association will not have a dollar left with which to take care of the building, much less to support the enterprises to be housed in it. The association should, therefore, seek the gift of both real estate and building, so that the sum collected may serve as an endowment fund, the interest from this fund being used for operating expenses. Madison and Wisconsin pharmaceutical interests are prepared to enter into negotiations with this end in view. The land is already available in the Pharmaceutical Garden. If the membership of the A. Ph. A. will take action shortly, the matter of the building can be presented to the Wisconsin legislature before the session closes. Vote for Madison, the ideal, practical location." There has been no offer like this. It is by far the best one. Why not go to Madison? Viewed as a whole, it will be seen that the situation. is somewhat a confusing one. Three cities in Ohio are after the building and doubtless this means that not one of them will get it. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Ohio has been warring for years and it is about time it got together. Last month we placed Chicago, Cincinnati and Washington in the running. Apparently we shall have to eliminate Cincinnati. Later-Cleveland and Columbus have pulled out. They endorse Cincinnati. Don't Try to Imitate. In another part of the BULLETIN will be found an article on ice. cream by Harald N. Bruun of Chicago, and the reader will get from it one big point, if he is at all discriminating. Mr. Bruun tells how ice cream came into the world and he tells how a number of men who have made fortunes in the manufacture of the commodity got started. Many of them embarked in the business early in the game, and their beginnings were very modest indeed. Others have taken up new angles and gone forward to fortunes. The lesson to a young man aspiring to get rich is to embark in something which is just coming on. The BULLETIN gets a thousand letters a year, perhaps, asking for the formula of some well-known preparation, the idea of some of the writers seeming to be that they would like to imitate this preparation and get into the patent medicine business. All wrong; no legitimate drug journal supplies detailed information of this kind. Not long ago the editor had a talk with one of the best-posted men in this line in the United States, one who has made a million or more out of it and who is |