The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-01-08

mfr. Sherley stated that there had
bees pronounced abuses growing out of
It's use of the secre. service for purposes
other than those ~inrended,' putting his
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 a member of
congress- who had been accused of con-
duct unbecoming a gentleman m a
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 a member Of congress- This ar
gument of Mr.. Sherley. the only real ar
gument as to the merits of the question
made on b~half OF the committee on ap-
propriations. will be found in columns 1
and 2 of page 5556, and column 1 Of page
1857 OF the Congressional Record. In col
umn l OF page $3.50 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 mem
bers Of congress-. His speech puts most
weight on the investigation Of members
Of congress-.
What appears in the record is filed
out and explained by an article which ap-
peared in the Chicago Inter-Ocean Of
January 3, 1904. under a Washington
headline. and which marked the begin
ming or this agitation against the secret
service. 1t was a special article of about
5,OoO words, written. as I was then in
formed and now understand, by Mr.. L..
w. Busbey, at that time private secretary
to the speaker Of the house. 1t con-
tanned 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 or the secret service, which was
thus assailed. included especially the in
vestigation of great land frauds in the
west, and the securing of evidence to
heip the department Of justice in the
pee1-trust Investigations at Chicago.
which resulted in successful prosecutions.
Efforts to Kill Move
Found to Be UnavaiIinq.
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. 1t was impossible for me to con-
Sluef OF DISCUSS IL on Its merits, as l
should have done had 1t been in a sep
arate bill. Therefore I nave now taken
the only method available, that Of dis
cussing 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, /
have spoken plainly and directly, and
have set forth the facts In explicit terms.
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, n
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 I'M
covered a far-reaching and widespread
system of fraudulent transactions involv-
ing both the illegal 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 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. 40