Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1909-01-14

otneT tnan tnOSo lntenue0, putting MS
statement in the form of a question and
in the same form further stated that the
private conduct of members of congress,
senator's and others ought not to be in
vestigated by the secret service, and that
they should not investigate member of
congress- who had been accused of con
duct unbecomng a gentleman and
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 pur-
pose of looking nito the personal con-
duct of member of congress- This ar
gument of Mr.. Sherley, the only real ar
gument as to the merits of the question
made on behalf of the committee on ap-
preparations, will be found in columns /
and of page 5556. and column 1 of page
5551 of the Congressional Record In col
umn Of page 5556 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 members of congress: In col
umn l. page 5557, he refers only to men,
bers of congress. His speech puts most
weight on the investigation of members
OF congress.
What appears in the record is filled
out and explained by an article which an
peared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean of
January 3. 1904, under a Washington
headline, and which marked the begin
ming of this agitation against the secret
service 1t was special article of about
oooo words written, as I was then in
FORMED and now understand by Mr.. l..
w. Busbey,- at that time private sscretarv
10 the speaker of the house 1t con-
tained an utterly unwarranted attack on
the secret service division of the treas
ury department and it's chief
AT the time of this publication the
WORK OF the secret service, which was
n,1,
Vesasation of great land frauds in the
west. and the securing of evidence to
help the department of justice in the
beef trust Investigations at Chicago.
which resulted in successful prosecutions,
Efforts to Kill Move
Found to Be UnavaiIina.
These methods proved unavaiiing to
prevent the wrong Messrs Tawnev and
SHlth, and their fellow members on the
appropriations committee paid no heed to
tne protests; and as the obnoxious pro-
vision was Incorporated in the sundry
CIVIL bill, 1t was impossible for me to con-
sider or discuss 1t on it's merits. as I
shouid have done had IL been I'm n sen-
arate Dill Therefore I have now taken
the only method available, that of dis
cussins II In my message to congress: and
as all efforts to secure what I regard as
proper treatment of the subject without
d
nave spoken plainly and directly. and
nave set forth the facts in explicit terms
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
hlghest law officers of the government
nave covered n 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 un-
covered far-reaching and widespread
system OF fraudulent transactions inyolv-
ing both the Illegal acquisition and the
illegal fencing of government land: and.
IN connection 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 political affiliations, and the lawless
character of some of their employees.
made the Investigations not only difficult
but dangerous. In Colorado one of the
secret service men was assassinated
Instances In Which
Secret Service Starred.
In connection with the Nebraska prose-
cution the government has by decree Sc
cured the return to the government of
In Colorado of more than 1900 acres of
mineral land, and suits are now pending
involving 10000 acres more.
"All these investigations in the land
cases were undertaken in consequence
or Mr. Hitchcock, the then secretary
OF the interior, becoming convinced that
there were extensive frauds committed
in his department.; and the ramifications
OF the frauds were so far-reaching that
ne was afraid to trust his own officials
to deal in thoroughgoing fashion with
them. One of the secret service men ac-
cordingly resigned and was appointed
In the interior department to carry on
this work. The first thing he discovered
was that the special agents division or
corps of detectives of the land once of
the interior department was largely un-
der the control of the land thieves; and
in consequence the investigations above
referred to had to be made by secret
service men.
''If the present law, for which Messrs
Tawney, Smith, and the other gentle
men I have above mentioned are respon-
sble, had then been in effect, this ac-
ton would have been impossible. and
most of the criminals would unquestion-
ably have escaped. No more striking in
stance can be imagined of the desirable
fty of having central corps of skilled
investigating agents who can at any time
be assigned, If necessary in large num-
DerS, 10 investigate SONS VIOLATION OF the
federal statutes, in no matter what
branch of the public service. In this par
ticular case most of the men investigated
who Were public servants were in the
executive branch of the government. But
in Oregon, where an enormous acreage
of fraudulently alienated public land was
recovered for the government United
States senator, Mr.. Mitchell, and a mem
ber of the lower house, Mr.. Williamson,
were convicted on evidence obtained by
men transferred from the secret service,
and another member of congress was in
dicted."
Chief Asks for Reversal
of Action Of Soions.
The president then gave number OF
other instances. all OF which tend to
point out the efficiency of the secret
service, and he concludes:
"In conclusion, I most earnestly ask, in
ha ms of M