The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-20

last session of the sixtie6h Congress are now going into effect, and all of them will become operative within q few months That session was not as fruitful of important laws as some or It's predecessors, but 1t added about 175 public acts to the statute books. Most of these are local in their fia- ture. some of them relating to the Dis trict of Columbia. others authorizing the representation of sundry obsolete brass cannon to various municipalities tor park decoration purposes. and oth- CTS relating to the holding Of terms of Federal courts in various States. .
 One of the most interesting of the laws which has recently gone Into effect relates to the importation of opium. After crusade of great per sistence the church people and their allies wrre able to secure the passage of an embargo act against all opium importations. except such as is intend ed for medicinal purposes The meas ure went into effect April 1st. and is very drastic in it's provisions. Any one who is directly or indirectly . willing and knowing partner In the importation of opium not used Tor medicinal purposes. Its transportation, concealment. or sale, is made liable to . fne of not more than i've thousand dollars nor less than nifty. or tmpris- onmert not to exceed two years. or both. Fprthermore. the person who is caught with the goods on him" 10 to be assumed guilty unless he can es- tabIish his innocence.
 There are . number of new laws with reference to the public lands of the nation. One of these provides that where . company agreed to build . railroad in exchange for public land a ha No ur sf n ff0 fth the act authorizing such agreement all right and title thereto shall end, and the government resume owner ship. Where these lands have been sold by the government subject to the prior claims of the railroads, the new law provides that it's operation shall free them from the cloud of any such prior claim. Another land law provides for the enlargement of the homestead in certain localities to s2o acres instead of 1so This is done to encourage the settlement of the less desirable lands of the public domain There are millions of acres of this do- main where the gift of i6o acres would not sufice to bring actual settlers. With the 320-acre provision it Is be. lieved that even these remnants of the great American desert will be rap idly transformed into lands flowing Witu Hihe anu uohSs VI RtopfStS~s agriculture.
 Another land law relates to the Canal Zone, and authorizes the leasing of the government lands there to bona fide settlers for period of twenty-five years. The government retains all mineral, gas. and oil rights in the lands to be leased. While the lands along the line of the canal are not le- sirabie for settlement. when one gets Aa~~ ~~atra Aa.t t<e -N... finds fine tablelands covered with Q wealth of grass as good for grazing as the finest blue grass of Kentucky. Whether a twenty-five year lease will be a sufficient inducement to fill up the outlying districts of the Canal Zone with Americans remains to be seen. Another new law, now effective. gives hornesteaders' the right to pre- vent prospecting for coal or other de- posits unless the prospector gives the necessary indemnifying security to prevent loss to the homesteader through prospecting work. The law gives homesteaders the right to mine coal for domestic consumption until such times as this right Is sold by the government.
 The days of the outlaw on the Mis- sfssippi river are numbered. For many years the unsettled condition of the river boundaries between the States of Mississippi and Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, and Tennes- see and Arixansas. has served te put a twilight zone" along the river, which has proven as effective a protection for criminals as any ancient city sof refuge. Congress has now given the consent the constitution requires for permitting these States to determine for themselves the question of 3uris- diction over this territory, and the States will speedily act under this au. thority.
 On the first day of next July the new copyright law will go into effect, This act amends the existing law in a number of particulars. especially with reference to canned music" and con solidates the various acts relating to copyrights into one Homogeneous law. The Register of Copyrights has copies of the new law for Eratuitous distri- button to all parties interested
 The railroads are required to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and noth- ing but the truth hereafter in the keeping of their records. A new amendment to the Interstate Commerce acts set forth that any one who will fully makes false entry in any mem orandum or record kept by a carrier. or who shall wilfuliy destroy. mutilate. alter. or by any means falsify such records or memoranda. or who shall fail to make full. true. and correct accounts of all transactions, shall be punished with heavy fine or jail sentence. or both.
 It has been reported that the disease known as trachoma. or granular eye lids, has been spreading rapidly among the Indians. To check this trouble Congress appropriated si2.ooo. placing it in the hands of the Com missioner of Indian Affairs, for the immediate investigation and treatment of the disease and to check its spread.
 Porto Rican bay rum gets hard bit in a law which went Into effect some two months ago. It is provided in that law that bay rum or any other comm modity containing alcohol. when coming from Porto Rico, shall pay an internal revenue tax of sl.lo per proof gallon. Another law provides that whenever there are any books in the Library of the Treasury Department for which the Secretary of the Treas urw thinks there will be no further use, he may transfer them to the life saving stations of the United States. The law seems to be a good one in It's aims, but the character of the books which will be so transferred does not promise to give any especially thrill ing entertainment to the noble band of life savers. Government reports probably will constitute the bulk of the books so transferred.
 A law that has made more angry Congressmen than anything else ever put on the statute books Is one relat- Ing to the distribution of government documents and books ordered to be printed by the Sixtieth Congress Al-I