The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1908-12-12
THE CONGRESS AND
THE PRESIDENT.

Teddy seems to have stepped on the
toes of the House of Representatives.
The result is the House rises in its
offended majesty and appoints a COM
mittee to advise as to what course
shall be pursued. And what is n real
cause of it all?
1t seems that the President had torn
down an old eye-sore that was located
ON the Mall and did this without first
spending some three or four years
asking Congress for permission to do
so. Then the President also appoint
ed a Commission on Country Life,
without authority of law, and h mem
bers OF this Commission have been
using the ranking privilege. But both
of these offences are minor ones in
the eyes of the offended Congress.
The real offense is a much more SER
ious one-the President criticized Con
gress.
There is no doubt that President
Roosevelt has abrogated to himself
a great amount of authority that it
was never intended should be used
by the President; there is also little
doubt that he has used the power of
the administration for personal ends
and to further the schemes of his
~favorftes and push them forward, and
a number of serious charges have been
made against the President from time
to time, but all these are minor mat
tiers now; the President has offended
Congress.
1t Is a well known fact that the Sc
cret service force has been diverted
from the uses for which 1t was design
ed, by the President, and has been
employed to annoy and, If possible,
trace out undesirable episodes in the
lives of persons with whom Mr.. Rocse
welt had disagreed. In other words
it has been used as a private detec-
tive force at the disposal of the Pres
ident. Congress objected to this and
last year, as an amendment to the
bill making the appropriation for the
support Of the secret service, 1t was
provided hat h force must be used
in the work for which it was intended.
This action reused the ire of Mr..
Roosevelt, and he m back at the
Congress, in his recent message. in
this fashion:
Last year an amendment was in
c~orporated in the measure providing
for the secret service, which. provided
that there should be no detail from
the secret service and no transfer
therefrom. 1t is not too much to say
that this amendment has been of ben
eft only, to the criminal classes. If
deliberately introduced for the purpose
of diminishing the effectiveness of
war against crime 1t could not have
been better devised tt this end. 1t for
babe the practices that had been fol-
lowed to a greater or less extent by
the executive heads of various depart
ments for 20 years. To these practic-
es we owe the securing Of evidence
which enabled us to drive great lot
terfes out of business and secure a
quarter of a million OF dollars in fines
from their promoters. These practices
have enabled US to discover some of
the most outrageous frauds in connec-
tion with the theft Of government
land and government timber by great
corporations and by individuals. These
practices have enabled us to get some
of the evidence Indispensable in order
to secure the conviction of the veal
thiest ant most formidable criminals
with whom the government has to
deal. both those operating in viola
ton OF the antitrust law and others.