EDITORIAL

REFORMING THE A. PH. A.

Dr. W. C. Alpers certainly stirred up a hornet's nest in Atlantic City last month. We present the story elsewhere in connection with an editorial summary of the A. Ph. A. convention, and in this place we desire to utter a few thoughts on some of the subjects advanced by Dr. Alpers in his sensational address.

There is no doubt at all that reform measures should be instituted. The affairs of the association are not mishandled. There is nothing like a serious crisis at hand. But nevertheless, as in most societies, the machinery has not been improved and perfected to keep pace with the development of the organization. A twocylinder motor is being employed when the mechanism should be brought up to date and an eight- or twelve-cylinder engine installed.

Dr. Whelpley, for instance, in his report as treasurer, made it clear that for several years the association had been spending more money than it earned. The association owns invested funds amounting to over fifty thousand dollars, and this property slowly increases year by year. But if the association spends three or four thousand dollars annually more than it receives through current sources, it is only a question of time when serious inroads will be made into the permanent assets.

Several efforts were made in Atlantic City to explain away the facts, but they can't be disposed of by sophistical reasoning. Any individual or any organization living beyond its income is scarcely acting in accordance with wisdom, and especially is this true with an association which expects to be in existence one hundred years from now, and to be stronger and better than it is at present.

Practically the sole source of income is the annual dues. Of course some money is obtained from the advertising pages of the Journal, but this is credited against the expense of publication and is, therefore, not considered in the light of income. Of the $5 received from Of the $5 received from each member, it was shown some months ago that practically $3.85 was consumed in furnishing that member with the official publications of the association-the Journal on the one hand, and the Year-Book on the other. There remains only $1.15 to pay all of the manifold

expenses of the organization-salaries, traveling expense, section expense, general expense. postage, and a considerable variety of overhead costs of one kind and another. Such a sum is altogether too small for the purpose, and it explains the situation in which the association now finds itself.

The truth is, the A. Ph. A. has been giving its members too much. What ought to be done right away is to cut out the Year-Book. This volume costs between three and four thousand dollars a year, including the salary of the Reporter on the Progress of Pharmacy, and this sum would just about do away with the deficit which the association has been experiencing of late. At one stroke such a step would go far toward solving the whole financial problem.

The Year-Book isn't appreciated by the members. The average druggist doesn't use it. A few of the scientific men employ it, but they have other sources of information that are much more up to date and much more satisfactory. As long as the Year-Book is continued, of course every member will want it in order to get all that he feels is coming to him. But it could be abandoned without the slightest regret.

In lieu of it, there ought to be established in the Journal a department of abstracts covering eight or ten pages. If these were sufficiently practical in character, and not too ultrascientific, they would add greatly to the value and interest of the Journal, and they would act as a very efficient substitute for a book that is no longer demanded or needed.

Another thing that is required, and this was suggested by President Alpers, is an annual balance sheet. From time immemorial, Treasurer Whelpley and his predecessors have rendered annual reports that have not been in accordance with scientific accounting methods If the assets and liabilities of the association were annually declared, it would be easy to see at a glance just what property is owned by the organization, and what the annual surplus or deficit might be.

Dr. Alpers is not to be supported in his charge that the officers receive too much in the way of salaries. Nor do we believe that he is right in his position that there is at present too much concentration of responsibility. There should be, indeed, a greater concentration of responsibility. The association ought to have a general manager in effect, whatever title

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may be assigned to him, and such a man should be held to a strict responsibility, and if he doesn't prove sufficiently capable the association should forget to reëlect him.

He should combine the offices of editor of the Journal, general secretary of the association, and secretary of the council, and he should be provided with enough assistants to do his work properly. Made responsible for the prosperity and success of the association, he could see to it that there was a surplus every year instead of a deficit; he could conduct membership campaigns; he could coöperate with the treasurer in the financial conduct of the organization; and, in short, he could run the business as the general manager runs any corporation that is entrusted to his care. What is everybody's business is nobody's business.

It is not likely that Dr. Beal's committee will approve of the president's position on the National Formulary. It is entirely proper for the A. Ph. A. to conduct the National Formulary as a profit-making venture. The Lord knows it needs to get money in some way or other. But, although the A. Ph. A. has profited a little in the past by the N. F., it doesn't propose to do so in the future. It was decided in Atlantic City to put the N. F. funds hereafter in a separate account. This account will be used for the payment of all N. F. expenses, and in making future revisions of the book the association expects to spend more money for research work and perhaps even to establish a research laboratory.

The National Formulary, by virtue of the Food and Drugs Act, has become a national standard, second only in importance to the Pharmacopoeia, and it is meet and proper that the book should have the benefit of systematic and continuous research work, and that the best minds in pharmacy should be secured to prepare its text.

In concentrating thought on these and similar problems of deep interest to the association, Dr. Alpers unquestionably rendered a real service. His address sounded like one of Hughes' attacks on the Wilson administration. Many people thought its tone was open to seriious question, that some of its intimations and conclusions were unfair or inaccurate, but it is quite likely that much good will result from the situation after the tumult and the shouting have died away.

MANUFACTURERS ARE NOW CULTIVATING THE DEALER!

Manufacturers of popular articles intended for consumption by the great purchasing public have until recently been disposed to ignore the dealer. They have gone direct to the consumer with their advertising appeals. The effort has been to work upon the consumer until he in turn would go to the dealer and ask for the goods.

Experience has shown that this method is short-sighted.

In the first place, unless the manufacturer approaches the dealer as well as the consumer, he is not likely to get his articles on the dealer's shelves. He cannot count infallibly on the demand of the public to get the dealer to handle his line. And besides, no dealer likes to have his hand forced. He doesn't relish being compelled to do anything. He appreciates it when the manufacturer comes direct to him and solicits his coöperation.

In the second place, it isn't enough merely to get the goods on the dealer's shelves, whatever method may be employed.

The dealer's assistance must be obtained. He is really a larger factor than the newspaper or magazine advertisement. He can do more to make or break a new article than can the announcement of the manufacturer intended for the consumer's eye. It is much more important for the maker to get the coöperation of the dealer than it is for him to seek to create a demand by means of general publicity.

But how can the dealer be approached by the manufacturer?

He can be approached through the trade paper. It is just as important for the manufacturer to advertise to the dealer through the medium of the trade press as it is for him to advertise to the consumer through the medium of the newspaper and the magazine. Perhaps. indeed, it is more important.

Manufacturers who have ignored this truth have suffered the consequences. They have found that they were not building up their business. They have discovered that consumer advertising, although it is a good "opener," is a poor "closer." Personal salesmanship is

needed to complete the consumer's desire and to sell him the article.

The dealer's coöperation is the most vital element in the structure, and the wise and experienced manufacturer realizes it.