Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-09-05

NATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF

mond Point and his description sent
broadcast over the country with the
request to arrest him, Dominic Pittori,
a leper, succeeded in crossing the con-
tinent to New York, where he boarded
a steamer and reached Italy.
Short selling on the New York Stock
Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade
and on cotton, produce and stock ex-
changes generally was attacked by Sen
ator Cummins in the senate this week
as one of the greatest vices of the
day and as "a menace that threatens
the industrial and financial strength
of the country"
Supporting an amendment he had
offered to the tariff bill, proposing 10
per cent. tax on all trades where the
seller did not actually own the proper
ty sold, Mr.. Cummins, backed by sew
eral other Republican senators, deliv-
cred vigorous criticism of stock and
produce exchange operations, and urg-
ed that Congress do its utmost to dis
courage or prohibit fictitious trading,
which he characterized as gambling"
The last remaining barrier at the
Pacific end of the Panama canal was
blown up by dynamite this week. An
electric switch was turned on and
hundreds of tons of mud and stones
were thrown high in the air as the
thunderous roar of the explosions re-
echoed in the nearby hills.
Equally as interesting as the explo-
sion was the actual breaking of the
barrier, the tide creeping steadily up
until, at l 35 o'clock it was level with
, the top of the gap. A workman seized
a shovel and made small trench,
| through which rill of water trickled.
Gradually it widened until an hour la
ter raging torrent, with a 35-foot fall,
poured through an opening 400 feet
wide into that part of the canal be-
tween Gamboa dixie and the Miraflores
locks, which previously had been ex-
cavated by steam shovels.
This cut. which is 5000 feet long,
500 feet wide and Al feet deep below
mean sea level, was entirely filled by
3 o'clock, when the waters of the Pa
cific laved, for the first time, the solid
masonry of the Miraflores locks.
Eleven United States customs
guards, whose duty 1t Is to suppress
opium smuggling, and one customs in
spector were arrested in San Fran
cisco this week as members of an
opium suggling ring that has gained
100000 in illicit money during the
last three years. Every big ship from
the Orient in the last three years is
said to have contained opium in large
quantities. The ring had agents in
the Chinese ports. In San Fancisco
the guards and watchmen for the gov
eminent and the steamship companies
WSlC VII WotCh W hCiP IhC o"u66IClop
although ostensibly they were there to
enforce the law.
The first reading of the Underwood
tariff bill in the senate was completed
last Saturday and senate leaders
agreed that it's disposal had brought
the passage of the bill within view
and that its passage Is a matter of
but few days. Some important mat
ters, passed over in the first reading,
were acted upon this week.
Twenty-one persons were killed and
almost so injured in a rear-end COLI
sion early Monday on the New York,
New Haven & Hartford railroad, six
miles north of New Haven, Conn. The
first section of the White Mountain ex-
press, bound for New York, speeding
along at 40 miles an hour in a thick
fog, rushed past a danger signal and
crashed into the rear of the second Sec
ton of the Bar Harbor express, stand
ing 100 feet beyond the block signal.
Death claimed heavy toll in the
Labor day automobile speed races at
the state fair grounds at Nashville,
Tenn, Monday afternoon, when four
of the six high-powered cars entered
in the 25-mill free for all race were
wrecked in view of 5000 persons. Four
Of the racing men were killed and
three received minor injuries.
w. A. Weller, who has just complet-