BAN THE SOCIETY BISCUIT

According to a list, compiled by the New York World, of current laws proposed in state legislatures, the republic is being safeguarded from every possible angle; adopting the methods of modern medicine, the eager solons are not content to wait for trouble to appear but plan to nip it in the budnay, in the very seed, before it is visible to the untrained eye. Thus Senator Beaver of Oklahoma would make it illegal in that state to "circulate" biscuits--apparently a quaint native custom--of less than three inches in diameter and one inch in thickness. "The society biscuit," he warns grimly, "in the curse of the age."

Grizzled old warrior that he undoubtedly is, Senator Beaver has been almost equalled in zeal by some of his contemporaries. In Kansas there is a proposed law against mince pie, and in Oregon a move has been made against posters showing "handsome, attractive young men engaged in smoking", and thus tempting the youth of the state to do likewise.

When the people are aroused to these evils--it is only a question of education--and the bills are passed, the new laws will be found hard to enforce. Mince pie, in Kansas as elsewhere, is often so disguised as to make detection difficult. In Oregon, the law could be easily rendered impotent in its intended purpose by showing cigarette posters of attractive young girls in the act of smoking. But the biscuit squad of Oklahoma will have the hardest task. Armed with tape-lines, they must enter every kitchen in the state and make sure that no "society biscuits" are being made. It will be a job for heroes--or state legislators.