Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-04


| there has been no single inst
term as President.
| of the secret service, which was thus as
sailed, included especially the investiga-
| ton of great land frauds in the west ana
| the securing of evidence to help the De
partment of Justice in the beef trust IN
vestigations at Chicago. which resulted
| in successful prosecutions.
Animus Of Attacks.
| In view of Mr. Busbey's position. have
accepted the above quoted statements as
| fairly expressing the real meaning and
| animus of the attacks made In general
terms on the use of the secret service for
| the punishment of criminals. Further
more, in the performance of my duty, to
| endeavor to find the feelings of congress
| men on public questions of note, L nave
| frequently discussed this particular mat
| ter with members of Congress; and on
| such occasions the reasons alleged to me
| for the hostility 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 in Mr.. Busbey's article. may
add, by the way. that these allegations as
| to the secret service are wholly without
| foundation in fact
| But all of this is Of insignificant i'm
| portance compared with the main, the
| real issue This issue Is simply, Does
CONGRESS desire that the government shall
| have at it's disposal the most efficient In
strument for the detection of criminals
and the prevention and punishment or
crime, or does it not? The action OF the
| House last May was emphaticaliy an &C
| ton against the interest Of Justice and
against the interest of law abiding people.
and in its effect of benefit only to law
breakers.
Question to the House.
I am now dealing with motives; what
ever may have been the motive that in
duced the action of which 1 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 myself with
endeavoring to persuade the House not
to permit the wrong, speaking informally
| on the subject with those members VINO.
| I Believed. knew anything of the matter.
| and communicating officially only in the
ordinary channels. as through the Sec
| rotary of the Treasury. In a letter to the
cutting down of the appropriation vitality
| necessary If 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 government in
| its endeavor to prevent and punish crime
| There is no more foolish cutlery than this
| against Spies only criminals need fear
| our detectives" q inclose copy of me
whole letter. marked "Appendix c. The
postscript is blurred in my copybook. ana
| two or three of the words cannot be de-
| ciphered)
| These methods proved unavailing 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 bill it was impossible for me to con-
slider or discuss it on its merits, as 1
should have done had it been in a sepa-
| rate bill. Therefore I have now taken
| the only method available, that Of discus
| sing it in my message to Congress: and as
all efforts to secure what l regard as
proper treatment of the subject without
recourse to plain speaking had failed, I
have spoken plainly and directly. and
have set forth the facts in explicit terms.
Work Of Secret Service.
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 the
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 uncovered
| far-reaching and widespread system Of
| fraudulent transactions involving both
| the illegal acquisition and the illegal fenc-
| ing of government land: and, In connec-
ton 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 po-
| litical affiliations, and the lawless char
acter of some of their employees made the
| Investigations not only difficult but dan
gerouS.
| In Colorado one of the secret service
men was assassinated. In Nebraska it
| was necessary to remove United States
| attorney and a United States marshal be-
| fore satisfactory progress could be made
| in the prosecution of the Offenders.
| The evidence in all these cases was
| chiefly secured by the men trained in the
secret service and detailed to the Depart
| ment of Justice at the request of that
department and of the Department of the
| Interior. In the state of Nebraska alone
| sixty defendants were indicted; and of
| the thirty-two cases thus far brought to
| trial twenty eight have resulted in con-
yiction two of the principals, Messrs.
Comstock and Richards men of wealth
| and wide influence, being sentenced to
| twelve months in Jail and fined 81 500
each.
Details Of One Case.
| The following secret service memoran-
dunn. made in the course of a pending
case, illustrates the ramifications Of in
! terest with which the government has to
| deal
Charles T. Stewart of Council Bluffs
| was indicted at Omaha for conspiracy
| to defraud the government of the title
to public lands in Mcpherson county,
| Neb.; also indicted Tor MAINTAINING an
| unlawful Enclosure of the public lands,
and also under Indictment for perjury
in connection with final proof submitted
by him on lands filed on by him a
homestead. In his final proof he swOre
that he and his family had resided on
the lands in Mcpherson county (Which
are within his unlawful inclosure), when
as matter Of fact his family has at