The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1909-01-07

WV St us Il W % XXI
and now understand. by Mr.. 4. W. Bus
hey, at that time private secretary to the
speaker of the House. ! enclose a Q
marked Appendix y. 1t contains an ut
teriy unwarranted attack on the secret
service division OF the treasury depart
ment as Its chief. The opening paragraph
Includes. for instance. statements like the
following:
he the chief of the divisiono 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 really to shadow the
former as well as the latter"
Then after saying that congress will In
sist that the men shall only be used to
stop counterfeiting, the rrticlc goes on:
Congress does not intend to have a
Fouche or any other kind OF minister OF
partnnents against the legislative branch
OF the government. It has been SO used,
and it is suspected that 1t has been SO
of the government will not tolerate the
meddling of detectives, whether they rep
resent the president cabinet officers. or
scented 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
We're shadowing congressman there was a
storm of indignation at the capitol and the
bureau came near being abolished and the
terfeiting cut Off. ssp Rt another 81 time
the chief of the secret service had his men
shadow congressman with a view to in
yolving them in scandals that would en-
able the bureau to dictate to them as the
price of silence. s*s The secret service
men have shown an Inclination again to
shadow members of congress-, knowing
them to be lawmakers. and this iss no
asked congress for secret funds for :nves-
tigation,, and the treasury department
wants the limitation removed from the
| nnfnnriafjnn for 11rfnracSinrr on,tnfnrfnit-
ing. This shows a tendency toward
Founchelsm and a secret watch on other
officials than themselves"
The Land Frauds.
At the time of this publication the work
of the secret service, which was thus as
sailed, included especially the investiga-
and the securing of evidence to help the
department of Justice in the beef trust
Investigations at Chicago, which resulted
in successful prosecutions.
In view of Mr.. Busbey's position, I have
accepted the above quoted statements as
fairly expressing the real meaning and ami
mus of the attacks made In general terms
on the use of the secret service for the
punishment of criminals. Furthermore, in
the performance of my duty, to endeavor
to find the feelings OF congressman on
public questions of note, 7 have frequent
ly discussed this particular matter with
members of congress: and on such occas-
| hostility of congress to the secret service,
both by those who did and by those who
ala not SIldTG lulS nOSClt1Ly, We're almost
Invariably the same as those set forth in
Mr.. Busbey's article. I may add, by the
way, that these allegations as to the Sec
ret service are wholly without foundation
in fact.
Tho Main Issue.
But all of this is of insignificant import
ance compared with the main. the real
issue. This issue is simply. does congress
desire thai the government shall have at
its disposal the most efficient instrument
for the detection Of criminals and the pre-
,,apt{on and nllnfShma emf of crivna or 5nae
it not? The action of the House last May
was emphatically an action against hi
of benefit only to lawbreakers. 1 am not
now dealing with motives; whatever may
have been the motive that induced the
action of which I speak, this was beyond
all question the effect of that action. Is
the House now willing to remedy the
Since 1901 the Investigations covered By
the secret service d~ivision-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
agains sove the q f wies fanf law. OF a egfen fsr
the most Important OF these related
to the public domain. as to which
there was uncovered a far-reaching
and widespread system of fraud
ulent transactions involving both the IL
legal acquisition and the illegal fencing of
government land, and, in connection with
both these offenses. the crimes of perjury
and s~ubornation of perjury. Some of the
persons involved in these violations We're
of great wealth and of wide political and
social influence. Both their corporate as
sociations and their political affiliations,
and the lawless character of some of theii
employees, made the investigations moi
only difficult but dangerous. In Colorado
one of the secret service men was assassin
ated. In Nebraska it was necessary tic
remove a United States attorney and a
United States marshal before satisfactory
progress could be made in the prosecution
of the offenders.
The evidence ia all these cases was
chiefly secured by men trained in the sec,
ret service and detailed to the department
Of Justice at the request OF that depart
ment and of the department of the inter
Tor. In the state of Nebraska alone Ct
defendants We're indicted: and OF the 3:
suited in conviction; two of the principals
Messrs. Comstock and Richards. men OF
wealth and wide influence, being s~entenc-
ed to IL months in jail and find $3.50 each
The Iowa Case.
The following secret service mernoran.
dunn made in the course of 81 pending case
illustrates the ramifications of Interest
with which the government has to deal:
Charles T. Stewart, of Councii Bluffs
was indicted at Omaha for conspiracy to
defraud the government of the title te
public lands in MCPHERSON county. Ne
braska; also indicted for maintaining ar
unlawful Enclosure of the public lands, anC
~nection with final proof submitted by hin
on lands filed on by him as a home.
stead. In his final proof he swore that he
and his family had resided on the lands il
Mcpherson county (Which are within his
unlawful inclosure), when as Il matter OF
fact his family has at all times resided ir
Council Bluffs, Ia. He is engaged in the
wholesale grocery business, his store be.
ing located in Omaha. in the wholesale
district there. He is reputed to be quite
wealthy. Stewards attorneys are HarI 6
FINLEY, of Council Bluffs. Ia, who are alsc
attorneys at that place for the Omaha ant
Council Bluffs Street Railway company. IL
which cOmpdn Hari holds cOnSfderabI III
stock, Stewart being also a s%tockholdel
and possibly a director of the company
He is also represented in Omaha by w
j. O'Connell, one of the attorneys Their
for the same company. Stewart is ais.
represented in his perjury case by Pin
Gurley.. OF Omaha, Neb. who at one tim.
was quite closely connected in a politica
way with the Z. P. r. R.. company: Stew
art is also closely associated with c.. 3
Hazleton, postmaster at Council Bluffs
Harl & FINLEY and Hazleton are all mem
bers of the same lodge. Another close per
sonal friend of Stewards is Ed Hart, ALA.
"Waterworks, Hart, president of tn,
Council Bluffs Water and in
terested in the street railway. Stewart!
father was Interested in and practical,
| owned and controlled. during his lifetime