The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-10-16
QUE WASHINGTON LETT ELS

really in the White House. Surely the
President is there and has been for two
weeks. 1t is his campaign in very
special sense for he might have been
the nominee if he had not turned his
back on the nomination and said MOP
Nominate my representatlve-the man
who has helped me shape and launch
and direct the policies with which l
have been credited but which are as
much his as mine" Surely there has
been an unprecedented popular approx
al of these pOlicies-such approval as
has not been known before in the polit-
ical history of the country. The APP
prOTa! was popular, pure and simple,
for prominent politicians in and out OF
Congress have opposed the Roosevelt
tian policies i. many insta noes to the
ruin Of political prospects. But this is
an old story TIE election is now but
three weeks off, when Washington and
the country will know who will occupy
the White House until 1912. If it sh all
be Mr Taft, the changes will not be
great for it is understood that some
members of the present cabinet will be
invited to remain and many chiefs of
bureaus in the various governmental
departments will doubtless hold over.
But if it shall be Mr.. Bryan, the changes
viii be great and far-reaching both in
official and in social matters. The
Roosevelt regime has been from social
standpoint splendid beyond precedent.
The President, beyond almost all his
predecessors, is man of education,
travel and sayotr faire. What other
president could have talked to a Ger
man or Frenchman in his own Ian
guage? Jeffetson, believe. understood
French, but not German. Mr.. Taft and
Ma Bryan confine themselves strictly
to English and for the best of rea-
sons.
In the dearth of startling political or
social doings, it may be interesting to
know that a decision has just been rem
dered by the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue that it is expected will stop
altogether the practice prevailing for
years among certain liquor dealers OF
putting on the market the same product
under different names. This decision
reverses the ruling of the former Com
hn ho1A hot J.
fiers and wholesale liquor merchant,
could place on the merket the same pro-
duct under a half dozen different
names without, being taxed specially fol
each.
Commissioner Capers, in an elaborate
opinion decides that any person, firm
or corporation carrying on business as
wholesale liquor dealer at one place
or time under different names, must
pay separate special tax for each name
or style under which he transacts bust
ness. If the practice of carrying on
business by the rectifiers or wholesale
dealers is continued, it will doubtless
add largely to the public revenues, but
Treasury officials believe that there will
be discontinuance of the practice
The question of names and styles, it is
understood, was brought to the atten'
ton of the Department by active pro-
hibitionists who are sleepless in Their
contention against the liquor dealers
In many states careful watch is kept OF
whiskey shipped and the name of the
brand or the wholesale dealer often
leads to the prevention of further i'm
portations of the same kind. When
such prevention becomes effective, the
same liquor dealer will ship into the
prohibition state another lot of whiskey,
only changing the name. 1t was the
discovery of this practice of substitut-
ing names that brought the matter to
the attention of the Internal Revenue
Bureau and causad the decision, which
will be effective throughout the coun-
try.
The District Jail in Washington is full
to OVERLOOKING and the inmates are
pretty generally known that Washing
ton has the largest negro population of
any city in the world. One hundred OF
these prisoners are to be transferred to
the United States prison at Fort Smith,
Ark. Some such step was indispensa-
BILE and should have been taken years
ago pending the enlargement of the
Washington Jail so that five persons
NEED not be confined in single cells and
664-thc enrolment yesterday-need
not be billeted in cells large enough to
accommodate only about half that num-
Der. The National Capital and the Dis
trict in which it is situated are but poor
ly furnished with penal institutions.
There has been some talk about a
treaty offensive and defensive between
the United States and CHINA treaty
similar to that which was signed after
the Russo japanese War between Eng
the United States and the Chinese EN-
pire is, of course, impossible, but mean
while treaty between them has actu-
ally been signed by Secretary Root and
WI Ting Fang. the Chinese minister to
this country. 1t is an arbitration treaty
and its principle article is as follows:
"Differences which may arise of lega
nature or relating to the Interpretation
of treaties existing between the two
contracting parties, and which it may
not have been possible to settle by dip
lomacy, shall be referred to the perma-
nent court of arbitration established in
The Hague by the convention of July
80, 1899, provided, nevertheless, that
they do not affect the vital interest, the
independence or the honor of the third
parties"