Omaha daily bee., 1909-09-13

1Nehta ~ hha AaNAoAAA eApAtA1
Globe trotters returning from the old
world run up against the. sharp points
OF the new tariff law, and there are nu-
merous Explanations OF pain at the land
ing place as they are separated from the
goods or the stray coin in their dimin-
ished purses. Besides, the surgical
operation, at New York particularly, is
performed with what the victims con-
slider offensive zeal Customs officers
are not disposed 20 relax their efforts
in collecting for your uncle all hat is
lawfully coming 10 him, no matter how
the kiokers may feel about IL. IF you
go abroad and buy foreign goods" say
the men at the landing place. your Uncle
Sam must see the goods and clip off
his commission" For the benefit Of
future tourists the Treasury department
has issued a Notice TO Passengers" con-
tanning a summary OF the new tariff law
so far as 1t relates TO baggage and per-
sonai effects. Residents OF the United
States must make the following declara-
tons:
/. All wearing apparel, used or un-
used, II purchased abroad; and shall fur
Their state all further wearing apparel,
jewelry and other articles which have
been remodeled or improved abroad so as
to increase their value.
2. Residents of the United States are
allowed 800 worth OF articles at their
present foreign value free OF duty.
8 They may bring with them free Of
duty ali wearing apparel and other arti-
Giles Of personal adornment and similar
articles that have not been remodeled or
improved abroad so as to increase their
value, that may have been taken out OF
the United States by them.
The Department Of Agriculture's stand
ing question, What is whisky" has been
replaced at last by the query, what is
wine?' and In the opinion OF the depart
ment officials as protracted and bitter a
fight is expected over the exact definition
Of the lighter beverage as was waged over
the true meaning Of the term whisky.
Or. Harvey w. Wiley, the pure food ex-
pert Of the department, has announced
that hereafter wine must be made from
grapes pure and simple.
This will be a happy blow to many
wine growers" Of the country, who in the
hurry Of producing a cheap beverage at a
low profit, have established the system
Of greatly increasing the juice prepared
for fermentation by adding bodily to the
grape extract large quantities Of sugar
and water. DR.. Wiley's opinion, IL upheld,
will also strike at the practice Of chem
ically stopping fermentation after the first
stage has been passed, by means of which
process wine has been put on the market
a year earlier than could ave been done
II natural fermentation had been allowed.
-
People in Washington who daily pass the
treasury building and see backed UP to its
curb an old van Of a wagon drawn by three
patient white horses, do not realize the in
innate link that this conveyance bears to
all the money there Is. They are not aware
that every piece of paper money that every
individual in the United States has spent
or boarded in the last twenty-slx years has
first ridden in that wagon. They do not
know that the sum OF money this wagon
has hauled is equal to all the money there
is in the world today.
The old wagon is a great curiosity, but
modest withal. 1t plies regularly between
the bureau of engraving and printing and
the treasury, always loaded down with rec
tangular packages Of 12h pounds each. In
every package are 1000 bills. If the bills
are OF the lowest denomination the pack
age is worth $4,000. II Of the highest, &c.
900, II is worth $40, 900, 900. One package of
this great value once rode in the wagon.
1t would take a string Of hay wagons
twenty miles long to hold the money that
has passed through this old van, comments
the Washington Post. II the packages
were piled one on top Of the other they
would make a monument fifteen miles
high. II the bills were placed end TO end
the string would be $50, 900 miles long, or
equal to ten times the distance around the
world. They would carpet a road fifty feet
wide from New York to San Francisco.
Their weight in coal would supply the av-
erage family with fuel for $50 years. Had
an expert begun counting the money in the
days OF Columbus he would have been half
through when Mr.. Taft was ~inaugurated.
All these and many more ~stupendous
facts might be cited with reference 20 the
old money wagon. Yet II goes unnoticed
in Washington. and not one citisen in a
hundred realizes that any interest attaches
to II.
Within gunshot Of the White House and
the capitol the federal government has
itself been operating a distlllery. The dis
tillation plant was not conceived with a
view OF evading the internal revenue laws,
yet there was no special tax issued for its
operation. The output has not been Of the
regular ''moonshine' character, and there
was no effort at c~oncealment, though the
approach TO the plant, located In the rear
Of 1858 b street, Southwest. would indicate
such.
The undertaking has not been one for
profit, but for scientific research. DR.. Har-
vey W.. Wiley. chief OF the Bureau of
Chemistry, Department Of Agriculture, has
been the chief d~istiller. and he is going