River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-01-07
INT sherley stated that Their, naA


'.Mr. Sherley stated that there haa
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 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
vestigated by the secret service, and that
they should not investigate member OF
congress- who had been accused of con-
duct unbecoming gentleman and
member Of congress- In addition TO theee
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 a member of congress- This ar
| gument 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 Re found in columns 1
and of page 5556, and column 1 of page
| 5557 of the Congressional Record. In col
| umn 1 of page 5556 Mr.. Sherley refers to
| the improperly of permitting the secret
| service men to investigate men in the
departments, officers of the army and
navy and members of congress; in col
| uTnn i, page 5557, he refers only to mem
| bers of congress. His speech puts most
weight on the investigation of members
of congress.
| out and explained by an article which ap-
| peared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean of
| January 3, 1904 under a Washington
| headline, and which marked the begin
| ming of this agitation against the secret
service. 1t was a special article Of about
| 3OOO words, written, as I was then in
formed and now understand, by Mr. L.
{ w. Busbey at that time private secretary
; to the speaker of the house 1t con-
/ talned an utterly unwarranted attack on
yhe secret service division Of the treas
hry department and its chief.
AT the time of this publication the
york OF the secret service, which was
| th2s assailed, included especially the in
| Vese- gation of great land frauds in the
west, and the securing of evidence to
nelp the department of justice in the
beef-trust Investigations at Chicago.
which resulted in successful prosecutions.
Efforts to Kill Move
Found to Be UnavaiIinq.
These methods proved unavailng to
| prevent the wrong. Messrs. Tawney and
Smith, and their fellow members on the
appropriations committee paid no heed to
the protests; and as the obnoxious pro-
! vision was incorporated in the sundry
civil Dill, 1t was impossible for me to con-
slder or discuss it on it's merits as
should have done had it been in a sep
arate bill. Therefore 1 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 without
recourse to plain speaking had failed, I
nave spoken plainly and directly and
nave set forth the facts in explicit terms
Since 1901 the Investigations covered
by the secret service division-under the
practice which had been for many years
recognized as proper and legitimate, and
which had received the sanction Of tho
| highest law officers of the government.
| have covered a wide range of offenses
| against the federal law. BY far the most
important of these related to the public
domain, as to which there was I'M
covered far-reaching and widespread
| system of fraudulent transactions involy-
| 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 1awless
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
'Tn connection with the Nebraska prose-
cution the government has by decree Sc
cured the return to the government of
over 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 We're undertaken in consequence
| of Mr.. Hitchcock, the then secretary
| of the interior, becoming convinced that
| there were extensive frauds committed
| in his department; and the ranlifcations
| of the frauds We're 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 I'M
| der the control of the land thieves; and
! in consequence the Investigations above
referred to had to be made by secret
service men.
eff the present law, for which Messrs
| Tawney, Smith, and the other gentle-
men 1 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 imagined of the desirable
| ity of having a 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 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 an enormous acreage
| of fraudulently alienated public land was
recovered for the government, a United
| States senator, Mr.. Mitchell, and men,
| 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
| dicted."
Chief Asks for Reversal
of Action Of Solons.
The president then gave a number of
| other instances. all of which tend to
| point out the efficiency of the secret
! service and he concludes:
"In conclusion, I most earnestly ask, in
| the name of good government and de-