The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1907-03-08

concerns. This will not cheaper he
cost of living. 1t will raise the cost
for the reason that not so much acid
will be used in the place of pure ma.
pie syrup. But II may incidentally
save the stomachs. The law is being
supplemented in many states by state
laws which will afford the same sort
of protection for intrastate commerce.
The tendencies of some state legis.
latures to even go beyond the national
congress in drastic measures, has set
many to thinking that intrastate and
interstate interests alike must be
placed in the central authority.
The tax on denatured alcohol has
been removed and 1t promises to be-
come a boon to the farmer. For years
there has been an effort to secure re-
mission of tax on alcohol for use in
mechanics and arts, but it remained
for the Fifty-ninth congress to ex-
clude "denatured" alcohol, or alcohol
containing poisonous ingredient
making it unfit for a beverage, from
internal revenue. AS result it is
said that farmers will be able to make
alcohol for burning purposes out of
potatoes in their own dooryards.
The immigration law has been
amended and was passed in order to
allow the president to exclude coolie
Japanese. 1t is probable that trouble
with Japan was averted in this way.
Among the notable things done by
congress was it's refusal to accept and
adopt the reform spelling which the
president attempted to thrust upon that
body. And congress, clinging to the old
way of spelling words as our fathers
taught us, won out against orders from
the white house. The president an
nounced last summer that he would
adopt the reform spelling and would
use it in his official correspondence.
1t was an effort to force the new mode
upon the public, but the public is using
the typewriter in the same old way
The president has punctuated the
first half of his administration with
several lively incidents. There was
the episode when Mr.. Roosevelt and
Senator Bailey passed the lie in ra-
Their heated fashion. Then there was
the Bellamy Storer affair and the let
ters headed Dear Maria" in which
the chief executive mixed up his per-
sonal and his official capacities to the
pie.
And the Brownsville affair must not
be forgotten. More than ordinary in
terest attached to it because the
troops were known in this part of
Nebraska. 1t was a new thing for a
president to do, to discharge a com
and he admitted that he superseded
his constitutional authority when he
tried to deprive the disgraced troops
of their civilian rights. Otherwise
though, his legal right to discharge
the men was not questioned. Tillman
and Foraker flashed fire in this debate
old yet still unsettled, came into the
open for considerable discussion
Nothing to settle it, however, resulted.
One of the notable features of the
session was the increase in congress
sional salaries. 1t was done in a cow
ardly manner. The house first voted
Then they were forced to act if they
wanted the money. They Topped in
their original vote and raised their
own pay. And even at that it is ap-
parent that they have not raised it
enough, if the resignation of Senator
Spooner of Wisconsin is to be con-
sidered.
Much that has been done in the Fiji
ty-ninth congress has been revolution
airy, so far as previous custom was
concerned. Much that has been done
by this congress has been seriously
questioned by eminently able consti-
tutional jurists as to whether or not
it was within the power of congress.
The constitutionality of certain meas
ures has been seriously and sincerely
questioned by men who are entitled
to respect in their opinions. 1t has
been congressional session filled
with turmoil and unrest, and that tur-
moil and unrest have extended to the
utmost boundaries of the nation.
Some of the dramatic things said by
some of the agitators in congress have
spread to the ever-susceptible dema-
gogues in both private and public life,
and speeches have rung with eloquent
appeals which. exaggerating condi
tons, have had a positively dangerous
effect uDOn the huSinaSS Of the conn |