The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1909-01-09

ting Down OF the appropriation vitality
necessary IL the interstate commerce
commission was 10 carry into effect
the twentieth section ~ the Hepburn
law, 1 added: ~rhe provision about
the employment of the secret service
men viii work very great damage 10
the government in its endeavor to pre-
vent and punish crime. There Is ne
more foolish outcry than this against
spies Only criminals need fear our
detectives" u inclOse copy Of the
whole letter, marked Appendix @"
The postscript Is blurred ia my copy
book. and two or three OF the words
cannot be deciphered) lAppcndlx @
Is letter dated April so. zoos. from
President Roosevelt 10 Speaker Can.
non protesting against the cutting
down ia the sundry civil bin Of the an.
preparation for secret service work.
The only people benefited would be
the very worst OF the big railroad men
whose misdeeds we are trying TO pre-
vent or correct" were the words OF the
PRESIDENT These methods proved un-
availing 10 prevent the wrong. Messrs.
Tawney and Smith and their fellow
members on the appropriations com
mlttee paid no heed 10 the protests.
and as the obnoxious provision was
Incorporated IN the sundry civil bin Il
was impossible for me 20 consider or
discuss II on its merits. as l should
have done had II been I'm a separate
bill. Therefore have now taken the
only method available. that OF discuss
Ing Il In my message TO congress, and
as all efforts 10 secure what l regard
as proper treatment OF the subject
without recourse 60 plain speaking had
failed l have spoken plainly aud d.
rectly and lave set forth the facts In
explicit terms.
Here the president gives instances
IN which the secret service men have
been Instrumental In securing convic-
tons OF offenses against federal laws,
citing especially the land fraud cases.l
In connection with the Nebraska
prosecution the government has by de-
cree secured the return 20 the govern
ment OF over million acres Of graz
Ing land, IN Colorado OF more than
1000 acres Of mineral land. and suits
are now pending Involving 10000
acres more.
Departments Agents Dishonest.
All these Investigations IN the land
cases were undertaken IN consequence
OF Mr. Hitchcock. the then secretary
OF the Interior, becoming convinced
that there were extensive frauds com
mitted in his department. and the
qualifications Of the frauds were so
farreaching that he was afraid 20 trust
his own officials 10 deal In thorough
going fashion with them. one OF the
secret service men accordingly resign
cd and was appointed I'm the interior
department 10 carry on this work. The
first thing he discovered was that the
special agents division or corps OF de-
tectives OF the land office OF the inte-
rior department was largely under the
control OF the land thieves. and In con-
sequence the Investigations above re-
ferred 10 had 20 be made by secret
service men.
IN the present law. for which Messrs.
Tawney. Smith and the other gentle
men l have above mentioned are re-
sponsihle, had then been In effect this
action would have been impossible and
most OF the criminals would unques-
tlonably have escaped. No more strik-
ing instance can be Imagined Of the
desirability OF having a central corps
OF skilled investigating agents who can
at any time be assigned. II necessary
Ia large numbers. % investigate some
violation Of the federal statutes IN no
matter what branch Of the public sery
ice. In this particular case most 90
the men Investigated who were public
servants were In the executive branch
Of the government But Ia Oregon,
where an enormous acreage Of fraudu-
lently al.enatcd public land was recoy-
cred FOR the government a United
States senator. Mr.. Mitchell and a
member Of the lower house. Mr. wa
Hanson. were convicted on evidence
obtained by men transferred from the
secret service. and another member Of
congress was indicted
Stopped Naturalization Frauds.
From 1901 TO 1904 successful inyes-
tlgation OF naturalization Affairs was
made by the secret service. with the
result OF obtaining hundreds OF conyic-
lions Of consplrntors who were convict
ed OF selling fraudulent papers OF nat
urallzation. subsequently congress
passed a very wise law providing n
special service and appropriation for
the prevention ~ naturalization frauds,
but unfortunately at the same time
that the action against the secret serv-
ice was taken congress also cut down
the appropriation FOR this special serv-
ice. with the result OF gripping the
effort 10 stop frauds In naturalizntion)
The fugitives Greene and Gaynor. I'm
pilcated IN a peculiarly big government
contract fraud, were located and ar
rested IN Canada by the secret service
and thanks 10 this they have since