Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-09

foT th those aeonS %seh + 0 5
Sn M @ sscdnSlssd snS HI daaaSsnt %at %as asi O.
natnri srsm IN that respect and tbe use of de
a fair degree OF progress and. IS IS entitled entitled
70, further encouragement and support
from the Congress.
/. Pure Food.
sene aeaa cnt % Ras
Il Indian Service.
It has been my purpose from thes be-
ginning OF my administration to take the
indian Service Completely, out OF the at
has heen staa 1l Poesl ssty = and theTe
The last remaining stronghold of politics
IN that service was the agency system
gradually falling to pieces from natural
OF. purely revolutionary causes but, like
All such survivais. was decaying slowly
its extinction had better be made final
now, so that the ground can be cleare.l
for larger constructive work on behalf of
ton into the full measure of responsible
citizenship On November only eighteen
agencies were left on the roster; with
two exceptions, where some legal ques-
tions seemed to stand temporarily in the
way. these have been changed to super
intendencies,. and their heads brought into
D.
J. Secret Service.
Last year an amendment was incor-
pOrated in the measure providing for the
Secret Service. which provided that there
should be no detail from the Secret Ser
vice and no transfer therefrom. It is not
too much to say that this amendment has
been of benefit only, and could be of bene-
mt only. to the criminal classes. If delib-
inishing the effectiveness of war against
crime it could not have heen better de-
Xised TO this end II forbade the prac-
or less extent by the executive heads of
various departments for twenty years To
these practices we owe the securing of
| the evidence which enabled us tc drive
great lotteries out of business and secure
| q quarter of a million of dollars in fines
from their promoters These practices
| have enabled us to discover some IF the
most outrageous frauds in connection With
the theft of government land and govern
ment timber by great corporations and
| abled us to get some of the evidence in
dispensibla in ORDER to secure the con-
viction of the wealthiest and most forni-
dable criminals with whom the Govern
ment has to deal, both those operating in
violation of the antitrust law'and others
| The amendment iE question was of hene-
| fit to no one excepting these crmi"alS.
ana it seriously hammers the Government
| in the detection of crime and the securing
| of justice. Moreover, it not only affects
departments, outside of the Treasury but
it tends to hamper the Secretary of the
Treasury himself in the effort to utilize
| the employees of his department 50 as 10
| lie service. 1t forbids him from prevent
| ing frauds upon the customs service,
| from investigating irregularities in branch
mints and ASSAY offices. and has seriously
| crippled him. 1t prevents the promotion
| of EMPLOYEES in the Secret Service. and
| this further discourages good effort. In
| it's present form the restriction operates
only to the advantage of the crilninal. of
the wroncdoer. The chief argument in
favor of the provision was that the Con-
gressmen did not 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 the work
| of the Secret Service agents was partly
| responsible for the Indictment and con-
| viction of a Senator and a Congressman
for and e M in in tbe Gregon dE es oe 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 Grim.
| inals who were in the executive branch of
| the Government, so in my belief we
cute them if found In the legislative
branch. But if this is not considered de-
| sirable a srecial exception could be made
Secret Service in investigating members
| of the Congress. 1t would be far better
to do this than to do what actually was
| to hamper effective action against GRIM
irals hv the executive branch of tie Gov
ernment.
Postal Savings Banks.
I again renew my recommendation for
postal savings banks. for depositing saw
inss with the security of the Govern
| ment behind them. The object is to er.-
courage thrift and economy in the wage
Garner and person of moderate means. In
fourteen States the deposits in savings
banks as reported to the Comptroller Of
he ne Of fhe Entire fc Wh
in the remaining Sc States there ere only
$40, ,30S,54 or 1.6 per cent, showing CON
in the tinted States where sufficient op
porturity is not given to the people to de-
posit their savings The result is that ,
It is believed that in The aggregate vast
sums of money would be brought into
circulation through the instrnmenta1liiy W,ta tally
are only LASS savings banks reporting
to the Comptroller there are more ,han
| 600 post-of!ices. $1,000 of which nre mon
cy order offices. Postal savings banks are
now in operation in practically all the
great civilized countries with the eXcep-
ton of the United States.
Parcel Post.
In my last annual message I commend
ed the Postmaster Generals recommends
ton for an extension Oh, OF the parcel post on
loca! parcel post on rural routes would
be to the mutual benefit of the. farmer
ami the country storekeeper: and Il is de-
Sirable that the routes, serving more tnan
100000 people. should be utilized to the
fullest practicable extent. An amend
.rnent was proposed in the Senate at the
last session at the suggestion of the
Fostmaster-General, providing that, for
the purpose of ascertaining the practical
bility of establishing special loca! par
ce, post system on the rural routes
throughout the United States. the Post
master-Ganeral be authorized and direct
ed to experiment and report to the Con-
gress the result or such experiment by
establishing special local parcel post
system on rural delivery routes in net to
exceed four counties in the United States
for packages of fourth-class matter ougi-
mating on a rural route or at the distii-
buting post Office for delivery by rural!
carriers. 1t would only seem proper that
such an experiment should be tried in
order to demonstrate the practicability of
the proposition especially as the Post
master General estimates that the reven-
ue derived from the operation of such a
system on all the rural routes would
amount to many million dollars.
Education.
The share that the National Govern
ment should take in the broad work of
education has not received the attention
and the care it rightly deserves The
immediate responsibility for the support
ard improvement of our educational sys-
jt,,tin