These opinions are the result of the concurrent testimony of the different examiners, of various dealers in drugs throughout the country, from whom I had before and since my appointment to this commission been in receipt of information, and are fully borne out by my own extensive observation in almost every state in the union.
Without inquiring or pointing out the cause, the testimony to this effect, that the quality Of drugs in general has improved much within the two past years, is almost universal; and a style of drugs and chemicals, and of medicinal preparations, may now be found on sale in our great commercial emporiums, of a quality and purity never before found, certainly not in the United States, and I question if any wherelse. {272}
These are the results of my observations, both as to the remote and immediate, or special and general effects of the law. And I feel that the friends of the law have great reason to congratulate themselves and the community at large, upon the fullest realizations of their hopes as to the good accruing from this sanitary measure.
Those who were reaping an iniquitous harvest either through a desire to do evil for the purposes of gain (if any such there could have been), or through ignorance of the extent of such evil, must themselves feel that the law has worked no wrong to them even though it may have forced them into a different channel of trade. The only ones from whom we shall hear any complaints while the law is carefully and judiciously executed, or from whom we shall hear the plea for “unrestricted commerce,” and the potency of the great laws of trade as in themselves sufficient for the protection of life and health, are those whose prototypes aforetime cried out “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”
The value of their opinions may be measured by the sincerity of their professions, and the weight of their testimony calculated by the per centage of their gains.
I have pursued my enquiries among drug importers and jobbers, meeting both friends and enemies of the law, among retail apothecaries, professional men and their patients, and my conclusions are that no more popular act, stands upon our congressional record.
I have only to add my sincere wish, that it may long stand as a mark of the enlighted wisdom of the age and nation.
The above report is but the general report upon the working of the law.—It was, we understand, accompanied by a second private and detailed one, regarding the manner in which, at different localities, the law has been carried out.—EDITOR.
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