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THE AT L ANTI AN 5 The Sixty-Second Congress will Come to an End March 4 The closing session of the Sixty-second Congress meets on Mon day, December 2, and it comes to an end on March 4, when the new president will be inaugurated. Its principal business will be the pas sage of appropriation bills. Such bills involve large questions of public policy, quite apart from the amounts of treasury money that they grant. Through the work of Dr. Cleveland and the Commission on Economy and Efficiency, the departments will present their esti mates in much better shape than heretofore. President Taft has be come interested in the plan of putting our estimates of income and expenditure in something like the form of an English budget as pre sented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Twenty- four years ago, Woodrow Wilson was strongly and clearly advocating that idea, and there is no reason to think that his convictions have changed. We are likely, therefore, to move steadily in the direction of a mere scientific plan of raising the national income and a more practical and economical way of expending it. As for the imme diate work of Congress, apart from the appropriation bills, we may expect to have tariff revision postponed, and also such questions as federal incorporation and changes in the Sherman Anti-Trust law. Whether or not the inquiries of the Clapp committee regarding cam paign contributions will lead to changes in the law, cannot be conjec tured. At least we have made gains in the direction of publicity; and the methods of financing campaigns employed this year by the Democratic Committee, those that the Progressive are working out, and those the Socialists have for a number of years been using, will come to have general acceptance. Parties must be supported by their members on the grounds of a public nature, rather than by corpora tions or individuals having private interests at stake. Enlightenment We have had frequent occasion to speak of the progressive opinions of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Some law yers question the wisdom of following the decisions of these newer States. We would remind such that the architecture of our best West ern cities follows, not what was characteristic of New York fifty years ago, but what is characteristic of the metropolis today. Western ten dencies are modern. A man charged with murder was recently con victed in Oklahoma of manslaughter and sentenced to a term of twenty- five years’ imprisonment. The trial court erroneously instructed the jury on the doctrine of self-defense. The evidence showed that the deceased was shot in the back. Oklahoma's statutes, like those of many States, provide that on appeal the higher court must give judgment without regard to technical errors or defects or exceptions which do not affect the substantial rights of the parties. The Supreme Courts of many States have deliberately ignored this statute. Oklahoma is try ing to live up to it. New York has the same statute exactly. In this case the Oklahoma court said: “Upon a consideration of the entire record, we are of the opinion that, while the trial court erred as to the law, the jury were clearly right in the conclusion at which they arrived; and that if any mistake was made, it was in convicting the appellant of manslaughter in the first degree, when they should have convicted him of murder While there is error in the record, yet we find that appellant suffered no injury thereby.” Speaking of Appellate Courts which reverse cases because of the ignorance of mistaken judgment of prosecutors and trial judges, where a flawless new trial could result only in a like verdict, the court quotes from one of its former decisions these words: “We decline to he hound hy or to follow a line of authorities so repugnant to reasons, so demoralizing to respect for law, and so de structive to justice We believe that Appellate Courts should faithfully and feai’lessly do their duty, and decide every question pre sented with reference to the substantial merits of the case. In this way only can justice be administered.” Chief Justice Henry Furman, of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, who wrote this opinion in Fowler vs. State, 126 Pacific Reporter, page 831, was at one time one of the most celebrated criminal lawyers of northern Texas and the Indian Territory. When prac ticing he used, in the interest of his clients, every dodge and techni cality known to the law. As a judge he has set his face against a system which he knows by experience is responsible in large part for the distrust in which the administration of justice in our criminal courts is rghtly held by the public. In early life he was a common seaman, which may account for his common sense.—Ex The Mayor-Eledt and the Exposition The hearty co-operation which Mayor-Elect James G. Wood ward is receiving from the newspapers and big business interests in general regarding the proposed exposition to be held within the next two years at Lakewood, almosts tempts us to say in support of our attitude during the recent campaign “We told you so.” However, it is not the intention or desire in this particular in stance to dig into politics, or revive dead and past differences. Democracy asserted itself, and it is gratifying indeed to see party fights swept aside, forgotten and forgiven, in the interests of Atlanta, and a shoulder to shoulder front presented as both factions join hands in the support of Mr. Woodward, and the furtherance of the city’s business interests. Mayor-Elect Woodward has made an admirable beginning, even before be has assumed office, his attitude, which at the beginning did not meet the support of many prominent citizens, is now being better understood, and his broad views of civic questions, which are characteristic of his every administration, will undoubtably in the end bring order out of the chaotic condition of the city government at the present time. Referring back to the proposed exposition, the views of the mayor-elect and his supporters meet with the hearty approval of The Atlantian; Atlanta is a great and growing city, her increase in population from 89,000 in 1900 to 217,000 in 1912, is ample proof that her possibilities are greatly appreciated, and that the publicity which will naturally result, from such a movement, and the vast number of visitors which it will bring within our gates, to come in actual contact with the many advantages Atlanta offers to both home seekers and investors, can not but be of untold benefit to the city. We take this opportunity of offering our hearty support to this movement, and warmly congratulate Atlanta upon her choice of a chief executive for the next two years, which we consider the most important in the history of the city. What! Higher Freight Rates In May, 1910, the railroads proposed a general horizontal advance in freight rates. After hearings that extended through the year the Interstate Commerce Commission very properly vetoed the advance. In the calendar year 1909 railroad net earnings had increased nearly a hundred and fifty million dollars. True, operating expenses increas ed heavily during 1910, while an application for an advance in rates was pending; but gross earnings increased by two hundred and thirty million dollars, more than off setting increased expenses. As the situation then stood, the commission was perfectly right in refusing to sanction an advance in rates. The Eastern roads, we hear, propose applying again for permis sion to advance rates—in which case, no doubt, the Western roads will follow. They can present a better case now than they could in 1910. In the calendar year 1911 railroad net earnings fell off two and a half per cent. In the first half of this calendar year a considerable