The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1909-01-05

congressman on public questions Oh
note | have frequently discussed this
particular matter with members OF
congress. and on such occasions the
reasons alleged to me for the hostill-
~ 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 i'm Mr.. Busbey's artl-
Gle. may add, by the way, that
these allegations as TO the secret SER
vice are wholly without foundation
in fact
But all of this is of insignificant
importance compared with the main.
the real issue. This issue is simply,
Does congress desire that the govern
ment shall have at its disposal the
most efficient instrument for the de-
lection of criminals and the proven
ton and punishment of crime. or
does il not? The action of the house
last May was emphatically an action
against the interest of justice and
against the interest OF law abiding
people, and in its effect OF benefit
only to lawbreakers. am not now
have been the motive that induced
the action of which | speak, this was
beyond all question the effect of that
action. Is the house now willing TO
remedy the wrong
For a long time | contented my
self with endeavoring to persuade
the house not to permit the wrong,
speaking informally ON the subject
with those members who. | believed,
knew anything of the matter. and
communicating officially only in the
ordinary channels, as through the
secretary Of the treasury. In let
ter TO the speaker on April 80, pro-
testing against the cutting down of
the appropriation vitality necessary II
the interstate commerce commission
was to carry into effect the twentieth
section of the Hepburn law. | added:
The provision about the employ
ment of the secret service men Will
work very great damage to the gov
eminent in its endeavor TO prevent
and punish crime. There Is no more
foolish cutlery than this against
spies; only criminals need fear our
detectives II inclose copy of the
whole letter marked Appendix {.
The postscript is blurred in my copy
book, and two or three of the words
can not be deciphered. These
methods proved unayailing to prevent
the wrong. Messrs. Tawney and
Smith. and their fellow members on
the appropriation committee paid no
heed to the protests; and as the OBJ
noxious provision was Incorporated
i'm the sundry civil bill, il was inn
possible for me 10 consider or dis
cuss it on its merits. as | should
have done had it been in "A separate
bill. Therefore | have now taken the
only method available, that of dis
cussing ii in my message to congress;
and as all efforts TO secure what
regarded as proper treatment of the
subject without recourse to plain
speaking had failed | have spoken
plainly and directly, and have set
forth the facts in explicit terms.
In connection with the Nebraska
prosecution the government has by
decree secured the return to the gov
eminent of over a million acres OF
grazing land. in Colorado Of more
than 1000 acres of mineral land,
and suits are now pending involving
1900 acres more.
All these Investigations in the land
cases were undertaken in conse-
auence of Mr. Hitchcock, the then
secretary of The interior becoming
convinced that there We're extensive
frauds committed in his department;
and the qualifications of the frauds
were so far-reaehing that he was
afraid to trust his own officials to
deal in thoroughgoing fashion with
them. One of the secret service men
accordingly resigned and was appoint
ed in the interior department to ear
ry 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 de-
partment was largely under the con
troll of The land thieves. and i'm con
sequence the Investigations above re-
ferred to had 10 be made by secret
service men
II the present law for which
Messrs. Tawney. Smith and the
other gentlemen | have above men
toned are responsible, had then been
in effect. this action would have
been impossible. and most of the
criminals would unQuestionably
have escaped. No more striking in
stance can be imagined of the desir
ability of having a central corps Of
skilled investigating agents who can
at any time be assigned. If neces-
sary in large numbers. TO investigate
some violation OF the federal stat
utes, in no matter what branch of
the public service In this particu-
lar case most of the men inyestigat-
ed who were public servants were in
the executive branch of the govern
ment. But in Oregon, where an
enormous acreage of fraudulently
alienated public land was recovered
for the government a United States
senator, Mr.. Mitchell. aud a member
OF the lower house Mr.. Williamson,
were convicted on evidence obtained
by men transferred from the secret