The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1909-01-04

llrAliqns Of tic frauds sefs 50 fat.
ieseblnr iha the was afraid 10 trust
his own officials to deal N thorough
golrs fashion With them. one Of the
secr@t service men accordingly resign
ed and was agpoiassd ~ The Interior
Department 10 carry on this work. The;
first thing the discovered Wa that he
specal agents, division or corps OF de.
tecases Of the Land once Of the In.
terior Department was Largely under
the control Of the land thieves: and
In Consequence the stgaions
above referred to had to be made by
secre. service men.
II 1.-the. present Law, for which Messrs.
Tarncy. Smith. and the other gentle
men I have above mentioned are re
sponslble, had then been in effect.
this action would have been impossi.
Bile. and most Of the criminals would
unquestionably have escaped. No more
! stirling instance can be imagined OF
the desirability OF having central
corps OF skilled investigating agents
who can at any time be assigned, II
necessary in large numbers. to inves.
tgate some violation Of the Federal
statutes. In no matter what branch Of
the public service. In his particular
case most OF the men investigated
who we're public servants we're in the
executive branch OF the government.
But IN oregon. where an enormous
acreage OF frauduIently allenated pub
lie land was recovered for the govern.
ment. a United States senator, Mr..
Mitchell. and member OF the lower
house. Mt. Williamson, were convicted
on evidence obained by men trans.
ferrel from the Secret Service, and
another member OF congress was in.
dlcted.
From 1901 to 1904 successful In
Ivestigation of naturalization affairs
was made by the Secret Service, with
the result OF obtaining hundreds OF
CONVICTIONS OF consplrators who were
convicted Of selling fraudulent papers
OF naturalization. subsequently, Con-
gress passed very wise law provid-
Ing special service and appropria-
| ton for the prevention OF natlirallza-
ton frauds: but unfortunately, at the
same time that the action against the
Secret Service was taken. Congress also
Gu down the appropriation for this spe.
cial service. with the result OF Grip.
| plng the effort 10 stop frauds in nattr.
alizaton.l The fugitives, Green and
Gaynor, implicated in a peculiarly big
government contract fraud, were locat.
cd AMI arrested in Canada by the Sc
crct Service, and thanks to this they
: have SINCE gone to prison for their
crimes.
The Secret Service was used to as.
sist In the Investigation OF crimes I'm.
der the peonage laws, and owing part
I " thereto numerous convictions were
secured and the Objectionable practice
was practically stamped out, at least
lin many districts. The most extensive
smuggling OF sill and opium In the
history Of the Treasury Department
was investigated by agents OF the Sc
cret Service In New York and Seattle
and n successful prosecution Of the
Offenders undertaken. Assistance Of
the utmost value was rendered TO the
Depa, tment Of Justice In the beef.trust
Investigation at Chicago, prosecutions
were followed up and fines inflicted.
The coton-lenk scandal in the Agricul-
tural Department was investigated and
the responsible parties located. What
was done in connection with lottery
Investigations is disclosed in . letter
Just sent to me by the Unied States
attorney for Delaware, running as fol-
lows:
TIE destruction OF the Honduras Ma.
tional Lottery Company, successor to
the Louisiana Lottery Company, was
entirely the work OF the Secret Ser
vice. 49, This excellent work was
accomplished by Mr.. Wilkie and his
subortllnates. thought 1t might be
timely TO recall this prosecution.
Three hundred thousand dollars in
fines were collected by he government
IN the lottery cases. Again. the Ink
contract fraud in the Bureau Of En-
craving and Printing "a bureau OF the
Treasury Department. was investigat.