The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-03-11
1t Is Better ITO Bear the Ills
We Have Than," etc.
| VISIT TO THE PHARMACIST
Would Prove Convincing to the
Most Specifically Inclined.
Prices of Drugs Have Become
Almost PrOhibitive.

Unless the ADVANCE III PHlCcS "
drugs is checked. mail order course
in drugless healing soon will be quoted
for the price of a cough drop. ana II
the war continue another year, aIter
dinner minis stand good chance or
being Supplanted by little meSSnnerp
or mechanic therapeutical treatment j
with the dining room table serving the
double purpose of an eating board ana
operating table.
Every day it is becoming less pain
full to suffer the pangs of every known
ailment than to listen to pharmacists
quote prices of their drugs. At home
baby walls from the effects OF a
cramp that only a swig of castor oil
SINNERS down to yelp of glee compar-
ed with fathers overwhelmingly painful
and outraged howl when the druggtst
announces the latest price of oil.
Quotations from wholesale drug
houses show that the price of castor
oil is now three times above normal
And castor oil continues to be one
of the cheapest drugs on the market.
But the wholesale druggist listens to
a wall from the consumer with amaze
ment- Where does the consumer come
in for a complaint, wholesale pharma-
cists want to know.
Problem of Raw Material.
"Of the thousand problems that we
have to face" says the president OF
one of the largest wholesale drug
companies in the country, that or
obtaining raw materials is by far the
most serious. And the problem is d.
vided into two parts. First, obtaining
sufficient raw materials to take Sare
| Of the demands for our goods, par
ticularly those raw materials that are
of foreign production and more par
ticularly those that are of German
production. The second part OF the
problem Is the price question.
"And the price question can be Illus
trated more easily by a single exam
I'll anranal1ad
raise the price on one of our laxatives-
Because of the increase in the cost
| of the ingredients that go into that
laxative, our company, if it continued
to sell them at the old price, and had
a sale of no more in 1916 than 1t did
| in 1915, would find itself short in
profits 100000 next December. The
actual difference in the cost OF the
laxatives between July l and January
1 as compared with the year previous
was over $4,000. That was present
the company made to the public"
Wall of the Consumer.
Nevertheless, the consumer con-
tinues to wall And cause for walls
with drugs the ills that result from
injudicious feasting. Remedies for
other ills are even more expensive.
| Acetphenetidin, a drug that enters
into various compounds and of which
thousands of pounds are used annu-
ally, is now costing wholesale drug
gists twenty times it's normal cost
Beta naptho1 is twelve times its nor--
NAL cost and resorcin is no less than
| fifteen times as expensive as 1T was
before Austria decided to chastis5
Servia-
Since all Europe decided to go to
war, a poor humble American dissat-
isfied with conditions at home and
bent on going to a happier realm. in
compelled to pay dearly for the trans 3
portation. Where formerly s. nickega4
worth of carbolic acid would suflce,
that amount today would hardly serve
passed beyond the reach of persons
whose rating is not fiawless- 1t takes
twenty nickels today to purchase al
much acid as formerly could be OBJ
tanned for ono five cent piece or five
pennies.
Moth BaHs Are Higher.
Even moth balls have Joined the
highest priced drugs and are now be-
/ ing quoted at ten times their normal
cost. The price of glycerine has
trebled, benzo.c acid is twelve times
above normal, salicylic acid has gonn
up eight times and acetanili6 is seven
times above normal. The price OF
quinine salts has gone up three times:
cod liver oil hoped four times; bella
donna went seven times beyond nor
NAL; ipecac, three times; mercury
and mereurials, five times; couch
grass. ten times and others as high or
higher.
Wines alcohol paper. Irvine, glue,
boxes-in fact, almost every material
used in connection with the drug btlsi--
ness-has increased in price from To-
| to 1000 per cent.