The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-09
Secret Service.

Last year an amendment was incorpor-
ated in the measure providing for the Sc
cret service, which provided that there
should he no detail from the secret ser
vice and no transfer therefrOm- 1t is
not too much to say that this amendment
has been of benefit only, and could be of
benefit only. TO the criminal classes. If
deliberately introduced for the purpose of
diminishing the effectiveness of war
against crime it could not have been bet
ter devised to this end. 1t forbade the
practices that had been followed to
greater or less extent by the executive
heads of various departments for twenty
years. To these practices we owe the Sc
curing of the evidence which enabled us
to drive great lotteries ont of business
and secure a quarter of a million of doll
practices have enabled us to discover some
of the most outrageous frauds in connec-
ton with the theft of government land
and government timber by great corpora
tons and by individuals These practices
have enabled us to get some OF the eYl-
dence Indispensable in order TO secure the
conviction of the wealthiest and most
formidable criminals with whom the gov
eminent has TO deal both those operating
in violation of the antitrust law and 9th
ers. The amendment in question was OF
benefit TO no one excepting TO these Grim
inalS. and it seriously hampers the govern
ment in the detection of crime and the
securing of justice Moreover. it not only
affects departments outside of the treas
ury 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. 1t fOrbids him from pre-
venting frauds upon the customs service,
from investigating irregularities In
branch minis and assay offices, and has
seriously crippled him II prevents the
promotion of employees in the secret ser
vice, and this further discourages good
effort. In its present form the RESTRICTION
operates only to the advantage OF the
criminal. of the wrongdoer. The CHIEF ar
gument in favor of the provision was that
the congressman did not themselves wish
to be investigated by secret service men
Very little of such investigation has been
done in the past; but Il is true that the
work OF the secret service agents was
parity responsible for the indictment and
conviction of senator and q congress
man for land frauds in Oregon. / do not
oeheve that 1t is in the public interest
10 protect criminals in any branch or the
public service, and exactly as we have
again and again during the past seven
years prosecuted and convicted such Grim
lnals who were in the executive branch
OF the government. so in my belief We
should De given ample means TO prosecute
them If found in the legislative branch
But II this is not considered desirable
special exception could be made IN the
law prohibiting the use of the secret ser
VICE lorce IN investigating members or the
congress 1t would be far better to DO this
than to do what actually was done, and
strive TO prevent or at least TO hamper
directive action against criminals by the
executive branch of the government.
Continued on PAGE II.