Two things to note, first, the row height is set for 59 and the table 
height is set for 35.  The row height overrides the table height. 

Second, I've always gotten the impression that the height definitions for 
tables were meant to be used when applying white space in a table.  For 
instance if you wanted a blank row to split up some data you would put in 
an empty row with a specified height (see below).  I don't know if the 
height literally is meant to confine the developer to the amount of data 
he/she can add.

<table border="2" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="540">
  <tr> 
    <td valign="top">12/10/2001</td>
    <td valign="top">$50.00</td>
        <td valign="top">withdrawl from ATM machine</td>
  </tr>
  <tr> 
    <td height="50" valign="top" colSpan=3></td>

  </tr>
  <tr> 
    <td valign="top">12/12/2001</td>
    <td valign="top">$45.28</td>
        <td valign="top">dinner with friends</td>
  </tr>
</table>
----ORIGINAL QUESTION----
How do I keep tables and the table data within tables from expanding when 
the data becomes longer that the actual size of the table?  In sum, I 
would like to restrict how much data can be typed into the <td> tags.