Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-22
ESPIONAGE EXISTS BANNERMAN. IS DEAD
Representatives Contradict ExEngish Premier Passes
Chief Wilkes Statement. Away Peacefully
DECLARE LAW IS VIOLATED HONORED RECORD OF C. B.
Say Spy System nvades Privacy Had Held Elective Office
Citizens Year 1871
ASSISTANT MORAN IS QUOTED VETERAN OF THE COMMONS
Representative Smith Her
Repugnant to Best Friends Since the Death
Mr. Ronapartes Argument of Gladstone
Representatives Contradict
Chief Wilkes Statement.
DECLARE LAW IS VIOLATED
Say Spy System Invades Privacy of
Citizens.
ASSISTANT MORAN IS QUOTED
Representative Smith Pronounces
Practice Repugnant to Our Race.
Mr.. Ronaparte's Argument.


Members of the House appropriation
committee were somewhat surprised this
morning when they read in the local
papers a statement from Chief WiIkie of
the secret service denying the stories
printed yesterday with reference to the
of secret service men on all
sorts Of sleuthing work. from domestic en-.
tanglements down, or up. One member Of
Congress remarked this morning that Mr..
Wilkie would do well to read the hearings
on the sundry civil bill, or, rather, that
portion Of them which contains state/
ment from Assistant Chief Moran Of the
secret service. In spite of Mr.. Wilkes
denial, members of Congress say that Mr.
Moran's admissions show very plainly that
the law has been repeatedly violated
This matter will undoubtedly provoke
considerable discussion on the floor Of the
House If there should be time and oppor-
tunity when the sundry civil bill is up
There was some discussion of secret
service operations before the committee
when Attorney General Bonaparte was ex-
planning the necessity for various appro-
priations for his department. At that time
Representative Smith of Iowa made this
statement:
Hostility to Spies.
Il do not think there is any hostility to
the employment of men like bank exam
liners. but under the secret service system,
up to twenty-five years aCo. OF about
that, these men were used for the pur-
pose of investigating different felonies
committed against the laws Of the United
States, and, owing to the abuse of this
spy system. Congress put a clause In the
bill providing they should be used for GER
tain specific purposes and for no other
purposes whatever. That has been re-
peated in every act for the secret service
for about q quarter Of a century. Bank
examiners are not In any sense detectives:
they are accounting officers. Do you not
hostility on the part OF Congress TO the
spy systemT'
the attorney general. els such, and the
enormous increase in, facilities Of commu-
nicati0n and the, so to speak, 'cosmopoli-
tization' Of criine--if I can can it the
word for the occasion-is such, that you
are compelled now to have q central
agency to deal with it. What I recon-
mend on this subject Is what have rec
commended all along-that you put into
the hands of the Department Of Justice
the opportunity to employ certain
number of men for this purpose. What
you have said abou. the SPY system ap-
plies rather to the method Of doing the
work than to the work itself We are
obliged to have people who will investi-
gate and report on the facts attendant
on crimes or suspected crimes, and the
protection Of the community makes 1t
very desirable that you should have as
efficient force as you can"
Frying Into Privacy.
Perhaps what is in the minds Of some
of us Is this" suggested Representative
Sherley of Kentucky. There is a certain
character of offenses about which there
has been much talk. Now. it does not
strike some Of US as being In accord with
American ideas of government to under
take. by a system Of spying on men and
prying into what ordinarily would be des-
ignated as their private affairs. to deter
mine whether or not a crime has been
committed and to make the efficiency of
department dependent, not so much
upon the presentation in an orderly and
legal way OF a case properly brought as
upon the 'nosing' of the secret service
men. There seems to be a growing ten
dency to look to the employment of spe-
cial agents whose chief attribute Is their
ability to spy"
In support of his contention for a regu.
lar force of detectives for the Department
of Justice, as opposed to the idea of hir-
ing secret service operators by the job.
Mr.. Bonaparte remarked:
If you pay him by the job. and make
his continued employment dependent upon
his finding more jobs, you run into the
danger OF making him what they call
abroad an agent provocateur,' a person
who creates the crime in order that he
may get the credit of detecting and pun
ishing the criminal. l do not want you
to understand me as saying that the Sc
cret service men do that at ALL but do
say If you will put q definite force in
of the very evils to which you have re-
ferred."
"Repugnant to Our Race"
II saw it stated in a newspaper the
other day." remarked Representative
Smith Of Iowa, that the American gov
ernment inspection service and secret
service far exceeded that OF Russia"
II fancy that Is rather an exaggerated
statement remarked Mr. Bonaparte: !:
however. I have no Information as to
there is no doubt that nothing is more
Injurious in that line and nothing more
open to abuse than the employment OF
men of that type
Nothing is more opposed to our race"
said Mr.. Smith, emphaticaliy, than a
belief that q general system Of espionage
Is being conducted by the general gov
ernment.''
Fatal Trolley Crash at Chicago.