The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-01-08
ting down of the appropriation vitality

ting down OF the appropriation vitality
necessary II the Interstate commerce
commission was to carry into effect
the twentieth section of the Hepburn
law. / added: 1.-The provision about
the employment Of the secret service
men will work very great damage TO
the government In its endeavor TO pre-
vent and punish crime. There is no
| more foolish outcry than this against
] spies Only criminals need fear our
detectives" q inclose copy OF the
| whole letter, marked Appendix c."
| The postscript is blurred in my copy
book, and two or three of the words
cannot be deciphered.) [Appendix 9
is letter dated April 80, 1908, from
President Roosevelt to Speaker Can
non protesting against the cutting
| down In the sundry civil bill of the APP
preparation for secret service work.
1.-The only people benefited would be
| the very worst of the big railroad men
whose misdeeds we are trying to pre-
vent or correct" were the words of the
PRESIDENT These methods proved I'M
availing to prevent the wrong. Messrs.
Tawney and Smith and their fellow
members on the appropriations COM
mittee paid no heed to the protests,
and as the obnoxious provision was
incorporated in the sundry civil bill 1t
was impossible for rue to consider or
discuss 1t on its merits, as l should
have done had It been i'll a separate
bill. Therefore 1 have now taken the
only method available, that of discuss
ing it in my message to congress, and
as all efforts to secure what l regard
as proper treatment of the subject
without recourse to plain speaking had
failed l have spoken plainly and d.
rectly and have set forth the facts in
explicit terms.
Here the president gives instances
in which the secret service men have
been instrumental in securing convic-
tons Of offenses against federal laws,
citing especially the land fraud cases
In connection with the Nebraska
prosecution the government has by de.
cree secured the return to the govern
ment Of over million acres Of graz
ing land, in Colorado of more than
1000 acres Of mineral land, and suits
are now pending involving 10000
acres mere.
Departments Agents Dishonest.
All these investigations in the land
cases were undertaken in consequence
Of Mr.. Hitchcock, the then. secretary
Of the interior. becoming convinced
that there were extensive frauds COM
mittcd in his department. and the
qualifications Of the frauds were so
farreaching that he was afraid to trust
his own officials to deal In thorough
going fashion with them. One Of the
secret service men accordingly resign
ed and was appointed in the interior
department to carry on this work. The
first thing he discovered was that the
special agents division or corps of de-
tectives of the land Office of the int
rior department was largely under the
control of the land thieves, and in con-
sequence the Investigations above re-
ferred to had to be made by secret
service men.
If the present law, for which Messrs.
Tawney, Smith and the other gentle
men 1 have above mentioned are re-
sponsible, had then been in effect this
action would have been impossible and
most of the criminals would unques-
tionably have escaped. No more strik-
ing instance can be imagined of the
desirability Of having a central corps
of skilled Investigating agents who can
at any time be assigned, If necessary
in large numbers, to investigate some
violation of the federal statutes. in no
matter what branch of the public serv-
ice. In this particular case most of
the men Investigated who were public
servants were in the executive branch
Of the government But in Oregon,
where an enormous acreage of fraudu-
lently alienated public land was recov-
cred for the government, a United
States senator, Mr.. Mitchell, and a
member of the lower house, Mr.. Will
hanson, were convicted on evidence
obtained by men transferred from the
secret service, and another member of
congress was indicted.
Stopped Naturalization Frauds.
From 1901 to 1904 q successful inves-
tigation of naturalization affairs was
made by the secret service. with the
result of obtaining hundreds of convic-
tons of conspirators who were convict
ed Of selling fraudulent papers Of nat
uralization. subsequently congress
passed very wise law providing n
special service and appropriation for
the prevention Of naturalization frauds,
but unfortunately at the same time
that the action against the secret serv
Ice was taken congress also cut down |
the appropriation for this special serv-
ice with the result of gripping the |
effort to stop frauds In Naturalization |
The fugitives Greene and Gaynor. i'm |
plicated in n peculiarly big government
contract fraud, were located and ar
rested In Canada by the secret service |
and, thanks to this, they have since |
gone to prison for their crimes.
The secret service was used to assist
in the investigation of crimes under
the peonage laws, and owing partly |
thereto numerous convictions were Sc
cured and the Objectionable practice |
was practically stamped out, at least
in many districts. The most extensive
of eilly and oniiIm In tho