The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-04-07
ANOTHER ADVANCE IN DRUGS
is PREDICTED.

Washington. March 3O.-Retail drug
gIsts have been informed by circulars
and trade papers, that, if the war in
Europe continues until July l. the price
OF drugs will advance from 200 to 800
per cent over the present scale.
This months listing Of wholesale
prices. local pharmacists state, shows
an increase Of from 200 to 2,OOO per
e ove prices before the war. Even
at the enormous prices quoted, some
drugs commonly used are understandable.
In short, though the cost Of living
may do its best, its ascension does not
equal the high cost of illness. And the
latter item is going up, steadily up.
The prices are nov from 10 to so per
cent higher than they were in January
of this year.
Take a few of the common drugs
known to every one who has taken
medicine, and used widely, either alone
or as the base of many compounds and
prescriptions. Here is a comparison of
the present wholesale prices per pound
and those quoted before the war:
Antipyrine, $50 to s65; was 81. |.
Potassium Bromide, SIS. so; was rs
cents.
Potassium ammonium, 81. 5O; was 40
cents.
Caffeine, $13 to $13. so; was So. 90.
Calomel, So. 43. was so cents.
Cod liver oil (bbD, SIPS to $3.50; was
$18.
These are only a few samples. There's
castor oil, for example, bane of the
small boy, but he should worry now.
For castor oil is being extensively used
for lubricati2g machinery of aeroplanes
and machine guns. While nominal quo
tations are still given, this is practical
ly unobtainable, and the New York
druggists are posted as paying as high
as $l2 a pound for this oil. Before the
war it sold for rs cents a pound.
Not only in actual sickness, but in
many other ways that the housewife
can testify to, does the war effect the
druggist bills. When she comes to put
away clothing that needs mothballs,
she will pay 20 cents or more a pound
for these mothballs that used to cost
her three cents.
Creosote has jumped from 25 cents
wholesale to $11.5O and $13. And it is
hard to get at that figure. EPSON salts
sold for n ent a pound wholesale;
now it is o to had under four cents.
Glycerine has jumped from 10 to So and
go cents. Potassium permanganent has
risen from 10 cents to 81. 10; quicksilver
from 1913 to $500 per flask; Rochelle
salts from II to SO cents; thymol from
81 to SIP and $l4.
One druggist sums up the reason for
all this in this fashion:
1.-The United States is the greatest
drug using and the smallest drug pro-
ducing country in the world"
Practically every drug used here
from Europe. Now some chemi-
Gals are being converted into ammuni
ton Or gun making, while demands on
all drugs are heavy among the armies
in the field.
OF l26 drugs listed, lib have advanc-
ed in price since the war began. Only
IL showed a decrease since February
prices, and the February prices in near
ly every case were higher than before
the war started.
Coal tar preparations. practically all
OF which came from Germany, are at
top notch prices, and almost unobtain-
able. All preparations containing bro
mide of potash, Rochelle salts, for ex-
ample, are high, and hard to buy in the
wholesale market. For the ammuni-
ton makers are paying 5000 a ton for
bromide of potash, whereas they used
to buy it for 500. It is used in making
explosives. The farmer gets a blow
there, too, because potaah is a basis of
fertilizer.
Wholesale prices vary largely On the
drugs that have reached a top notch
price, because in those sections where
the drugs are hard to get, druggists
are paying fabulous prices. But from
the New York reports Washington
druggists have had compiled this list
OF increases on some commonly used
drugs over the prices just before the
war started:
Acetanilid, 400 per cent.
~BelIadonna, 700 per cent.
Bromide of potassium, ], 800 per cent.
Carbolic acid, (phenoD 1000 per cent.
Phenacetine, 1900 per cent.
Salisylic acid, 900 per cent.
Some of the biggest rises have been
comparatively recent. Since Deem.
Der, p~henacetine rose from 90 cents a
pound to $3.50 a pound; asperin from
81 cents $1.25 a pound; santonin from
81 to $40 a pound, and satol from 80