The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-04

| is made that the proposed change will
| be for the benefit of the criminals, a
statement which I simply reiterated in
public form in my message to the
] congress this year, and which is also
, contained in effect in the report of the
secretary of the treasury to the con-
gress.
careful reading of the Congress
| sionaI Record will also show that prac-
t1cally the only arguments advanced in
| favor of the limitation proposed by Mr..
| Tawney's committee, beyond what may
| be supposed to be contained by implica-
ton in certain sentences as to abuses
which were not specified were those
contained in the repeated statements of
Mr.. Sherley. Mr.. Sherley, stated that
there had been pronounced abuses
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
Investigated by the secret service, and
that they should not investigate a
member of congress- who had been
accused of conduct unbecoming a gen.
tleman and a member of congress- In
addition to these assertions couched as
questions he made one positive declar-
alton, that This secret service at one
time was used for the purpose of look
ing into the personal conduct of a
member of congress- This argument
of Mr.. Sherley the only real argument
as to the merits of the question made
on behalf of the committee on appro-
pr1atiOnS will be found in columns !
and of page 5,556, and column 1 OF
page 5,557 of the Congressional Record
In column 1 of page 1866 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 senators and con-
gressmen; in column 2 he refers to Of
ficers of the navy and members of con-
gress; in column 1, page 5,557, he re-
fers only to members of congress. His
speech puts most weight on the investi-
cation of members of congress.
Where 1t Started.
What appears in the record is filled
out and explained by an article which
appeared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean
OF January 3, 1904, under a Washing
ton headline, and which marked the
beginning of this agitation against the
secret service. 1t was special article
OF about 5000 words, written, as 1 was
then informed and now understand, by
Mr. L. w Rusbey, at that time pri-
vate secretary to the speaker of the
house. l inclose a copy of certain ex-
tracts from the article, marked APP
pendfx B. 1t contains an utterly un-
warranted attack on the secret service
division OF the treasury department
and its chief The opening paragraph
includes. for instance, statements like
the following:
He (the chief of the division) and
his men are DESTROYS of doing the Sc
cret detective work for the whole gov
eminent and are not particular about
drawing the line between the lawmak-
ers and the lawbreakers They are
ready to shadow the former as we'll as
the latter
Then, after saying that congress will
insist that the men shall only be used
to stop counterfeiting, the article goes
on:
Congress does not intend to have
Fouche or any other kind of a min
ister of police to be used by the execu-
tive departments against the legisla-
tive branch of the government. It has
been so used, and it is suspected that
it has been so used recently.
The legislative branch of the govern
ment will not tolerate the meddling of
detectives, whether they represent the
president, cabinet officers, or only
themselves COnereSsme on
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 it was discovered that the
secret service men We're ShadOWing