The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-09

THE MORNING JoUI Tor the withdrawal free of tax Of aI- ! aoho which k 10 ho dcnatured for those purposes The lag of June [, 1906 and its ameuimout of March 2, ! 1906, accomplished what was jcsirad in that respect and tho use of denat ured alcohol as intended s making fair degree Of progress and Is entitled to further oncouragcm ut and support | from the congress
 Pure Food.
 The pure food legislation has al- ready worked a bentnt dinicult to oHcrestimate
 Indian Service.
 lt has been my purpose from the beginning of my administration lo take tho Indian service completely out of the atmosphere of political aetyl- ItN, and there has been steady progress toward that end, The last remaining stronghold of politics in that service was the agency system, which had seen Its best days and was gradually falling to pieces from natural or pure | l% evolutionary causes, but, like all such survivals, was decaying slowly in ! its later stages. II seems clear that its extinction had better he made i'm al now, so that the ground can be | N1aarAl ~ e1 1ap ,-g,,at.-,,,I{,.- ,i. on behalf of the Indians, preparatory to their induction into the full meas. | ure of responsible citizenship. On No. ren1bor only eighteen agencies werp left on tho roster with two eAcep- tionS, where some legal questions seemed to stand temporarily in the | way these have been changed to sil. perIntendcncies, and their heads brought into the classified civil ser vice.
 Secret Service.
 Lastyea an amendment was incOr- porated in the measure providing for the secret service, which provided that there should be no detail from tAa secret service and no transfer therefrom. It is not too much to say that this amendment has been of heu- eft only, and could be of benefit only. 10 the criminal classes 1f deliherata- I E introduced for the purpose Of ji- minishing the effectiveness of war against crime it could not have been better devised to thls end. It forbade the practices that had been followed to great or less extent by the exec utive heads of various departments for twenty years To these practices We owe the securing of the evidence "lch enabled us to drive great 10
 teries out of business and sreu p quarter oC a million dollars in fa.s l from their promoters These prls ! tices have enabled us to disyoatr s5rll of the most outrageous frauds in cor nectiun with the theft os sogernnian.
 land ana government timber hy grea. corporations and by individuals rhgs, practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence Indispensable in ord to secure the conviction of the wealth. icst and most formljahIo criminal. with Wnom the government has 'G l deal both those operating .n ,iolatIoa i of the antitrust law ana pthcrg. m amendment in the question vas of benefit to no ono excepting To tdese criminals, and 1t seriously hampers the government In the detection of crime and the securing of justice, Moreover, it not only affects depart ments outside of the treasury, blJ lt tends to hamper tno secretary of tho ! treasury himself in the effort to util- 1 ize the cmpoNes of his department so as to best meet tne requirements of the public service IL forbids him from preventing frauds upon tha cus- 1 toms service. from Investigating ir- 1 resularitics in branch hints and as- say offices and has seriously crippled aim. It prevents the promotion of this further discouragcs good orfort, In Is present form the restriction op- crates only to the advantage of the 1 criminal of tho wronedoer. The chief argument in favor of the provision ! was that the conGressmcn did not 1 themselves wish to be investigated by secret service men Very little of such investigation has been done in | the past, but it Is true that tho work ! Of tho secret service agents was part 1 lE responsible for the indictment and i conviction of senator and con- ! ercssman for land frauds in Oregon. | | do not believe that it |, in the public | tp nat f,, ! branch of tnr public service. and ex- agtly as we have again and again during the past seven years prosecut- ! ed and convicted such criminals who 1 We're in the executive branch Of the 1 government, so in my belief We snoud 1 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 1 of the secret service in Investigating members of the congress It would be far better to do this than to do what actually was done and strive to 1 prevent or at least to hamper rf- i fectire action against criminals by the 1 legislative branch or the government i Postal Savings Banks.
 | ] again renew my recommendation for postal savings banks, for deposit ing savings with the security of the government be1in1 them, The object is to encourage thrift and economy in ] the wase-eawcr and person of modpr- ate means, In fourteen states the dc. l posits in savings banks as reported lu the comptroller of tho currency amount to &&59O.245,4O2, or 9SA pet cent. of the entire deposits, while in the remaining thrty-two states there are only S7O,30S543 or 16 per cent,