Arizona republican., 1908-12-09
The Secret Service.

Last year an amendment was in- corporated in the measure providing for the secret service, which provided that there should be no detail from the secret service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say that this amendment has been of ben fit only, and could be of benefit only, to the criminal classes. If deliber- ately introduced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to this end. It for bade the practices that had been fol- lowed to a greater or less extent by the executive heads of various de- partments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of business and secure a quarter of million Of dol lars in fines from their promoters. These practices have enabled us to discover some of the most outrageous frauds in cQPnection with the inert of government land and government timber by great corporations and by individuals. These practices have en- abied us to get some of the evidence indispensable in order to secure the conviction of the Wealthiest and most formidable criminals with whom the government has to deal, both those operating in violation of the anti trust law and others. The amend ment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals, and it seriously hampers the govern ment in the detection of crime and the securing of justice. Moreover, 1t not only affects departments outside of the treasury but it tends to ham per the secretary of the treasury himself in the effort to utilize the employees of his department so as to best meet the requirements of the public service It fOrbids him from preventing frauds upon the customs service, from investigating irregulari- ties in branch hints and assay of fices, and has seriously crippled him. It prevents the promotion of em- ployes in the secret service, and this further discourages good effort. In it's present form the restriction op- crates only to the advantage of the criminal. of the wrongdoer. The chief argument in favor of the pro
 
 did not themselves wish to be in vestigated by secret service men. Very little of such investigation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for the indictment and conviction of a sena- tor and a congressman for land frauds in Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect criminals in any branch of the public service, and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecuted and convicted such criminals who were in the exec utfYe branch of the government, so in my belief we should be given ample means to prosecute them if found in the legislative branch. But if this is not considered desirable a special exception could be made In the law prohibiting the use of the secret Service force in Investigating members of the congress. It would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done, and strive to prevent or at least hamper effective action against criminals by the exec utive branch of the government.
 Postal Reforms.
 I again renew my recommendation for postal savings banks, for deposit ing savings with the security of the government behind them The object is to encourage thrift and economy in the wage earner and person of mod crate means. In fourteen states the deposits in savings banks as re- ported to the comptroller of the cur rency amount to 590,245,4O2, or 9S4 per cent of the entire deposits, while in the remaining thirty-two states there are only s70,3OS,453, or 16 per cent, showing conclusively that there are many localities in the United States where sufficient oppor- tunity is not given to the people to deposit their savings. The result is that money is kept in hiding and un- employed. It is believed that in the aggregate vast sums of money would be brougt into circulation through the instrumentality of the postal say ings banks. While there are only 1.453 savings banks reporting to the comptroller there are more than 61,- 900 postoffices, 10000 of which are money order offices. Postal savings banks are now in operation in prac- tically all the great civilized coun- tries with the exception of the United States.
 In my last annual message I com mended the postmaster generals rec ommendation for an extension of the parcel post on the rural routes. The establishment of a local parcel post on rural routes would be to the mutual benefit of the farmer and tht country storekeeper. and it is desir able that the routes, serving more than 15.000.0OO people, should be util- ized to the fullest practicable extent. An amendment was proposed in the senate at the last session, at the suggestion of the postmaster general, providing that, for the purpose of as- certaining the practicability of estab- fishing a special local parcel post system on the rural routes throughout the United States. the postmaster general be authorized and directed to experiment and report to the con- gress the result of such experiment by establishing a special local parcel post system on rural delivery routes in not to exceed four counties in the United States for packages of fourth |