Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-01-04

oEcers or the navy ana members OF
congress- In column !, page 5557, he
refers only to members Of congress.
4 His speech puts most weight on the
| investigation OF members OF congress.
Newspaper Article Reproduced.
| What appears in the record Is filed
out and explained by an article which
| appeared III the Chicago Inter Ocean
Of Jan. 3, 1901, under Washington
headline and which marked the begin
ming Of this agitation against the Sc
cret service. 1t was Il special article
of about 5000 words, written, as was
then informed and low understand, by
Mr. L. w. Busbey, at that time private
secretary to the speaker of the house.
l inclose copy Of certain extracts
| from the article, marked Appendix B.
[Appendix B consists OF an article
from the Chicago Inter Ocean Of Jan.
3, 1904. In this John p. Wilkie, chief
Of the secret service of the treasury
department, Is described as ambitious
of becoming 1.-The Fouche Of the United
States" in imitation Of Fouche, chief
] Of the secret police of Napoleon I. The
article declares that the secret service
bureau exists without warrant Of con-
gressional action and that congress has
always been antagonistic to the bu-
reau.l 1t contained an utterly unwar-
ranted attack on the secret service
division Of the treasury department
and It's chief The opening paragraph
includes, for instance. statements like
the following:
| He (the chief Of the divisiou) and his
men are DESTROYS Of doing the secret de-
tective work for the whole government
| and are not particular about drawing the
{, line between the lawmakers and the law
| breakers. They are ready to shadow the
| former as well as the lattae.
Then, after saying that congress WI
insist that the men shah only be used
to stop counterfeiting, the article goes
on:
Congress does not intend to have .
Fouche or any other kind Of minister OF
| police to be used by the executive de-
partments against the Legislative branch
Of the government. It has been 80 used.
| and 1t Is suspected that 1t has been so
| used recently The legislative
branch Of the government will not toler-
ate the meddling OF detectives, whether
they represent the president. cabinet of1i-
| GERS or only themselves. Con-
gressmen resented the secret interference
| Of the secret service men who for weeks
Swallowed some Of the most respected
members OF the house and senate
When 1t was discovered that the secret
cHAdNUutVN
men there was storm OF indignation at
| the capitol. and the bureau came near
being abolished and the appropriation
| for the suppression Of counterfeittng cut
off. . At another time the chief OF
| the secret service had his men shadow
congressman with view to involving
them in scandals that would enable the
bureau to dictate to them as the price Of
silence. = The secret service men
have shown an inclination again to
| shadow members of congress, knowing
| them to be lawmakers, and this n no
| Joke. Several OF the departments have
asked congress for secret funds for in
| vestigation, and the treasury department
wants the limitation removed from the
appropriation for suppressing counter
| feiting. This shows tendency toward
| Foucheism and secret watch on other
| onicials than themselves.
| At the time Of this publication tho
work Of the secret service which was
thus assailed included especially the In
vestigation Of great land frauds in the
west and the securing Of evidence to
help the department Of Justice IN the
beef trust Investigations at Chicago.
which resulted In successful prosecu-
| tions
In view Of Mr.. Busbey's position I
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 I have fire.
quently 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. may add, by tho way. that
these allegations as to the secret serv-'
ice are wholly without foundation =
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 It mott
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 eff
feet Of benefit only to lawbreakers. I
am not now dealing with motives.
Whatever may have been the motive
that induced the, action Of which I
speak, this was beyond all question the
effect of that action. Is the house now
willing to remedy the wrong7
For long time contented myself
with endeavoring to persuade the
house not to permit the wrong, speak
ing Informally on the subject with
those members who, I believed, knew
anything Of the matter and commu-
nicating officially only IN the ordinary
channels, as through the secretary Of
rho trnasnrv In a letter tn fho aueakAr