Dynamite Threats and Public Safety
Another attempt was recently made by nihilists to destroy the Czar of Russia, while on his way to St. Petersburg. The frequency of these efforts in the Old World, together with the present state of affairs in this country, is calling out appeals from the press for the enactment of laws to protect the citizens of the United States from the malice of the dynamite fiends. The San Francisco Chronicle says upon this point:— "Let no man suppose that dynamite explosions are going to be confined to Europe. This country is full of people who are likely to use it, not only German socialists and Irish Nationalists, but American cranks of the Guiteau species. In every nation there are a given number of miscreants, who bear a varying proportion to the total population. It depends on the manner in which laws are made and administered how often they will commit crimes. A single individual can carry under his arm or in a carpet-bag a can of nitro-glycerine whose explosion would shatter the largest building in this city to atoms and destroy the lives of every one in it. Ought we not to take precautions in advance, and not wait till some terrible tragedy arouses universal horror?"