Willmar tribune., 1909-01-13

'1lr. 9herley stated that there hal
been pronounced abuses growing out Of
the use Of the secret service for purposes
other than those intended putting his
statement In the form Of q question. and
In the same form further stated that the
private conduct Of members of congress-.
senator's and others ought not to be in
vestiEated by the secret service, and that
they should not investigate member Of
congress who had been accused Of con-
duct unbecoming q gentleman and .
member of congress- In addition to these
assertions couched az questions, he made
one positive declaration, that This secret
service at one time was used for the pur-
pose Of looking nito the personal con-
duct Of q member of congress- This ar
gument of Mr. sherley the only real ar
gument az to the merits Of the question
made on behalf Of the committee on ap-
propriations will be found in columns /
and of page 5556. and column l Of page
5557 of the Congressional Record In col
umn Of page 5556 Mr.. Sherley refers to
the improperly Of permitting the secret
service men to investigate men In tho
departments. officers of the army and
navy and members of congress; in COL
umn ]. page 5557, he refers only to men,
bers OF congress. His speech puts most
weight on the investigation Of members
of congress-.
what appears in the record is filled
| out and explained by an article which an
peared In the Chicago Inter-Ocean of
January 3. 1904. under a Washington
headline. and which marked the begin
mns OF this agitation against the secret
service. 1t was special article of about
| 5000 words. written, as I was then in
| formed and now understand, by Mr.. L.
| w. busbey. at that time private secretary
| 10 the speaker Of the house. 1t con-
talned an utterly unwarranted attack on
tne secret service division of the treas
| ury department and its chief
| AT the time Of this publication the
| work OF the secret service, which was
| thus assalled, included especially the in
| Vestlgatlon of great land frauds in the
west, and the securing of evidence to
neip the department of justice in the
| peel-trust investigations at Chicago.
winch resulted in successful prosecutions.
Efforts to Kill Move
| Found to Be UnavaiIinu.
These methods proved unavailing to
| prevent the wrong. Messrs Tawnev and
Smith, and their fellow members on the
appropriations committee paid no heed to
'ne protests; and as the obnoxious pro-
! VISION was Incorporated in the sundry
| clVll OIL, 1t was impossible for me to con-
slder or discuss it on it's merits, as
should have done had 1t been In a sep-
arate DILL Therefore I have now taken
the only method available, that of dis
cusslng 1t in my message to congress; and
as all efforts to secure what I regard as
| proper treatment Of the subject withont
recourse to plain speaking had failed
nave spoken plainly and directly. and
nave set forth the facts in explicit terms
since 1901 the Investigations covered
oy the secret service division-under the
practice which had been for many wears
recognized as proper and legitimate, and
ho
h1ghest law officers of the government
nave covered a wide range of offcnses
against the federal law. BY far the most
| important of these related to the public
domain, as to which there was un-
covered a far-reachng and widespread
system or fraudulent transactions involv-
ing both the illegal acquisition and the
illegal fencing of government land: and,
IN connection with both these offenses.
the crimes Of perjury and subornution of
| perjury. Some OF the persons involved
in these violations were of great wealth
and of wide political and social influence
! Both their corporate associations and
their political affiliations, and the lawless
character of some of their employees
made the Investigations not only difficult
but dangerous. In Colorado one of the
secret service men was assassinated.
Instances in Which
Secret Service Starred.
I'm connection with the Nebraska prose-
cutlon the government has by decree Sc
cured the return to the government of
over a million acres of grazing land;
IN Colorado of more than 1900 acres of
mineral land, and suits are now pending
involving 10000 acres more
"All these investigations in the land
cases were undertaken in consequence
of Mr.. Hitchcock. the then secretary
or the interior, becoming convinced that
there We're extensive frauds committed
IN his department.; and the ramifcations
OF the frauds were so far-reac ching that
he was afraid to trust his own officials
to deal in thoroughgoing fashion with
them. One of the secret service men ac-
| cordlngly resigned 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 detectives of the land Office OF
the interior department was largely un-
der the control of the land thieves; and
in consequence the investigations above
referred to had to be made by secret
| service men.
''1f the present law, for which Messrs
| Tawney, Smith, and the other gentle
men have above mentioned are respon.
sible, had then been in effect, this ac-
ton would have been impossible, and
most Of the criminals would unquestion-
ably have escaped. No more striking in.
stance can be magined of the desirable
ity of having central corps of skilled
investigating agents who can at any time
be assigned, If necessary in large num-
bers, to investigate some violation of the
federal statutes. in matter what
branch of the public service. In this par
ticular 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 fraudulently alienated public land was
recovered for the government, a United
States senator, Mr.. Mitchell, and mem.
ber Of the lower house, Mr.. Williamson,
were convicted on evidence obtained by
men transferred from the secret service.
| and another member of congress was in.
! dicted."
Chief Asks for Reversal
Of Action Of Solons
The president then gave a number OF
other instances, all Of which tend tc
point out the efficiency of the secret
! service, and he concludes:
| "In conclusion, most earnestly ask IN
the name of good government and de-
cent administration. in the name of hon.
esty and for the purpose of bringing
| to justice violators of the federal laws
wherever they may be found, whether in
| public private life, that the action
taken by the house last year be reversed.
When this action was taken, the senate
committee, under the lead of the late
strongly protest from Secretary
Cortelyou like that he had sent to Mr..
TaWney, accepted the secretarys views:
and the senate passed the bill in the