on Clinton street, has opened a new store in that vicinity. He is of the class of '97, B. C. P., and has engaged E. T. Frane, of the same class, as manager.

Prosperity in Rochester.

ROCHESTER, Jan. 5.-The year which has just closed has been one of general prosperity in nearly all business circles, and the druggists have had their share of success. That the success of any line of business is determined largely by that of all in general, has been clearly demonstrated during the past year. With the slight advance in the cut-rate prices of proprietary articles, together with quite a notable increase in the volume of business, the druggists are experiencing a keen sense of satisfaction in leaving the old year and entering upon a new one, which promises a larger amount of business and better prices.

A Fortnight of Grip.

The grip, whose advent was heralded some weeks ago in the Eastern cities, has moved Westward, at least as far as Rochester. About a fortnight ago, the first cases of this malady were reported by the local physicians, several of whom said they did not believe it would prevail generally. However, it has steadily increased, until now it looks as though we may have an epidemic of grip. Four prominent pharmacists have already succumbed to this dreaded disease. They are Lemuel C. Paine, senior member of the Paine Drug Co.; Curtis H. Haskin, prescription clerk for Jacob K. Post & Co.; Willet E. Post, of the same firm, and J. R. Strassenburgh, the West avenue pharmacist. All are convalescing and will most likely be able to attend shortly.

to business

MASSACHUSETTS.

PENNSYLVANIA.

BOSTON DOINGS.

The Board of Police granted 242 sixth-class licenses last year.

At the last session of the insolvency court, John W. Palmer, of 621 Shawmut avenue, was granted a discharge.

Lewis & Co., of Portland street, are making extensive alterations and have awarded the work to C. P. Whittle & Co.

H. J. Vargas, of 71 Falmouth street, is about to start on a trip to California, and expects to be gone about two months.

The trial of Arthur Hagan and John Chancefor the murder of Drug Clerk Russel will take place the last of this month.

The Mallinckrodt Chemical Company, of St. Louis, has contributed a case of chemicals to the Department of General Chemistry, M. C. P. C. P. Whittle & Co., of this city, have secured the contract for fitting up the new store of E. B. Mann & Co., Woodsville, N. H. The new fixtures are to be of quartered oak. Mann & Co. were recently burned out.

Since the opening of the new South Station, the Walker Rintels Drug Company, which has a finely equipped store on Summer street, nearly opposite the structure, has been keeping open all night.

The Eye and Ear Infirmary is erecting a new building on Charles street. C. P. Whittle & Co. are at work on the fixtures for the dispensary. The fittings have been skillfully planned for the especial line of work for which they are intended.

President Huggan, of the city school board is the proprietor of an East Boston pharmacy. He has presided over the doings of the school board for some time, and at the last meeting of this for the able and impartial manner with which he had presided.

About Jamaica.

BOSTON, Jan. 5.-The December meeting of the Boston Druggists' Association was held on the evening of the 20th at Young's Hotel. The guests were Samuel B. H. Bravo, Samuel Creech, Prof. Wilbur L. Scoville and A. C. Robertson. Mr. Bravo spoke upon Jamaica. He is a native of that island, and his address was a continuation of that delivered at the October meeting. He was followed by Mr. Creech, who took for his topic "Some of the conditions now existing in this country."

Mr. Cobb, for the Committee on Amendment of By-laws, proposed some changes, which will be considered at the February meeting.

President Ingraham appointed the following Committee on Nomination of officers: Reuben L. Richardson, Amos K. Tilden and Joel S. Orne. The Committee on Annual Dinner consists of George H. Ingraham, Thomas L. Jenks and James O. Jordan. The dinner will take place at Young's Hotel on the evening of the 24th.

The Low Art Tile Co.'s Affairs. The Low Art Tile Company bids fair to recover from its present depression, and will probably before long again be on the list of flourishing business houses. It is proposed, however, to continue the business only in the branch of manufacturing tiles, and discontinuing the soda fountain department. The policy of the

MASSACHUSETTS MATTERS.

J. W. Baird, M.D., Dean of the M. C. P., spent his Christmas holidays among the hills of the Granite State.

W. A. Erskine, of Pittsfield, is enlarging his business, and bids fair to show a fine estab lishment, when alterations are complete.

Thomas Burke's pharmacy, at Marlboro, has been entirely renovated since the fire, and many new fixtures and furniture additions have made the store very attractive.

Ernst G. W. Kraushaar, M. C. P., '84, is the proprietor of a flourishing pharmacy on Minden street, opposite Gay Head street, Roxbury. It is one of the finest appointed stores in that section. One of his clerks is A. H. Ackermann, a student at the M. C. P.

Edward P. Worth, Ph. G., Instructor in General Chemistry, M. C. P., spent part of Christmas week at his home, in Edgartown. Mr. Worth is an expert with the gun, and he works great havoc among the feathered tribe when he has an opportunity to enjoy his favorite pastime.

One of Haverhill's well-known drug clerks, Charles T. Talbot, has died most unexpectedly. He was but thirty years old, and since he ceased attendance at school has been associated with his father in the drug business. He was very popular and competent, and his death is regretted by all.

The laboratory of C. I. Hood & Co., of Lowell, was the scene of great enjoyment at the Christmas season. A large party gathered in response to the promise of C. I. Hood & Co. to make a Christmas gift of a war game to all who presented coupons which the firm had previously sent to every house in town. The distribution was conducted with holiday adornments, evergreens, flags and electrical display, and over 10,000 games were thus disposed of, and a feast of fun for the children of the town.

Discussed.

Attorney-General

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 5.-The new year starts out well for the retail druggist in this city, for it is an ill wind that blows no good, and the amount of sickness in this city is proving a harvest for the prescription druggist. There is hardly a drug store here that hasn't during the past month showed a large increase in business, and as most of it has been in prescriptions the net earnings are correspondingly large. The average retailer, however, is very guarded in his remarks, and there are very few optimistic prophets among them.

While the retail druggist has seen good times and is looking for better ones the wholesale druggist is not quite so jubilant. Smith, Kline & French Co. report a large business for the year, and state the sales have been enormous and the greatest in the history of the house, but as to the profits nothing could be said as a statement had not been prepared.

The Business for the Past Year. C. F. Shoemaker, of Shoemaker & Busch, and President of the Philadelphia Drug Exchange, when seen in reference to the business for the past year, said:

I do not consider that the results of the past business year are likely to be a source of congratulation to wholesale druggists in the East. During the month of December business was tolerably good, owing to the prevailing epidemic of grip. In March last business was also pretty fair, but during the rest of the year it has been quiet.

In the Western territory conditions are different. The crops during the last few years have been exceptionally good and prices exceptionally high. Money has been abundant in the terri tory thus favored and trade correspondingly good.

I believe that we are on the eve of an era of great national prosperity, based largely upon our increased exports of manufactured articles. The records of actual transactions in iron and steel during the last two months read more like a fairy story than statements of business facts. I think it likely, however, that the apparent prosperity thus shown will be slow in reaching the small merchant, and likewise disappointing to him in its result for two reasons.

means

First. During the last six years of business depression the wage earners in large manufac tories, notably those of iron and steel, have had their compensations greatly reduced. It is to a great extent by such as this that Our manufacturers have been enabled to reach a considerable share of foreign business. This reduction in wages naturally largely reduces the amount which the men have to spend beyond the absolute necessities of life. In the second place, I believe that the enforced economies which they have been compelled to practice during the last six years have had their effect upon them. In other words, with a large amount of work being done in the factories of the country, the operators have less money to spend and less disposition to spend it than formerly, and this naturally has its influence on all lines of trade. All business is being done on a smaller margin than ever before. Profits must be looked for chiefly in economical methods and wise business management, and the careful merchant is the one who in the future will base his action upon these lines.

The Attorney-General's Opinion. The decision of Assistant AttorneyGeneral Boyd in reference to the pharmaceutical manufacturers' products has provoked considerable favorable comment in drug circles. M. N. Kline was quite a factor in presenting arguments before the Internal Revenue Commissioner, and when seen concerning this decision said:

"I am very much gratified to note that the Hon. James E. Boyd, Assistant

Attorney-General, has rendered a decis ion upholding practically the view of the committee representing the pharmaceutical manufacturers of this country presented to the Internal Revenue Commissioner at the hearing last summer, viz.: that pharmaceutical preparations, such as fluid extracts, pills, &c., bearing on their labels such names as 'anti-dyspeptic' or 'neuralgic,' but not making any special claims either of proprietorship or superiority, are exempt from the stamp tax under the war revenue measure.

"This decision is certainly in my opinion in accordance with the intentions of the framers of the law, and also, it seems to me, in accordance with the commonsense construction of the same.

"It is exceedingly unfortunate that the Internal Revenue Commissioner did not at that time comply with the request of the committee, as it has put the manufacturers and retail druggists to an immense amount of trouble and expense to get a ruling, which it appears to me might have safely been made by the Commissioner in justice to the manufacturers and retail druggists of this country."

The Local Organization.

The retail druggists who are organizing a local association to co-operate with the N. A. R. D. have not met with the quick response to their invitations they had hoped for. There are nearly 900 druggists in this city, and while three meetings have been held not over fifty druggists have attended any one meeting. A number of the retail druggists have been seen, and they have spoken favorably of the new association, but stated that they forgot all about the meeting. It is now proposed to take up the matter of securing members in a systematic manner, and every druggist in the city is to be visited, and he is to be induced to become a member.

Considerable progress has been made, and at the last meeting the reports were quite favorable. The only drawback is lack of attention by the retailers, and when they fairly understand the scope of the new association there is little doubt but that they will unite with those who have already become members.

PHILADELPHIA NOTES. Daniel Chew, of this city, is about again, after having had a siege of the grip.

A. T. Pollard, of Eleventh and Locust, has been confined to bed by a severe attack of the grip.

William B. Burk, the leading sponge importer and dealer of this city, is confined to his home with a severe cold.

George M. Beringer, of Camden, N. J., has remodeled his store, bought a new fountain and made many large improvements.

F. M. Apple, Seventeenth and York, has returned from Stroudsburg much improved in health, whither he went to recuperate.

The business of manufacturing toilet preparations heretofore conducted by Henry Tetlow, was on January 2d transferred by him to his son, Joseph Tetlow, who will continue the business under the trade name of Henry Tetlow.

On January 1st the firm of Miller & Lambert, wholesale druggists, was dissolved by the with drawal of Wm. J. Miller. Oliver E. Lambert, the other member of the firm, will continue the business, and he has associated with him James C. Kirk, trading under the name of Lambert & Kirk. The business has been removed from 509 Market street to 41 North Third street.

Philadelphia has a world-wide reputation for being the leading city in matters pharmaceutieal, and is one of the only two cities which sup

port two colleges of pharmacy, and now rumor has it that we are to have another-the University of Pennsylvania is contemplating establishing such a department, and the reputation of that institution is sufficient guarantee that it will be well equipped for the work.

On December 23d William H. Watkins, a wellknown druggist of Germantown, died at his resi dence on Main street from a complication of diseases and old age. Mr. Watkins was eighty-six years old and for more than half a century was engaged in the drug business in this city. He was born here and was a descendant from a French Huguenot family who emigrated about the end of the last century to New York. He leaves one son.

The retail stores which were decorated and arranged to show off the Christmas novelties are now undressed and nothing but the usual goods kept by retail druggists are on exhibition. Owing to the inclement days prior to Christmas, the drug stores did a better business in the sale of goods that are only handled by them on this occasion. Many people were deterred from going to the business section of the city, and the neighboring druggist reaped the benefit.

OHIO.

All Quiet Along the Ohio.

FARMERS TO GUARANTEE PURITY OF THEIR OWN PRODUCTS.

Grip Prevalent.

CINCINNATI, Jan. 5.-With the new year was promised some sort of crusade by the Dairy and Food Commission which had caused local brewers more or less anxiety. Thus far, however, nothing has been done that would tend to show that local producers of beer have anything to fear from Mr. Blackburn and his many assistants. That samples of beer were collected some time ago is conceded, but the department has evidently been too busy to analyze them or the powers that be have been called off. Invidious

persons have said that the brewers are too powerful politically to be subjected to any annoyance by Mr. Blackburn's department. Whether there is any foundation for such a statement will doubtless be known before long.

The Honest Farmer.

Anent the pure food laws, it must be said that the most extraordinary laxity exists in the Vinegar law of this State passed last April. Section 4 of the law constitutes "farmers" judges of their own honesty in the matter of vinegar manufacture. It states that when a farmer making twenty-five barrels or less per annum shall brand such barrels "domestic cider vinegar," with name and date of manufacture, such branding "shall be sufficient guarantee of its purity." The Dairy and Food Commissioner in his September bulletin calls the attention of farmers to this fact, stating that they can now sell their vinegar without its being analyzed. This teaches us that honesty is only cultivated in the cow counties; ergo, that the "farmer" has only to say that he is honest, but that all others must furnish proof. This section of the law has caused no end of comment among manufacturers and tradesmen who have felt the sting of the pure food laws when they were unable to protect themselves. Tillers of the soil may be more honest than any other class of citizens, but there are those whom it will be hard to convince that such is true. This is not intended as a disparagement of the farmer, but there are black sheep in all flocks,

and the time-honored axiom applies to farmers as well as to other classes of citizens.

Grip No Respecter of Druggists.

No less than twenty prominent retail druggists of Cincinnati are confined to their homes with the grip. Probably twice as many clerks are laid up, and all in all the dread disease is playing havoc in this neck of the woods. A local afternoon paper published a prescription for the grip, and, as they say on the race track, "it is being backed off the boards." The prescription consists of phenacetine, salol and salicylate of quinine. As soon as Cora Dow saw the prescription printed in the paper she at once advertised that it could be obtained at any of her four stores for twenty-five cents, and the Dow pharmacies have been doing a land office business ever since. Three of Miss Dow's clerks were stricken with the grip, and she is now filling the prescription herself in many instances. The physicians are somewhat displeased over the publication of the prescription, which is for twenty pills, as they claim that it knocks them out of considerable pusiness, and they cannot be blamed for registering a protest. The doctor who gave the prescription to the paper either has a competence or does not care to practice. That the prescription, which is made into twenty pills, is a specific is shown by the fact that many have been restored to their normal condition by using it. From the above it should not be understood that no stores save those of Miss Dow are filling the prescription, for others in various portions of the city have filled a number of them.

Oil Boom at Scio.

Prof. J. H. Beal of Scio writes: "Just now we are undergoing the agony of an oil boom, an extensive deposit of very high grade petroleum having been found underlying our town and vicinity. I am mixed up with several of the companies who are operating here, and as a consequence have my labors greatly added to." CINCINNATI NEWS.

Matt Yorston now visits his store occasionally.

N. Ashley Lloyd spent last week in Chicago on business.

Ed. Dehner has left the road and is again at Weatherhead's.

Opinion is that Frank Freericks will make a successful attorney.

G. P. Taylor, of Wilmington, recently inherited considerable property.

George Kylius gave away pretty calendars for Christmas and New Years.

G. R. Kemper, a popular druggist of Osgood, Ind., was a recent visitor.

D. B. Mory, Jr., formerly of Wilmington, is now located at Centerville, O.

Cora Dow gave her friends handsome calendars that cost her forty cents apiece.

William F. Knoomiller has bought out the Freericks pharmacy. He will continue to run his West End store.

Dr. Este Weatherhead wants to be appointed resident physician at the hospital. The appointment will be made soon.

Michael Doyle, who for over twenty years was porter for Weatherhead, has resigned his posi tion on account of ill health.

George Guese has sold his store at Williamsburg, Ky., to W. T. Elrod. Guese will devote his time in the future to real estate.

E. F. Cantler, of Winchester, and H. P. Van Deren, of Cynthiana, Ky., were recent visitors to Cincinnati. Both bought lots of goods.

H. J. Schulte, formerly a well-known druggist, has been acquitted of the charge of being accessory in the downfall of a building association.

John Keeshan has moved his soda fountain to the centre of his store at Sixth and Walnut ⚫ streets. The appearance of the store is thus improved.

Joseph Sands, a well-known local druggist, who recently shot himself with suicidal intent, is still confined to the strong ward at the City Hospital.

C. N. Peters, of Milan; J. A. Spencer, of Versailles; W. J. Ewing, of Dillsboro, and O. W. Wolcott, of Patrick, Ind., were recent visitors from the Hoosier State.

C. George Budde, the genial manager of the sundry department for the Stein-Vogeler Company, recently had his overcoat stolen from a pew in St. Joseph's church.

Fred Simmerman has succeeded to the business of A. Carver & Company at Felicity, O., and French & Kelly is a new firm at Yosemite, Ky. The last named firm has opened a swell pharmacy.

S. P. Campbell, a well-known druggist, has opened a new store at Williamsburg, Ky. The store is fitted up in hard wood and is one of the handsomest in Central Kentucky. Campbell bought his store in this city.

W. R. Fee, of Milford; William Howe, of Hamilton; Charles J. Kelly, of Middletown; C. J. Cunningham, of Xenia; A. H. Bennett, of Mason, and J. C. Love, of Moscow, were recent Buckeye visitors to the city.

A fire, probably due to spontaneous combustion, caused $25 damage in E. W. Gray's drug store at Fifth and Main streets, the other morning at 3.45. The firemen and salvage corps did good work in extinguishing the fire.

Werner & Simonson have one of the bestequipped laboratories in the West at 126 West Ninth street. This well-known firm of analytical chemists have as much work as they can do. A stomach supposed to contain poison is now undergoing examination.

Dairy and Food Commissioner Blackburn is gaining some prominence on account of his efforts in trying to harmonize the various factions of the Republican party in Ohio. He is a staunch friend of Harry Daughtery, one of the leading candidates for Governor.

Henry B. Ratterman, a popular young pharmacist, who recently clerked for William S. Wagner at the northwest corner of Vine and Seventh streets, Cincinnati, lost his life on December 26th by falling through the ice at Laramie, Ohio. Young Ratterman was out skating with a party of friends at the time of the sad accident. He fell through the ice and the efforts of his friends to save him proved futile.

Petty Counter Thieves.

In speaking about the various articles that are lost or stolen in the drug stores a well-known retail druggist said recently: In most pharmacies there are lots of small patent preparations on top of the cases. Customers, that is of a certain class, come in, and while you are behind the prescription counter they pick up one of these articles and quietly deposit it in one of their pockets. Children are the worst offenders in this respect and many I have seen stealing from a peep-hole in the rear of the store and made them return the article merely to teach them a lesson. To the adults we simply add on ten or fifteen cents to the cost of the prescription, so that we manage to keep the loss down.

William H. Peabody Dead.

The death late last month of William H. Peabody removes one of the oldest of Buffalo's former druggists. Mr. Peabody established his store at the corner of Main and South Division streets before the breaking out of the rebellion,

ILLINOIS.

MICHIGAN MATTERS.

G. E. Blodgett, formerly a druggist at Eaton Rapids, is now a keeper in the Northern State prison at Marquette.

When Fred F. Ingram & Co., of Detroit, paid their fifty employes the last week in December, each envelope contained a handsome pocketbook, in which was a silver dollar.

The drug store of Holt & Son, at Fremont, was partly destroyed by fire on December 20th. The loss on the building by fire and smoke was estimated at $500, and on the stock at $3,000.

John A. Tinholt, who has operated a drug store on Pine street, Muskegon, has sold to C. D. Poel, formerly of Kalamazoo, but of late in the employ of Fred Brundage, of Muskegon.

Burglars entered the drug store of P. M. Lonsby on the night of December 28th and stole five quarts of liquor. Charles and Henry Miller were arrested on suspicion, and confessed to the crime.

A Detroit shoplifter named Norah Kennedy was arrested recently with a quantity of stolen articles in her possession, and among them were two bottles of perfume from the drug store of Hurd & Gray.

John Bohlenda, a blacksmith, walked through a plate glass window in the front of Kingsley's drug store at Traverse City, Mich., in a hurry to catch a train. The glass was demolished, but the blacksmith escaped serious injury.

The Robert Keller Ink Co. has been incorporated in Detroit with a capital of $20,000, to manufacture ink, photographers' paste, sealing wax, ink, mucilage and other articles. The stockholders are Robert_and Victor Keller, Clara T. Kosh and George R. Simpson.

Oliver H. Grunow, a Detroit druggist and Alderman, received a nearly fatal shock recently by coming in contact with a live electric wire in the basement of the drug store of Grunow & Patterson. He was handling a wire which was supposed to be charged with a current of fifty volts, when it came in contact with a wire bearing 1,000 volts. Bert Newhall, one of the clerks in the store, came to the rescue, and was also badly shocked. When rescued Mr. Grunow was unconscious, and was resuscitated with considerable difficulty. Both men had badly burned hands.

Carl Hardt and Martin Julius were arrested in Detroit on a charge of smuggling phenacetine from Canada. Several packages of phenacetine, ichthyol and salol were found secreted about the person of Julius, but he said that he did not know that he was violating the law. He claimed that he was bringing the drugs to Detroit for his friend Hardt, who used them in the manufacture of a tonic. Julius corroborated this statement, and said that Hardt was entirely innocent of criminal intentions. They were released on their own recognizance to appear for examination before the United States Commissioner. Both men are extremely poor.

George McMillan, aged twenty-eight, an employe of Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, was arrested December 22d for smuggling phenacetine into Detroit. He was taken in hand by Burton Parker, special agent U. S. Treasury, who had been watching him, and escorted him to his boarding house where 500 ounces of the drug were found in a trunk. He was then taken to the county jail and locked up. He stated to the officials that his employers, Parke, Davis & Co., were not in any way interested in his op erations, but it was a little speculation of his own on the side. He was held for trial in the United States District Court, giving a $1,000 bond for his appearance.

The Detroit Paint, Oil and Varnish Club held its annual meeting and banquet at the Hotel Ste Claire on the evening of December 21st. Officers were elected as follows: President, Wm. L. Davies. of the Acme White Lead and Color Works: vice-president, A. I. Routelle: secretary, John Schroeder; treasurer, Frank Boydell. A pleasant feature of the occasion was the presentation of a handsome tea set to John Schroeder, the presentation speech being made by Ford H. Rogers, of the Detroit White Lead and Color Works. The club adopted resolutions in favor of asking the Legislature for a law to prohibit the adulteration of linseed oil, on the ground that it is used extensively in the preparation of medicines.

Proprietaries.

Decrease in Discounts.

(By Telegraph.)

CHICAGO, Ill., Jan. 7.-"Drug jobbers are compelled to handle patents on ten per cent margin, and it costs easily 12 to 15 to distribute to local retailers in the way that most of them have been doing," said Cornelius P. Van Schaack. "We only want to educate the retailers to order judiciously. As to retailers buying elsewhere there is little in it. Milwaukee has advised us she has her own troubles and does not care to sell here. Peoria jobbers buy of Chicago."

Fred M. Schmidt said: "The wholesalers once before attempted to raise prices on less than quarter dozen lots and failed. This attempt will go the same way. Many articles are unsalable, and retailers are no more conservative than the wholesalers in buying."

Thomas V. Wooten said: "The wholesaler is simply trying to extricate himself from troubles partly of his own making The by squeezing the retailer harder. very articles advanced in price are those sold at no profit by department stores as leaders. The wholesaler has taken a very poor way to correct the troubles which are costing him so much and costing the retailer more. The 400 retailers of the local association have the entire retail trade of the city back of them. The agreement of the wholesalers will not last a month. A call for a meeting of the retailers' association at the Sherman House for Friday evening, Jan. 13, was sent out by Secretary John S. Hottinger last night."

CHICAGO, Jan. 3.-Three circulars sent out to the retail druggists by the wholesalers have stirred the retailers up to an unusual degree. President Wooten, of the local retailers' association, and secretary of the National Retailers' Association, says that a meeting is to be called for the early part of next week to take such action as the retailers deem most advisable under the circumstances. It is the popular impression among the retailers that the new schedule of prices as laid down in the circular means the wiping out of all profits on the proprietary goods and that it will make it all the more difficult to compete with the department stores, which have been and are the great demoralizing influence in the trade. President Wooten asserts that some of the local wholesalers have been guilty of selling to the department people despite the assertions of the wholesalers that the department stores are demoralizing their business and profits. It is agreed by both sides that the new rates mean that many small retailers must retire from the field.

The Advance in Price.

That the profits are in many cases pitiful and the business also on a small scale is clearly indicated by the circulars themselves, which show the size of the orders which the wholesalers receive. The one which stirred up the most resentment on the part of the retailers was the following:

To the Retail Drug Trade of Chicago: Having found the putting up of and delivering of goods by us in one-twelfth and one-sixth dozen lots have been done at actual loss, we have decided that on and after Jan. 1, 1899, all such goods

will be billed by us by the bottle or package only, and at the following prices: On all articles that retail at 25 cents and under, 1 cent each over the dozen price; over 25 cents and not over 50 cents, 2 cents each over the dozen price; over 50 cents and not over 75 cents, 3 cents each over the dozen price; over 75 cents and not over $1, 4 cents each over the dozen price; over $1, 5 cents each over the dozen price.

In order to get the benefit of the dozen price, one-fourth of a dozen or more must be ordered, no part of which can be returned.

Fuller & Fuller Company, Humiston, Keeling & Company, Lord, Owen & Company, Morrisson, Plummer & Company, Robt. Stevenson & Company, Peter Van Schaack & Sons.

The Decrease in Discounts.

The second circular cut the discounts allowed the trade down to 1 per cent as against 1 per cent heretofore.

To the Retail Drug Trade of Chicago: Believ ing that uniformity and a clear understanding of terms of sale and discount are to the interest of the drug trade of this city and in justice due the prompt paying dealer, we hereby notify you that after Jan. 1, 1899, payment for all monthly purchases, made on or before the 10th of the following month, will be subject to a discount of 1 per cent. On payments made later than the 10th no discount will be allowed.

Fuller & Fuller Company, Humiston, Keeling & Company, Lord, Owen & Company, Morrisson, Plummer & Company, Robt. Stevenson & Company, Peter Van Schaack & Sons.

New Rules on Returning Goods.

The third circular is devoted to the method of returning goods and would have attracted no attention except for the other two. It was as follows:

To the Retail Drug Trade of Chicago: Owing to the difficulties and delays involved in the present method of determining the proper credit to be allowed for returned goods, we make the following changes, to take effect January 1st,

next:

Before any goods are returned a list showing sizes, quantities and dates of purchase should be sent to the firm to whom it is desired to return them. You will then be advised which goods can be accepted, and at what price. We believe that a strict adherence to this plan will avoid many misunderstandings, and we cannot accept returns made in any other way.

Fuller & Fuller Company, Humiston, Keeling & Company, Lord, Owen & Company, Morrisson, Plummer & Company, Robt. Stevenson & Company, Peter Van Schaack & Sons.

If the agreement of the wholesalers is maintained there are threats on the part of the retailer to patronize the wholesalers at Peoria, Milwaukee and other points.

What the Wholesalers Say.

In speaking of the matter, President O. F. Fuller, of the Fuller & Fuller Co., wholesalers, said: "I do not doubt that some of the small retailers will have to quit after the new prices are in effect. Druggists who are too poor to buy onequarter of a dozen of any article are too poor to be in business. They ought to go. The wholesalers will keep all but the smallest on their feet."

The Trade of the Year. Chicago's drug business last year ran somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent ahead of 1897 in value and 5 to 25 per cent ahead in quantity of goods sold. The lower figures represent the most conservative and the higher the most optimistic trade estimates available. All agree, says the Times-Herald, that the year has been a good one and that the conditions prevailing in it have steadily improved as the year progressed. At one time during the spring the market had a decided boom. due to the war, but it proved short-lived and resulted in no permanent good to the trade. Prices of articles used in the manufacture of explosives as well as of the drugs commonly most in demand in the army advanced sensationally for a time, but there was the inevitable reaction to

about the old level. Meanwhile, however, the general trade of the country was gaining steadily, and the drug and chemical lines came in for their full share of it. There has not only been a large increase in the number of orders received from the retailers throughout the West and Northwest, but the orders have steadily increased in size.

The salient features of the trade, as described by one of the leading merchants of the city, were the demands from industrial sources, which have been almost lacking in the last five years, the improvement in the number and the character of the orders from the retailers, and the corresponding improvement in collections.

It has been the complaint of the trade ever since the panic that the expenses of the business have been out of all proportion to the volume on account of the small size of the orders. Each of these, it

was claimed, required as much trouble and expense as the large orders of five or six years ago. These conditions are being rapidly displaced by those of the reverse sort, and the outlook is now brighter than at any time since the panic.

The internal revenue tax was a serious burden to the drug business for a long time, as it affected all of its interests down to the smallest detail. The burdens were, however, patriotically borne, and the business is now running as smoothly as though no effort had been required in the adjusting of affairs to the new order of things.

Wholesalers universally agree that the trade of the city retail dealers did not make as good a showing as did that of the country trade. Normal conditions in the city would have helped out the totals for the year, and had the city trade increased at the same rate as the country the gain would have been material.

The Grip Booms the Prescription Trade.

Retail druggists throughout the city are having an unprecedented and very welcome increase in their prescription business as the result of the prevalence of the grip and the typhoid fever mainly resulting from it.

Mr. Bodemann for the State Board.

Governor Tanner, of Illinois, has appointed William Bodemann, the widelyknown Chicago druggist, a member of the Illinois State Board of Pharmacy to succeed F. M. Schmidt, retired.

Mr. Bodemann was a prominent figure in the executive work of the National Association of Retail Druggists at the St. Louis Convention. He is a man of sound educational qualifications and has considerable force of character. The appointment is one that will meet with the hearty approval of the leaders in pharmacy in II. linois, and the AMERICAN DRUGGIST extends congratulations to both Mr. Bodemann and the pharmacists of the State.

CHICAGO NEWS NOTES.

George A. Showers has taken control of the cigar department for Morrisson, Plummer & Co. in place of Mr. Green, resigned.

W. M. Colwell, formerly representing Morrisson, Plummer & Co. in Iowa, has been transferred to Indiana to take the place of Mr. Wood, resigned. Fred M. Burroughs, formerly with Hornick, Hess & More, of Sioux City, will cover Mr. Colwell's former territory in Iowa.

B. J. Linden, a druggist at 116 Oak street, committed suicide late Monday night, January 2d, by taking prussic acid. He was found by his wife lying unconscious on a sofa in the room back of his store, but died soon after. Poor

health and business reverses were presumably the cause of the act. Mr. Linden was forty-seven years of age.

MISSOURI.

Stock-Taking Time.

Festivities in Prospect.

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 3.-All the wholesale drug houses of this city suspended business while taking stock during the holidays; and although they were closed scarcely more than a day it created all kinds of disturbance among the retailers.

Annual Alumni Entertainment and Hop.

The Alumni Association of the St. Louis College of Pharmacy will give their annual entertainment and hop on Thursday evening, January 26. The entertainment will consist of a number of specialties and close with a one-act farce. The nish music for the occasion. First Missouri Regimental Band will furThe entertainment will be over at an early hour and everyone will have an opportunity to dance to their heart's content.

No Consolidation Yet.

The big consolidation of wholesale drug firms in this city which was looked for after January 1 does not seem to materialize. Rumors of such changes have been current for the past six months.

CITY NEWS.

Dr. F. L. James, the well-known editor of the National Druggist, is spending a few weeks at his old home down on the Gulf.

A. M. Pachter has sold his drug store at Ninth and Destrehan to P. J. Ryan. Mr. Pachter is to be married on January 8th.

J. H. Schertzinger, the popular young phar macist at 1625 South Ninth street, has been duly sworn in as sub-station postmaster.

W. A. Biltz has purchased the Goulard pharmacy at 1627 South Broadway from Dr. F. Hoogen. Mr. Blitz was at one time manager of this store.

Mrs. W. D. Temm, wife of the well-known pharmacist at Grand avenue and North Market street, died on Sunday morning, December 31st, after a brief illness.

The St. Louis Consolidated Bottling Works The were recently incorporated for $30,000. stockholders are Henry Kuse, J. L. Hozier and Meyer Pearl.

Dr. C. F. Wilson is opening a new drug store at Vandeventer avenue and Morgan street. He was at one time proprietor of the drug store at Eleventh and Rutger streets.

The firm of Schneider & Grewe, Grand avenue and Henrietta street, has purchased the drug store at Finney avenue and Sarah street, from Steve Bedford, who is going west for his health.

J. P. Bray has resigned the situation he has held in the credit department of the Meyer Bros. Drug Co. for the past fifteen years, and has associated himself with a local collection agency.

The Littell Liquid Sulphur Co., of this city, has been incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The stockholders are L. T. Tane, C. S. Roberts, M. H. Littell, J. P. Tufts and W. M. Enders.

The J. S. Merrell Drug Co. presented every employe of the house with a big fat turkey for Christmas. This included everybody, from buyout boy to president of the company. The company has made a practice of doing this for many years past.

Fire was discovered in the grinding department on the sixth floor of the Meyer Bros. Drug

Co.'s building early Monday morning, December 26th. The automatic sprinklers worked and turned in the alarm. The fire department was soon on the scene, and extinguished the flames before much damage was done.

John E. Schmidt and Miss Fannie Hoffmeister were married in Bellville, Ill., on Saturday, November 26th. Mr. Schmidt is a former St. Louis drug clerk, but is now in the First Division, Third Army Corps, U. S. Hospital Service, and has been home on a fifteendays' furlough. His wife is a popular South St. Louis girl.

Many of the popular young Ph.G.'s went New Year's calling on Sunday afternoon, and all report a very enjoyable time. Among those who did not forget their many fair friends on this day were C. P. Bobb, P. A. Pfeffer, J., H. Schertzinger, F. C. Simon, H. A. B. Klippel, J. C. Thumser, R. M. Gerber, A. M. Soellner, E. H. Henckler, A. W. Kaufmann, E. Trittermann, W. L. Horstman, H. E. Garthoffner, Theo. F. Runge, Chas. Stockhausen, Wm. Laumann and E. C. Bauer.

INCIDENTS IN THE NORTHWEST. I.iffring Bros.' drug store was burned out at Janesville, Ia., in the recent hire there.

H. H. Sabin, a former druggist, died December 8th in the asylum at Yankton, S. D. He came from Aberdeen, S. D. He was not insane, but was so despondent that it threatened serious results, and he placed himself under treatment at the advice of friends.

An internal revenue collector required Druggist J. W. Cook, of Pipestone, Minn., to give up a $10 fee for a little phonograph. It was paid under protest, and the money has since been returned, with the explanation that the law requires a fee when such machines are exhibited in halls for a price.

A lighted lamp, with a paper shade, standing on a show case in Gilbertson's drug store, in Canby, Minn., resulted in a peculiar occurrence. The shade caught fire and dropped down over the lamp, the rim resting on the glass show case. The rim heated the glass to such an extent that it caused it to break in a circle the size of the shade, which dropped out.

A. R. Merritt has been engaged in the drug business at Albee, S. D., but business was not as prosperous as he wished. He became discouraged and quietly left home without saying anything even to his wife. He wrote from Minneapolis that he was not coming back. His liabilities were about $1,050, and the act is attributed to discouragement and inexperience.

Dr. W. H. McKenna, a reputable physician of Austin, Minn., has been arrested on a charge of giving a prescription to a detective, calling for liquor, when the detective was not in need of the liquor, and the prescription was therefore not given in good faith. The detective was retained to secure evidence of illegal liquor selling.

Harold Frederic on Medicine.

The following passage from the late .Harold Frederic's novel, "The Damnation of Theron Ware," though put into the mouth of one of the characters, may perhaps be taken as expressing his own opinion on the subject. The Rev. Theron Ware, at his first interveiw with Dr. Ledsmar, is uncertain whether his interlocutor is a doctor of medicine or of one of the other faculties:

"Oh, yes, it is medicine," replied Ledsmar. "I am a doctor three or four times over so far as parchments can make one. In some other respects, though, I should think I am probably less of a doctor than anybody else now living. I haven't practiced-that is regularly-for many years, and I take no interest whatever in keeping abreast of what the profession regards as its progress. I know nothing beyond what was being taught in the 'Sixties,' and that, I am glad to say, I have mostly forgotten."

"Dear me," said Theron. "I had always supposed that science was the most engrossing of pursuits-that once a man took it up he never left it."

"But that would imply a connection between science and medicine," commented the doctor. "My dear sir, they are not even on speaking terms."

New York Salesman for McKesson & Robbins, New York.

A. V. Hennicke, who has represented McKesson & Robbins among the druggists of the northern part of the State for nearly twenty years, is a native Virginian, having first seen the light in Norfolk, Va., fifty-five years ago. As the war between the States broke out when he was a youth, he enlisted and fought on the Confederate side. He was detailed to hospital service at Norfolk, and witnessed the famous fight between the Merrimac and the Monitor. Admiral Buchanan of the Merrimac was wounded in the leg during the engagement, and Mr. Hennicke helped to dress his wounds. After spending a part of his younger days in Norfolk, he went to Richmond and entered the drug business, taking two terms in a medical college. Like many other Southerners who found the South a poor field for business after the war, he came north after a while, and was ere long the trusted salesman of a big milling concern, where he remained till the firm failed. Then he engaged with McKesson & Robbins, where he has been for nearly twenty years, enjoying the full confidence of the house and apparently being selected for the difficult work in the salesman's line, for he has no route but the country, and is almost a resident wherever he finds that such proceeding is in the interest of business. There are no parts of the country that he has not visited in the interest of business. He has gone all through Texas, and was not so very long ago in the Queen's dominions on the other side of the St. Lawrence.

GENERAL DAY DINED.

General N. W. Day has withdrawn his interest in the firm of F. R. Arnold & Co. to connect himself with the house of Schieffelin & Co., as their representative in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, and as a token of the esteem with which he is held among the other representatives of the perfumery and sundries trade, he was tendered a complimentary dinner on Tuesday evening at the "Arena." The occasion proved a most enjoyable one in every way, and good fellowship prevailed to such an extent that a permanent organization was effected with Mr. Lothrop as president, and Mr. Aalholm as secretary and treasurer. Those present were: Messrs. J. W. Watkins, Robert White, S. W. Lothrop, F. W. Norris, Geo. E. Evans, J. J. Aalholm, Wm. Randall, C. Leonard, O. Neiderstein, Morton, Constable and Niedemeyer, representing the following perfumers and dealers: Lundborg, Roger

& Gallet, Lubin, Piver, Violet, McKesson & Robbins, Geo. E. Evans & Co., G. R. Gibson, Wederer & Co., I. R. Comb Co., Hegeman & Co., and M. Aalholm.

Among the holiday visitors to the city was Thomas J. Norman, who covers the city of New Orleans for Sharp & Dohme. Mr. Norman reports good business ever since the quarantine troubles were settled.

James F. Sprague, who has supervised the work of the Southern salesmen of Sharp & Dohme, has been called in from the Carolinas, and will make his headquarters at the New York offices of the firm. He will hereafter exercise a general supervision of the traveling staff.

A. Y. McRae, formerly of Raleigh, will represent Sharp & Dohme in Virginia, beginning with the first of the year. Mr. McRae is a good pharmacist, a genial, clever man, and has a host of friends in the drug trade.