The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1909-01-04

TO the advantage Of violators Of crimi
nal statutes of the United States'
call attention to the Fact that in this
letter of Secretary Cortelyou to Mr.
Tawney, as in my letter to the speaker
quoted below. the explicit statement
is made that the proposed change will
be for the benefit of the criminals,
statement which simply reiterated in
public form in my message to the con-
gress this year and which is also con-
tanned in effect in the report of the
secretary OF the treasury to the con-
gress.
"Private Conduct" of Members.
A careful reading of the Congression-
al Record will also show that practical
ly the only arguments advanced in IA
vor of the limitation proposed by Mr..
Tawney's committee beyond what may
be supposed to be contained by impli- =.
cation In certain sentences as to
abuses which were not specified
were those contained in the repeated
statements Of Mr.. Sherley. Mr.. Sher-
ley stated that there had been "pro-
nounced 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 ''mem-
bers of congress, senator's and others
ought not to be Investigated by the
secret service and that they should
not investigate a "member Of con-
gress" who had been accused of "con-
duct unbecoming gentleman and a
member of congress-" In addition to
these assertions, couched as questions,
he made one positive declaration that
this secret service at one time was
used for the purpose of looking into
the personal conduct Of a member Of
congress-" This argument Of Mr.. Sher-
ley, the only real argument as to the
merits of the question made on behalf
Of the committee on appropriations,
will be found in columns 1 and 2 Of
page 5556 and column 1 Of page 5557
of the Congressional Record. In col
! umn 1 Of page 5000 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 he refers to
officers Of the navy and members Of
congress. In column 1, page 5557, he
refers only to members of congress.
His speech puts most weight on the
investigation Of members Of congress.
Newspaper Article Reproduced,
What appears in the record is filled
out and explained by an article which
appeared in the Chicago Inter Ocean
of Jan. 3, 1904, under Washington
headline and which marked the begin
ming of this agitation against the Sc
cret service. 1t was a special article
Of about 5000 words, written, as was
then Informed and now understand, by
Mr.. L. W. Busbey, at that time private
secretary to the speaker of the house.
inclose a copy Of certain extracts
from the article; marked Appendix B.
GAppendiX 3 consists of an article
from the Chicago Inter Ocean Of Jan.
3, 1904. In this John e. Wilkie, chief
Of the secret service Of the treasury
department, is described as ambitious
Of becoming "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 antagonist1c to the bu-
reau.] It contained an utterly unwar-
ranted 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 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 the latter.
insist that the men shall only be used
to stop counterfeiting, the article goes
on:
Congress does not intend to have a
Fouche or any other kind of minister of
police to be used by tho executive de-
partments against the legislative 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 government will not toler-
ate the meddling of detectives, whether
they represent the president, cabinet off,
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 It was discovered that the secret
service men were shadowing congress-
men there was a storm Of indignation at
the capitol and the bureau came near
being abolished and the appropriation
for the suppression Of counterfeiting cut
off. At another time the chief Of
the secret service had his men shadow
congressman with q 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 is 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
fe1ting. This shows a tendency toward
Foucheism and a secret watch on other
officials than themselves.
At the time Of this publication the
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