Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-01-07
which resulted in successful prosecu-


! In view of Mr. Busbey's position l
have accepted the above quoted state
ments as fairly expressing the real
meaning and animus of the attacks
made in general terms on the use Of
the secret service for the punishment
of criminals. Furthermore, in the per-
Torrance of my duty to endeavOr to
find the feelings of congressman on
public questions of note l have fire.
guently discussed this particular mat
ter with members Of congress. and on
such occasions the reasons alleged to
me for the hostility of congress to the
secret service, both by those who did
and by those who did not share this
hostility. were almost invariably the
same as those set forth in Mr.. Busbey's
article. l may add, by the way, that
these allegations as to the secret serv-
ice are wholly without foundation in
fact.
Real Issue Named.
But all Of this is of insignificant i'm
portance compared with the main. the
real. issue. This issue is simply, Does
congress desire that the government
shall have at its disposal the most
efficient instrument for the detection
Of criminals and the prevention and
punishment Of crime. or does 1t not?
The action of the house last May was
emphatically an action against the in
terest of Justice and against the inter
est Of law abiding people and In its ef
feet Of benefit only to lawbreakers.
am not now dealing with motives.
Whatever may have been the motive
that induced the action Of which
speak. this was beyond all question the
effect Of that action. Is the house now
willing to remedy the wrong?
For long time I cOntented myself
with pndeavoring to persuade the
house not to permit the wrong, speak
Ing Informally on the subject with
those members who ! believed. knew
anything Of the matter and commu-
channels. as through the secretary of
the treasury. In a letter to the speaker
IN April 30 protesting against the cut
ting down Of the appropriation vitality
| IL
commission was - carry into effect
the twentieth section of the Hepburn
law. | added: "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 cutlery than this against
| St,in nj NJ Il.
detectives" Il 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 deciphercd.) Appendix &
is letter dated April 30 1908. from
President Roosevelt to Speaker Can
non protesting against the cutting
down in the sundry civil bill of the ap-
preparation for secret service work
THE only people benefited would be
the very worst of the big railroad men
whose miSdecdS we are trying to pre-
vent or correct" were the words of HE
president. These Methods proved I'M
availing to prevent the wrong. Messrs.
Tawney and Smith and their fellow
members Oh the appropriations COM
mittee paid no heed to the protests,
and as the obnoxious provision was
Incorporated in the sundry civil bill it
was impossible for me to consider or
! discuss 1t on its merits. as l should
have done had it been in Il separate
bill. Therefore l have now taken the
only method available. that of discuss
| ing 1t In my message to congress. and
. as all efforts to secure what ! regard
+! as proper treatment of the subject
without recourse to plain speaking had
failed ! have spoken plainly and di-
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 n million acres Of graz
ing land, in Colorado Of more than
1900 acres Of mineral land and suits
are now pending involving 10000
acres more.
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
mitted in his department. and the
ramitications 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
cd 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 inte
rior department was largely under the
control of the land thieves, and in con-
sequence the Investigations above re-
ferred to had to he made by secret
service men
If the present law. for which Messrs.
Tawney, Smith and the other gentle