The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1909-01-08

the work of the secret service . .
This excelien: work was accomplished by
Mr.. Wilkie and his subordinates. L
thought II might be timely to recall this
prosecution.
Lottery Cases and Others.
Three hundred thousand dollars In
, fines were collected by the govern
ment In the lottery cases. Again, the
ink contract fraud In the bureau Of
engraving and printing "a bureau Of
the treasury departmentl was investi-
gated by the secret service and the
guilty parties brought to justice. Mr..
Tawney stated In the debate that this
was not Investigated by the secret serv-
ice. but by clerk down there" con-
veying the impression that the clerk
was not in the secret service. AS
matter of fact, he was In the secret
service. His name was Moran, and
he was promoted to assistant chief
for the excellence of his work in this
case. The total expense for the office
and field force of the secret service
last year was $135,OOO and by this
one investigation they saved to the
government over 100000 year.
Thanks to the restriction imposed by
congress, 1t is now very difficult for
the secretary of the treasury to use
the secret service freely even in his
own Experimentation instance, to use
them to repeat what they did so adj
mirably In the case of this ink con-
tract. The government is further Grip
pied by the law forbiddCg it to en-
ploy detective agencies. OF course the
government can detect the most dan
gerous crimes and punish the worst
criminals only by the use either Of the
secret service or Of private detectives.
To hamper it in using the one and for
bid it to resort to the other can inure
to the benefit Of none save the crimi-
nails.
Secretary Cortelyou Sustained.
The facts above given show beyond
possibility of doubt that what the sec
rotary Of the treasury and had both
written prior to the enactment Of the
obnoxious provision and what have
since written in my message to the
congress state the facts exactly as
they are. The obnoxious provision is
of benefit only to the criminal class
and can be Of benefit only to the Grim
inal class. If it had been embodied in
the law at the time when 1 became
president, all the prosecutions above
mentioned and many others of the
same general type would either not
have been undertaken or would have
been undertaken with the government
at great disadvantage, and many
and probably most of the chief offend
ers would have gone scot free instead
of being punished for their crimes
Such a body as the secret service,
such body of trained investigating
agents, occupying n permanent posi-
ton in the government service and
separate from local Investigating forces
in different departments, is an absolute
necessity IL the best work is to be
done against criminals. 1t is by far
the most efficient instrument possible
to use against crime. OF course the
more efficient an instrument is the
more dangerous 1t Is if misused. To
the argument that force like this
can be misused 1t is only necessary to
answer that the condition Of it's use
fulness IL handled properly Is that it
shall be so efficient as to be dangerous
IL handled improperly. Any instance
of abuse by the secret service or other
investigating force in the departments
should be unsparingly punished, and
congress should hold itself ready at
any and all times to investigate the
executive departments whenever there
is reason to believe that any such in
stance of abuse has occurred l wish
to emphasize my more than cordial ac-
quiescence in the view that this is not,
only the right of congress, but en-
phatically its duty. To use the secret
service in the investigation of purely
private or political matters would be
gross abuse. But there has been no
single instance of such abuse during
my term as president.
The Presidents Appeal.
In conclusion, 1 most earnestly ask
In the name of good government and
decent administration, in the name of
honesty and for the purpose of bring
ing to justice violators of the federal
laws wherever they may be found,
whether in public or 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 Senator Allison, hav-
ing before it Il strongly worded protest
appendix ID from Secretary Cortel-
you like that he had sent to Mr.. Taw-
ney, accepted the secretary's views,
and the senate passed the bill in the
shape presented by Senator Allison.
In the conference. however. the house
conferees insisted on the retention of
the provision they had inserted, and
the senate yielded. [Appendix ID con-
sists Of letter from Secretary Cortel-
you to the late William B. Allison.
chairman of the senate committee on
appropriations, dated May 5, 1908. In
1t the secretary protests vigorously
against the amendment to the sundry
civil bill prohibiting the payment OF
"any person detailed or transferred
from the secret service division" He
gives reasons for such details and in
an appendix cites instances in which
the secret service men have been de-