DEADLY DYNAMITE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 7 March 1912, Page 6

DEADLY DYNAMITE.

HOW A M El? iC A IS MEX AGED

The recent dynamite outrages in Caii forma, \\Jieie tne otiijes of tile Los -Angeles "l imes" w L-re blown up by 'Anarchists, iiave calied public attention to the fact th.it in America it is as easy for anyone to purchase the deadliest explosives as it is to buy sugar or eait. There is absolutely no restriction on the sale of dynamite. One waiks into a general store and asks for a few sticks, cr a couple of £O-lb boxes. The proprietor will not likeiv ask any questions. W'.'iy should he? He makes a pront. It is not his business to inquire whether ycu have a leg.timate purpose m buying, oi whetiier you are a safe blower or a violent Anarchist or a dynamiter of the McNamara school, 'i'here may, indeed, be some Leal restrictions in regard to the storage of the stuff, as there are in regard to its transportation, so that the shopkeeper may not keep it under his counter or in his cellar. It may b*; kept in som e outbuilding, sometimes on thv outskirts ol the town ; you have inereiv the trouble of going a short distance to get it : pei haps it will be delivered to you on th- highway just outside the town limits. In New York, for instance, dynamite is not sold over the counter, but you may buy any quantity of it and have it delivered at the waterfront end of some street on to a boat or to a rail way station. ABSURDITIES OF THE LAW. Poison and pistols may not b-o freely sold. Dynamite, which is more dangerous to the community than arsenic, cyanide, revolvers, and slug-shcts. is sold every day in the week without let or .hindrance. If a band of social enemies, more ambitious than the Indiana-polis-libs Angeles lot, wished to destroy cities instead cf buildings, and bridges they could easily obtain the wherewithal by the ton and the cartload. And it's cheap.- Dvnamite costs about half-a-crown. a pint. Sixteen shillings' worth will destroy a building costing £200,000.

The dynamite used at Lcg Angeles was specially ordered, and was cf tho E.O per cent grade, almost equal to pure nitro-glycerine. This extraordinary strength was one of the things that excited suspicion against the men. The explosives people suspected a criminal ufe and warned the Southern Pacific Railroad that an attempt might be made against some cf their bridges. This incident well illustrates the present. lack cf legal protection in America. The explosives people did more than their duty, at least more than the law demanded, when they went to the length of warning the railroad of a possible criminal attempt.

STICNGENT MEASURES WANTED

New, however there is a national movement afoot in the States to amend the laws in regard of the sale of dangerous explosives, so that criminals may not easily obtain the moan.* of wholesale destruction and slaughter. A Bill has been drawn np with this end in view, and it is receiving a vast measure of support. 'Of couise, it if argued that dynamite has a tremendous use ii* industry; we must not- hamper its legitimate use in commerce nnd industry ' —in mining, tunnelling, quarrying, welldigging. and what not. But proper regulations. will certainly not interfere with these legitimate uses. It is also srgued that criminals will not be slopocd in their use cf explosives by reTcrictionf-; they wi'.l simply become ;ome more cunning; they will evade tho law, they will turn chemists. ■ like the Russian revolutionists, and make their own explosives out of a few simple ingredients. There is truth in all this, but it is a general objection which might be urged against all' ifiws. The law is a barrier which {sunning and desperation may overlen.p, yet the barrier serves a purpose ; it prevents some, it" not all, crime ; it mak-s crime difficult instead of easy.

INNOCENT OFFENDERS. In this connection it has been painted out that criminal dynamiters are not the only ones who have imperilled the ljvc-> f fellow-passengers on trains. The reprerentatives of powder companies have a habit of travelling in day coaches, smokers, and Pullmans with cjmpie cases >• retaining enough dynamit.ind fulminate pap* to destroy an entm .rain. Your travelling neighbour s bag ■r suit-cafe which ycti accidenta.lv kick or which the owr.cr or porter drocis with i bang, may be an infernal mac})'" 1 ? used in trade. The salesman who thrr. violates the law in carrying dcadl> "samples" has no danger mark or -ign on his suit-cr.se, which "icreases the hazard. FflnuijapU- ha s made him jareless in fcafjdMfig exp.o Sl ve a lU locs net tell .anybody wh<»l he is iri >; ns- Under tins ijew Bid. however, all thfso matters >V>H he °n a P-«p^ footine, and ti«e relation?- regaidirif, be selling and handling of explosives will be made a. stra.ght as possible. And high time, too. for Americas rc;crd in outrages of this nature has been crowing evcrv y«r ness has gone unchecked (jujte lon 0 -nough. In January, it seems, fell the aniii-i-ersarv of the modern handkerchief m its present square *hape It is onlv 1?7 vears that the latter has* been >n u,e. "Previously handkerchiefs were of all shapes, long, narrow-, oblong, even round; but one day Queen Marie Antoinette. Nt Trianon, remarked to Louis XVI., or pprtiaps tp ?ome courtier in power, that it would be much neater_ to rue onlv square handkerchiefs- I hat wa» «t "the end of the year 1784. A few davs lotttf. OP January 2nd, 1785, Louis XVI. issued ar. jjecreemg that the length of handkerchiefs sb*il equal their breadth henceforth throughout fhe jjgflom," and the edict of the King •vhom th/i Revolution guillotined has influenced cutiLufff tp this day. Political •ataclysms pasted ( }ver France, but handkerchiefs remained square, not only in but all over the wprfd.