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Show NEW PENAL CODE ENACTED. Result of Work of Joint Commission Named Years Ago. Washington. A now penal codo' vas enacted Into law on Wednesday through tho adoption In both houses of congress of tho conference report on tho bill draRcd by a joint commission, originally appointed in 1897 and ro- nppol.ited at tho closo ot tho fifty-ninth fifty-ninth congress. ( Tho second commission consisted ot Senators Hcyburn, Sutherland, Pllos, Clark of Arkansas and Millard, and' ReproBontatlvca Moon, Pennsylvania; Parsons, New York; Denby, Michigan; Sherloy, Kentucky, nnd Houston, Ten-j nesseo. The bill is a comprehensive, and coherent revision nnd compilation' of practically atl tho purely ponnl laws. The revision defines moro clearly the jurisdiction of tho federal court over cases coming undor the admiralty1 and maritime law; It enlarges the statute so ns to reach modorn devolopJ mcnts as to- now methods of commit ting crlmo and tho extension or Amor-1 lean territory; It prohibits, not only "obsceno" literaturo, but "filthy" literature lit-erature rrom tho malls; It eliminates some of tho so-called "Kuklux laws." Practically tho only new legislation is- that to punish "leaks' ot govern ment statistical information and the regulation of lntorstate shipments of intoxicating liquors. In order that any Borlous error might bo corrected, tho bill does not become effective until January 1, 1910, enabling congress, when it meets next Dccembor, to correct cor-rect any serious mistake or omission. |
