The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-22


over of this Increase. considerably over
half was in the number of men used in
securing the punishment of violatoTs
of the internal revenue laws, matter
wholly outside of that discussed by any
of the gentlemen who have objected to
the use of the secret service. The re-
naming increase is due to such causes
as the natural growth of the postoffice.
appointment of individuals to enforce
the pure food and the meat inspection
laws, the more rigorous enforcement of
the safety appliance act, the suppress
sion OF the liquor traffic among the In
dams. the protection OF the public lands
and the timber and the like.
Misleading Terms.
Il call your especial attention to the
fact that the great majority of these
men are not primarily or mainly, or in
deed ordinarily engaged on secret SER
vice or criminal investigation or in
spection work at all: have employed
these terms merely because they were
so employed by members of your COM
mittee and others in the course of the
debates in the house and senate, but
they are entirely misleading in so far
as they give an impression that the
chief work of the men mentioned was
of he character assigned ii by Senator
Hemenway and others in the quota
lions given above and in similar state
pents- As regards nineteen-twentieths
of these men, the proportion of their
time given to secret service work or
criminal investigation is altogether in
significant, and is only an occasional
incident to their ordinary duties.
ITO speak of these men as having
become an army or as three thousand
meg engaged in secret service and sim
liar work, is comicaily out of accord
with the actual facts. The increase was
200 men, of whom but a score or two
are habitually engaged in secret ser
vice work As for the amount expended.
the statements in the debate in both
houses are so exaggerated as to bear no
reference whatever to the actual figures.
Thus ii was stated that tWo-thirds of
the money appropriated for the depart
ment OF justice was spent in criminal
investigation. AS a matter of fact, the
attorney general reports to me that the
appropriation so spent. construed on the
most liberal possible basis, was in fact
one and seven-tentns per cent. so that
the statement in question was thirty
Iold eXaggeratiOn. In the same it was
stated that 10000, 600 Cor as one gentle
man put it, that 500 00O. OOO) represented
NAtN aAttOAiflt C8VtiiUCu lot InlS secret
service work, while the totals of an
other set of figures amount to s32. 900
600 as money which could have been ex-
pended for such work. A ia bic carefully
compiled covering all the departments,
shows that the amount actually ex-
pended during the first six months of
the present fiscal year in all work that
can by any possibility be considered to
come under the heading was little less
than s764,000, an estimated total for the
entire fiscal year of approximately
sl,60O,O00, which goes to show that the
statements referred to contain ONLY
from to Il per cent of warrant in fact.
Hemenway's Error.
Senator Hemenway quoted the sec
rotary of the interior as the authority
for the statement that but one secret
service man was ever detailed to the
interior department. This statement
or Senator Hemenway is especially
misleading. The secret service men
were used in the interior department
cases at the request of the secretary of
the interior, but for convenience in
operation they were assigned to and
paid by the department of Justice. This
has been set forth with the utmost
elearness again and again in the reports
OF the interior department AS prose-
cutlons had to be carried on by the de-
partment of justice, il was desira BILE
that the secret service men should
work with and under the department
of justice officials BY turning to the
list to which I have already alluded
you will see that in the year 1907 the
department of justice. on Jan. ). asked
for one man in a land fraud case; that
on Jan. p il asked for five men to be
detailed for tim FRY nd
Jan. 30. four additional men to assist in
land frauds Investigations: on Feb. %
six men; on March 4, two more men;
on April ,, three more men: on April
TO. six more men: on May 2S and June
10, one additional man; on Aug. >, three
additional men. These men were not
assigned to the interior department
but they weTd used for the interior de-
partment cases under the department
Of justice. How such officers dis
charged THEN duties in previous case
of which 1 happen to have personal
knowledge, is shown by the following
Letter:
Nebraska Cases.
" Department of Justice. Dec. IS. 1906.
4" To the Chief Of the United States Sc
cret Service, Washington, D. c.:
'Sir-The department is in receipt
of a letter, dated the 21st inst. from
the United States attorney for the dis
trict OF Nebraska, representing the
trial and conviction of Bartlett Rich
ards, and other defendants. on the
charge of conspiring to defraud the
United States of public lands This is
one of the cases in which special opera
tives of your office have been employed
under Operative Lucien c. Wheeler.
and the United States attorney takes
occasion in making his report to COM
mend most highly the very able SER
vice of the operative in charge, Mr. Lu-