US Presidency
1909

The sum was received in full of the amount due, which might have been recovered by civil suit against the beneficiary of the fraud, but there was an express reservation in the contract of settlement by which the settlement should not interfere with, or prevent the criminal prosecution of everyone who was found to be subject to the same. Criminal prosecutions are now proceeding against a number of the Government officers. The Treasury Department and the Department of Justice are exerting every effort to discover all the wrongdoers, including the officers and employees of the companies who may have been privy to the fraud. It would seem to me that an investigation of the frauds by Congress at present, pending the probing by the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice, as proposed, might by giving immunity and otherwise prove an embarrassment in securing conviction of the guilty parties. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM CLAUSE IN TARIFF ACT. Two features of the new tariff act call for special reference.