The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-05-03

rame and address. the name of the of
; fetal he wants to see, and Statement
of his business with the official. Tina
done, he gets permit to see that on,
[ Official and a colored trooper, full,
armed, is then assigned to escort hin
! TO the office of the official named OF
his application. The trooper wait.
outside the office, and when the per.
, mlttee energies, he Is escorted back Il
the door, his pass is taken away ant
he is allowed to depart. If he has
business with another, or a dozen
other officials. he must make a round
trip to the door for each one, must
get separate pass for each visit, and
each time must march alongside his
colored troopers.
Weakness of the System.
But While all this precaution is tax :
fen-something that was never thought
of during the Spanish war--there is
no restraint upon the carrying of
packages into the building. There Is
no precaution that would prevent a
fanatic gaining entrance to the build
ing and carrying a bomb With him,
provided he knows the name of some
official and has some sort of excuse
for seeing him. He can get to that
officials office, if he has the patience
to wait his time in line And, if he
committed any sort of depreciation
while in the building, he would doubt
less be apprehended before he could
get away. But there is no restriction
which would exclude a truly danger
Gus, but clever, fanatic from gaining
admission even to the office of the sec
rotary of war or of the secretary of the
navy But the whole procedure is
discouraging to those who have legit-
innate business in the state, war or
navy department.
Interior Building Guarded.
Down at the interior department. for
but one have been closed and in front
of that all day walks an armed and
uniformed member of the "home
guard" clerk or messenger employ
ed in the department. but detailed to
military patrol duty. Why there
should be military guard at the in
terror department, Washington has
never been able to figure out. But
there he stands. or there he parades,
and it "looks military" In the in
terror department every official and
enploye must have a pass to get into
the building, but any one else, wishing
to enter, needs only tell the guard
that he is a senator's secretary that
he is a newspaper man, or that he is
an attorney, and aside steps the uni
formed member of the home guard.
And no questions asked. Nor is there
any ban ON the carrying of bundles or
packages into the interior department.
All this array of military display
and very little of it is observable from
is no effective precaution against
cranks at either of the government
buildings that are daily patrolled by
soldiers or home guards. The navy
absolutely, but the White House Is
guarded by ordinary city police and
the navy yard is guarded by marines
Capitol Building Wide Open.
The capitol building which was the
mark of one crank less than two years
ago, is so wide open that any one can
gain access. and no questions asked.
For a time there was a ban on carry
ban has been lifted or forgotten, and
there is nothing. to bar crank from
carrying explosives or weapons into
that building to his hearts content.
So that the guarding of the public
buildings at the national capital, as
thus far carried out, anything more
than a pretense and a sham.
Several times there has been an
agitation in favor of barring the pub
lie from the capitol building. For in
stance, after Senator Lodge had
knocked down a fighting pacifist from
Massachusetts, there was a serious
proposal that the senate galleries be
closed, but a few level headed sem
ators soon quelled this movement by
showing the ludicrous attitude in
which senators would place them
selves by enacting special legislation
for their own protection, while voting
to send hundreds of thousands of
others into the war. And a similar
stand prevented the introduction of a
resolution making it a "hienous Of |
tense" to assault a senator or member |
of congress.
Congressman Protest.
AS time goes on some of the crudi- |
ties of the first attempt to make |
Washington look -timey will be |
corrected, and thorough safeguards |
will be established to ward off posi- |
BILE devastation by cranks and fanat-
les. But the first attempts made by
the secretary of war and secretary Of
the navy, and blythe secretary of the
interior have operated in the main to
embarrass and embroil senator's and
who are seriously in
terfered with in the daily performance