The Washington herald., 1912-11-17
UNCLE SAM PUTS UP BARS AGAINST
ODD VARIETY OF APPROPRIATIONS

and other vegetable ingredients. The
decoction thus obtained is then distilled
and the product treated with alcohol.
sugar, and coloring matters.
Ban ON Lottery Ticket.
Lottery tickets, OF course, are shut out
because this sort OF gambling Is de-
structive Of good morals. Besides. such
enterprises find the poor their chief prey.
Nevertheless, it IL beyond question that
a great many tickets in Mexican. Cen
tral American. and other foreign lot
teries do 1nd their way to this country
through the mails or otherwise. In
Latin lands. whether in the New World
or the Old, the lottery evil always -FOUR
ishes. and reaches out as far a. II can
to augment its ill-got profits.
Articles produced In whole or part by
convict labor are excluded. In most Of
the States OF the Union this kind OF
labor IS allowed to compete freely with
the toll of the honest workingman, but
our government refuses to permit for
eign Jailbirds TO enjoy the same advan-
tage.
The requirement Of permits for i'm
porting birds, already mentioned. is de-
signed to exclude certain undesirable
feathered immigrants. such as the Eu-
ropean stating. which is a frst-class
nuisance. There is In New Zealand a.
species Of parrot which we should not
welcome. called the ''weka-" II attacks
sheep. devouring their kidneys. Like
wise, the government Is on its guard
against certain Objectionable mammals,
such as the Malta goat. This goat Is a
wonderful milk giver and would be
heartily welcomed. but unfortunately II
is very liable to be infected with Malta
fever, a disease dangerous to human
beings
The mammal whose exclusion is most
anxiously desired Is the much-advertised
mOngoose. native to Southern Asia,
which looks somewhat like q ferret.
though bigger. Once introduced into this
country. IL might easily do S5o000,ooo
worth of damage annually. II IL "A
wholesale destroyer Of chickens. a killer
Of lambs and piglings. and a deadly en-
emy TO all kinds Of game birds that nest
on or near the ground. In jamaica and
in Hawaii. whittier II was carried for
the purpose OF destroying the rats that
infested the cane ields. this abomInabIe
little beast has already done incalcula-
Bile damage
Another possible immigrant that Is
deemed very undesirable is the so-called
flying fox"-a giant bat, native to the
tropics Of the Old World. Our bats feed
on insects, but the flying fox is a fruit
eater. The largest species has a wing
spread OF five feet. Such bats are some
times found in fiocks numbering thou
sands. They have regular camps in
the midst OF morasses, or in other Inac-
cessible places. from which they issue
forth at night to make raids upon fruit
orchards.
Keeping Out Snakes.
A special order was recently promul-
gated foroiddIng the Importation Of veno-
nous snakes into the Hawaiian Islands.
The reason for this Is somewhat out OF
the ordinary. 1t is feared that II poison
Gus serpents were brought in and man
aged to escape from captivity they
would in that warm climate multiply
rapidly and invade the fields of sugar.
cane. SuppOsing such a thing to happen
it might seriously complicate the labor
problem, because the work of harvesting
the cane would be rendered dangerous
A decision recently made by the Treas
ury is that a rail OF steel Is not neces-
sarily a steel rail at all. II was dis
covered that certain importers were
bringing into this country the finest kind
OF high-speed steel made Up into the
form of rails, in order to reduce the
duty to a low figure. It was, in other
words. a fraud. But the matter has
been settled by a ruling that such rails
are not rails. They may be imported
but must pay in accordance with the
quality OF the material Of which they
are composed
Under the rulings OF the Treasury De-
partment. soaps In the form OF apples.
pears, or peaches are artificial fruits"
The grease paints and nose paste
used by actors ara not toilet prepara-
tons, but paints and coIors" Chinese
birds nests are manufactured articles"
though why nobody is able to explain
Starfish are shells" Christmas trees
were formerly a Crude vegetable sub
stance" To-day they are assessed at 10
per cent as "unenumerated unmanufac-
tured articles" Statues Of the kind used
by churches and religious orders are
free OF duty II OF marble. stone. alabas-
tar. or metal II Of wood, however,
they pay % per cent as manufactures
OF wood
There are many other curiosities in
the same line based upon trade terms
and understandings. which, rather than
scientific definition. govern all decisions
in such matters. One OF the oldest Of
them relates to a kind Of holy water.
highly esteemed, which Is imported in
quantities. being derived
from q spring at Lourdes. True believ-
ers take Il internally in small amounts.
like medicine. for its supposed miracu-
lous healing effect. One might imagine
that It would be admitted at "a cents A
gallon as mineral water. but not So II
comes in free as a crude mineral
RENE BACHE.