Daily Arizona silver belt., 1908-12-09

completely under the control of the forest service of the agricultural de- partment, instead of leaving them as they now are. under the interior depart ment and policed by the army. The congress should provide for superinten- dents with adequate corps of first c ass civilian scouts. or rangers. and further, place the road construction under the superintendent instead of leaving it with the War department Such change in park management would re- suit in economy and avoid the difficult ties of administration which now arise from having the responsibility of care and protection divided between differ cnt departments. The need for this course is peculiarly great in the Tel lowstone park. This, like the Nose mite, is a great wonderland, and should be kept as national playground. In both all wild things should be protected and the scenery kept wholly unmarred.
 I am happy to say that l have been able to set aside in various parts of the country small, wcll-choscn tracts of ground to serve as sanctuaries and nurseries for wild creatures.
 Denatured Alcohol
 I had occasion in my message of May 4, 1906, to urge the passage of some law putting alcohol, used in the arts. industries, and manufactures. up on the free list; that is, to provide for the withdrawal free of tax of alcohol which is to be denatured for those pur- poses. The law of June :, 1906, and it's amendment of March ?, 1907. ac- eomplished what was desired in that re- spect, and the use of denatured alcohol, as intended, is making fair degree of progress and is entitled to further sup port and encouragement from the con gress.
 Pure Food
 The pure food legislation has already worked a benefit difficult to overesti- mate.
 Indian Service
 It has been nay purpose from the be- ginning of my administration to take the atmosphere of political activity, and there has been steady progress to- ward 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 purely evolu- tionary causes, but, like all such sur vivals, was decaying slowly in its later stages. It seems clear that its extine- tion had better be made final now, so that the ground can be cleared for larger constructive work on behalf of the Indians. preparatory to their induc- tion into the full measure of responsi- ble citizenship. On November l only eighteen agencies were left on the ros- ter; with two exceptions, where some legal questions seemed to stand temper arily in the way, these have been changed to supcrintendencies, and their heads brought into the classified civil service.
 Last year an amendment was incor- porated in the measure providing for the Secret service, which provided that there should be TO detail from the Secret service and no transfer there from. It is not too much to say that this amendmnt has been of benefit only, and could be of benefit only, to the criminal classes. If deliberately intro duced for the purpose of diminishing the effectiveness of war against crime | it could not have been better devised to this end It forbade the practices that had been followed to a greater or less extetn by the executive heads l of various departments for twenty years. To these practices we owe the securing of the evidence which enabled us to drive great lotteries out of bus mess and secure n quarter of a million | h.aaw .F.Atss These practices have enabled US to dis cover some of the most outrageous frauds in connection with the theft of government land and government tim Der by great corporations and by iDdi- viduals. These practices have enabled us to get some of the evidence indis- pensable in order to secure the convic- | ton of the wealthicst and most formid. able criminals with whom the govern ment has to deal, both those operating ! in violation of the antitrust law and | others. The amendment in question was of benefit to no one excepting to these criminals, and it seriously hamp- CTS the government in the detection of crime and the cnacting of justice. Moreover, it not only affects depart ments 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 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 offices, and has seriously crippled him. It pse. vents the promotion of employees in the Secret service. and this further dis courages good effort. In its present form the restriction operates only to the advantage of the criminal, of the wrongdoer. The chief argu ment in fla vor of the provision was tlat the con gressmen did not themselves wish to be ! investigated by Secret service men Very little of such invest gation has been done in the past; but it is true that the work of the secret service agents was partly responsible for the l indictment and conviction of q sen ator and a congressman for land frauds | in Oregon. I do not believe that it is in the public interest to protect crimi- nals in any branch of the public ser vice, and exactly as we have again and again during the past seven years pros eeutcd and convicted such criminals |