The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-22
SECRET SERVICE ABLY
 DEFENDED BY ROOSEVELT I
CONFINED FROM PAGE 1.)


 the natural growth of the police, enforo- ing the pure food and the meat inspection 1 laws, more rigorous enforcement of the 1 safety appliance act, suppression or the | liquor traffic among the Indians, pro i lection of public lands and timber and l the like l call your especial attention to the fact that the great majority of , these men are not ordinarily engaged on i secret service work at all As regards nineteent twentieths of these men the proportion of their time given to secret service work or criminal investigation IS altogether insignificant The increase was TOO men, of whom but score or two are habitually engaged in secret service work As for the amount expended the statements in the debate In both houses i are so exaggerated as to bear no ref ! erence whatever to the actual figures. It was stated that two-thirds of the money appropriated for the department of jus : tice was spent in criminal investigation. The Attorney General reports to me that i the appropriation so spent was in reality IT per cent, so that the statement in question was a 30-fold exaggeration. It was stated that S1O,00O,OOO tor as one l gentleman put it. $20,000O00) represented the amount expended. while the totals ] of another set of figures amount to $32, i 000,000. A table carefully compiled coy ering all departments shows the amount actually expended during the first six months of the present fiscal year, in all work that can by any possibility be considered to come under this heading, as little less than $7640OO, estimated total for the entire fiscal year of ap- proximately s1,6O0,0O0.
 Transfer of Men.
 Senator Hemenway quoted the Secre- tary of the Interior as authority that but one secret service man was ever de- tailed to the interior department. This statement Is completely misleading. Se- cret service men were used in the interior department cases but for convenience In operation they were assigned to and paid l by the department of justice. This has been set forth with the utmost clearness again and again. As the prosecutions had to be carried on by the department of justice. it was desirable that the se- cret service men should work under de- pertinent of justice officials
 The President cites cases in which the department of justice in 1907 used Sl men, who, although not assigned to the interior department, were used for interior depart ment cases.
 The President quotes from letter to Chief Wilkie on December 2S, 1906, from Acting Attorney General Afford w. CoC- ley, commenting the work of secret serv- ice men for their help in Nebraska land frauds, in which Bartlett Richards and others were convicted.
 The President continues:
 Limitation of Service.
 'The limitation of the use of the secret service was not in the least degree tech nica; 1t was real and actual. If such Q condition as arose in the interior depart ment some four years ago again arises in that department, with this limitation, we should be prevented from employing the secret service, and the result would be harmful to the government and of benefit only to the criminals, unless, of course, we are able to build up a precisely simi- lar service in the department of justice. Unless the new secret service in the de- partment of justice does it's work in pre- cisey similar fashion to Chief Wilkes secret service, 1t will not do good and effective work, and call your attention to the fact that the result of the action of Congress has hitherto been, by the crea- ton of the secret serviDe, markedly to increase the total cost of this class of work"
 Referring further to land frauds, the President says:
 Widespread Frauds.
 Secretary Hitchcock became convinced that there were widespread frauds and that his own force was unable to deal with them. Through the department of justice he had a number of secret service operatives assigned to work on the in- terior department cases, together with one secret service operative who was as- signed directly to the interior department MT. Hemenway speaks as if the Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior had not known of such assignments, as matter of fact every such assignment was made on the written request of the head of the department. The first result lF4 Gf,d l,oN raNtx@ departmental officials had failed in their duty; and some of them were according ly dismissed.
 ..The results are found in the convic- tion of many defendants, some of them having been among the wealthiest and most influential people in their communi- ties; others standing high in the political world one of them being a Senator, and another a Representative in Congress; while second Representative in Congress was indicted. If the limitation of the use of the secret service which your commit tee upholds had been In force at the time of which I speak, the Senator, the Rep resentatives and the various men of wealth and high political influence who were convicted. would all have escaped punishment. I hold that such an out come would have been in the interest of the criminals only.
 Agents Withdrawn. "Once the emergency had passed, the | need for the detail of the secret service men no longer existed, and they were accordingly withdrawn. But the history | of these land frauds shows conclusively | the need of having some secret service | body subject to emergency detail to de- partments by which it is not ordinarily | employed.
 Before the service was used in the | interior department the prosecutions for l land frauds were insignificant in results. | Then these secret service agents were used in connection with these land frauds. | Forthwith there began an active agita- | ton against the use of the secret service which continued until the action of the | Congress last spring.
 "Very respectfully,
 | THEODORE ROOSEVELT' | "P. S.-This letter is in part based upon | statements furnished by the Attorney l General and the Secretary of the Interior. It has been carefully read over by them | and the statements which it contains | far as they refer to the department of l justice and the department of the interior have been checked and approved by l them"
 l
 CURIOSITlES OF COLDS.