Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1909-01-07

/ this agitation against the secret service
| 1t was special article OF about 900
| and now understand. by MIR. T.. w. Bus
| hey, at tina. time private secretary to tn,
l speaker of the House. ] enclose a cop.
OF certain extracts from the article
| tcrlS unwarranted attack on the secre
| service division of the treasury depart
| men; as its CHEZ. The opening paragraph
! Includes for instance. statements like til,
| following:
Tic (She chief OF the division) and Iii.
| men are DESTROYS of doing the secret de
tective work for sne whole government
and are not particular about drawing TIL.
line between the lawmakers and the law
breakers. They are really to shadow tht
former as we'll as the latter
rEen after saying that congress will in
sist that the men shall only be used rt
stop counterfeiting, he article goes or:
congress does not intend TO have 3
&ouchc or any other kind OF niinlster oi
pas,nenrs against the legislative brancl
OF the government. II has beer so used
and Ii Is suspected thar it has been 81
| used recently. 80 The legislative brancl
of the sovernment will trut tolerate chs
nleddlins OF DETECTIVES. whether they rep
resent the president. cabinet officers o,
only themselves. -ss Congressnen re-
senteo the secret interference of HI. secrp,
some of the most respected members o,
the itou*e and Senate. : /" eWhcu /, was
discovered that the secret service men
were shadowiIS congressman there w-:,s i,
storm of Indignation "A: the capitol and Ill.
bureau came near being abolished and the
APPROXIMATION for the suppression of coun-
terfeitinS cnl off. -sf Al another time
the chef OF the secret service had his r,ei.
SHADOW congressman with a View To in
NotvinS them in scandals th;,t would egg
able the, bureau 10 dictate IN than, the
pio" of silence. The Set,,., service
men have shown an inclination AGAIN Ia
shadow niet4,hers pi congress kno,Nins,
rEen " BIZ lawmakers. ana this is lu
joke. Several of The departments have
tisstiol, ana the treasu:S department
wants tlis limitation removed from til.
appropriation for supprcssiIig counterfeit
ing This shows a tendency toward
officials than themselves
The Land Frauds
at tine time az thi; publication the work
OF the secret service, which Was rn;is as
sailed. included especially the inyestisa-
ton OF great land frauds in the vest.
ana the securing Of evidence 10 ncl;, the
department Of Justice in tho beet trust
investigations ar Chicago which resulted
in successful prosecutions
IN view Of Mr. Hisrey'.i position, have
accepted the above quoted statements as
fairly expressing the ienl meaning and ami
mus OF the attacks made in genera! terms
punishment OF criminals. Furthermore in
he performance o. .lS duty. to endeayo,-
to tind the feelings of congressman on
pubic questions OF note have frequent
nneinbers III congress: and or such occas-
ions the reasons alleged 10 ,.a for the.
hostility 81 congress 10 the secret service,
Doth s;y those who did and By those wh..
did nnt share this hostility, were almost
In. ariahy the same as those set forth In
Nj Bushels article. may add by the
WAY! that these allegations as 20 The sec
ret service are wholly without foundation
III Fact.
THE Main Issue
But all os his IS OF insignificant imports
ance compared With tho lnaia he real:
issue. IrAis !asue is simply. does congress
it's dlsposa! the most efficient instrument
for the detection of criminals and Tie prs.-
ventioE and punishment: of crime or does
1T not? Tie actor. o. the House last Nav
interest of justice and against the interest
OF law-ai,idiEg !,.opi-, and in its ,>ffect
ut benefit only ,o lawhrca!scrs, am not
now dealing wiki motives: whatever. NAV
have been the motive that induced The
action of Witch l speak. this, was beyond
all question the effect of that action Is
the Hnuse nov wiliii:s to remedy the
wrOtlR.
Since l9n; the Investigations covered by
The secret se.vi,e division tho
practice which had beer, for many years
Recognized as proper aud legitimate. aud
which had received the sanction of the
highest law officers OF the government
have covered Il vide range OF offeuses
against The federal law. By far
to the public domain. as to which
there Was uncovered far-reaching
and widespread system OF fraud
ulellt transactions Involving both the H.
legal acquisition and the. illegal fencing of
government land: and, in connection with
both these offcnses, the crimes of perjury
and sl,bornation of perjury. Some of the
persons involved in these violations were
social influence. Both their corporate as
sociations and their political affiliations
and the lawless character of some of .hetr
employees made the Investigations not
only difficult hut dangerous. In Colorado
ons. OF The secret service men was assassin
ated. IN Nebraska it, was necessa.-. to
remove a United States attorney and g.
United States marshal before satisfactory
OF the offenders.
The evidence in all these cases was
chiefly secured by men trained in the Sec
ret service and detailed to tie department
of Justice at The request of mat depart
inent and of the department OF the inter-
ior In the state OF Nebraska alone 60
defendants were indicted; and of the 3e
cases thus far brought to trial IS have re-
suited in conviction; two OF the principals
Messrs .,ouisaock and Richards lann oi
wealth aud vide influence. being sentenc-
I'D TO IL months IN JAZZ and ma Si,.Go each
The Iowa Case.
The Following secret service memoran-
dunn made in tho course of . pending ease
illustrates the manifestations OF interest
with which the government las tn deal
Charles Y. stewart. of '3ounciI bluffs.
WAS indicted 1t omaha for conspiracy 10
doflald the & government of the title to
pu',is lands in Mcpherson countN, Ne
braska: ais" indicted fof llialnt a!'l'lla am
unlawful Enclosure, of th. public ls.,ds and
/.
neeton with final eroot submitted by him
on lands nlecl on by MINI as a hons
stead IN his lnal proof he sworc thai he
and his family had resided on The lands in
Mcpherson county (Which ale within his
unlawful iclosltrc,. when as Il matter of
fact his family has ut all times rcsided in
Connect Bluffs. Ia. Ill. Is engaged in The
wholesale grocery business. his store be-
ing located In omaha. IN he wholesale
district There. lie is iepl.ted to b. quite
wealthy Sitnwart'S attorneys are Harl &:
l'imlev OF Couuci lslnffs. la, VINO are also
attorneys 81 thai place for III" Omaha and
t'onn,i i.iuffs Street Railway company, in
which company ilart holds considerable
stock. S,tewar, being also q stakeholder
and possibly q director of ilpc company
He Is also represented in Omaha by w.
i. OConnell one OF the attorneys there
tor the s;,ulc company. Stewart is also
represented ii, his perjury by ''Isill''
was ,,ui,,. closely connected iii u polite
way with rhe L. =. Y. X. company; Stew
art l. also closely associated with e. II.
Hazcton, postmaster at Council Bluffs.
}fnrl 4. 'I'inley and HaHleton are all menu
hel.. of the same lodge Anothe. close per-
sonal friend OF stewart, Is Ed Hart, alias
"Naterworlss" Hart. president OF the
Council Bluffs Water company. and in
tere..ted i'll the street railway. Stewart $
father was Interested In l;a practically
owned and controlled. during his lifetime,
u large ranch along tine y. T. r. X. in
Nebraska. and did a great dee. - business
with that road.
Concerning this ease tie fitted States
attorney AZ Omaha states; There are
three cases against Stewart, ono for feuc-
irg one conspiracy one perjury. ali good
cases ard chances OF conviction good.
In connection with the Nebraska prose-
cutio,, the government has by decree Sc