Catching Up with the Times

Almost every U.S. city has on the books a clutter of old, obscure laws that are hardly ever enforced. In Wash ington, D.C., for example, it is illegal to sell an ice-cream cone. A law to that effect was passed by Congress in 1921 and signed by Woodrow Wilson on his last full day in office as President of the U.S. Designed to protect the public against spoilage, the law makes it a mi demeanor to sell ice cream in Washington except in easily iced standard units -- half pints, pints, quarts and up.

Last week the House of Representa tives finally acknowledged modern refrigeration and amended the old ice cream-cone law. The Senate is expected to go along. Crowed Virginia's Republican Congressman Joel T. Broyhill, one of the backers of the bill: "A progressive step." If Congress continues to catch up with the times, it may some day dispense with the District of Columbia's laws that still prohibit driving sheep down Pennsylvania Avenue and forbid winning more than $26.67 in a gambling game.

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