The Glenwood post., 1909-01-09

''Mr. eherley stated that there had
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 a 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 q member Of
congress who had been accused of con-
duct unbecominE a gentleman and .
member of congress- In addition to these
assertions couched as 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
gumcnt of Mr.. Sherley, the only real ar
gument as to the merits of the question
made on behalf Of the committee on ap-
preparations, will be found in columns 1
and of page 5S5S. and column l of page
5557 Of the Congressional Record. In col
umn of page 6656 Mr.. Sherley refers to
the improperly Of permitting the secret
service men to investigate men In the
departments. ofhcers of the army and
navy and members of congress: in COL
umn 1. page 5557. he refers only to mem
pers or 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 ap-
peared in the Chicago Inter-ocean OF
January 3. 1904. under Washington
headline, and which marked the begin
nins OF this agitation against the secret
service 1t was special article of about
5,ooo words. written. as I was then in
formed and now understand, by Mr.. L.
w. Busbey, at that time private secretary
talned an utterly unwarranted attack on
the 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 assailed, included especially the in
Vestisation of great land frauds in the
west. and the securing of evidence to
ne'p the department of justice In the
beef trust Investigations at Chicago.
which resulted in successful prosecutions,
Efforts to Kill Move
Found to Be Unavaiiino
These methods proved unavaiiinR to
prevent the wrong. Messrs Tawney and
Smith. and their fellow members on tho
appropriations committee paid no heed to
the protests; and as the obnoxious pro-
vision was Incorporated in the sundry
civil bill. 1t was impossible for me to con-
slder or discuss 1t on its merits as
should have done had 1t been in a sep
arate bill. Therefore I have now taken
the only method available. that of dis
cussing IT in my message to congress. and
AS All eHorts to secure what | regard as
proper treatment of the subject without
recourse to plain speaking had failed.
nave spoken plainly and directly and
nave set forth the facts in explicit terms.
since lsol the Investigations covered
py the secret service division-under the
practice which had been for many years
recognized as proper and legitimate, and
winch had received the sanction of the
highest law officers of the government
have covered wide range of ofYenses
against the federal law. By far the most
important of these related to the public
domain. as to which there was un-
covered far-reaching and widespread
system or fraudulent transactions inyoly-
ing both the Illegal acquisition and the
illegal fencing of government land and,
IN connection with both these offenses,
the crimes of perjury and subornation 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 dificult
but dangerous. In Colorado one of the
secret service men was assassina.ed.
Instances in Which
Secret Service Starred,
I'm connection with the Nebraska prose-
cution 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
tt,In rtnlr
OF Mr.. Hitchcock, the then secretary
OF the interior, becoming convinced that
there were extensive frauds committed
In his department; and the ramncations
OF the frauds were SO far-reaching that
he was afraid to trust his own officials
TO deal in thoroughgoing fashion with
them. One of the secret service men ac-
cordingly 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.
"If the present law. for which Messrs.
Tawney, Smith, and the other gentle.
men l have above mentioned are respon-
sible. had then been in effect, this ac-
tion would have been impossible and
most of the criminals would unquestion-
ably have escaped. No more striking in
stance can be imagined of the desirable
ity of having a central corps OF skilled
investigating agents who can at any time
be assigned, IL necessary in large num-
bers, to investigate some violation of the
federal statutes. in no 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 enormous acreage
of fraudulently alienated public land was
recovered for the government. United
States senator, Mr.. Mitchell. and a MEM
Der 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