Bisbee daily review., 1909-01-05


 Government will not tolerate the meddling of the use, either Of the Se- cret Service or of the private detect. ives; to hamper 1t in using the one. and forbid 1t to resort to the other. can inure to the benefit of none save i the criminals.
 At the time of this publication the 1 work Of the Secret Service, which was then assailed, included especially the | investigation of great land frauds in the West, and the securing of evi- | dence to aelp the Department of Jus Ice in the beef-trust investigations at | Chicago. which resulted in successful prosecutions.
 In view of Mir. Busbey's position. I have accepted the above quoted state ments as fairly expressing the real meaning and animus of the attacks made in general terms on the use of i the Secret Service for the punishment | of criminals. Furthermore, in the per fornance of my duty. to endeavor to | find the feel ngs of Congressman on | public questions Of note, I have ire quently discussed this particular mat ter with Members of Congress; and on , such occasions the reasons all ged to me for the hostility Of Congress Co 1 the Secret Service, both by those who | did and by those who did not share | this hostility, were almost inyara ably the same as those set forth iu Mr Bus ' bey's article. I may add, by the way that these allegations as to the Sc ] cret Service are wholly without fouh- dation in fact.
 i But all of this is O. insignif.c cant in. portance compared. with the main, the real issue. This issue is simply, Does ! Congress desire that the Government snail have at its disposal the most er- { hcient instrument. for the detect on of ! criminals and the prevention and pmr- ! ishment of crime. or does 1t not? i The action of the House last May was l tmphatically an action against tue in i lerest of justice and against the inter- est cf law-9biding people, and in it's effect o& benefit only to lawbreakers. am not now dealing with motives; I whatever may have been the motive taat induced the action Of which l speak. this was beyond all question ;he effect of that action. Is the House now wiling to remedy the wrOng?
 VI tt tb4AE tAA4IN ! t-ttIAtltEu LllkSEIL vita endeayOring to persuade the House not to permit the wrong, speak ing informally on the subject with those Members who, Iebelieve, knew anything of the matter, and communi- eating officially only in the ordinary channels, as through the Secretary Of the Treasury. In a letter to the speaker on April 90, protesting against the cutting down Of the appropriation ' vitally necessary if the Interstate Commerce Commission was to carry into effect the twentieth section of the Hepburn law. I added: The provision about the employment of the secret service men will work very great dan age to the Government in its endeav- or to prevent and punish crime. There Is no more foolish outcry than this against spies; only criminals need Tear our detectives" q inclose copy of the whole letter market Appendix C. The postscript i hiue ad in my ccypbOok. and two or three of the words can not be deciphered.) These methods proved unava,iing 10 prevent the wrong. MessTs. Tawney and Smith and their fellow members un SIe Ap- propriat'ons Committee paid no heed and the provision was incorporated in the sundry civil bill, it was impossible for me to consider or discuss it on It's merits, as 1 should have done had it been in a separate bill. Therefore I { have now taken the only method avail able, that of discussing it in my mes i sage to Congress; and as all efforts i 10 secure what I regard as proper ] treatment of the subject without re- ] course to plain speaking had failed, i have spoken plainly and directly, and have set forth the facts in explicit ! terms.
 1 Since 1901 the investigations GOV cred by the Secret Service Division under the practice which lad been for many years recognized as proper and | legitimate, and which had received the sanction of the highest law off cers of the Government-have covered a wide range of offenses against the ! federal law. By far the most import ant of these related to the public do- main. as to which there was uncov- cred fsr-reaching and widespread ] system of fraudulent transactions in- { yolving both the Illegal acquisition and the illegal fencing Of Government
 
 these Offenses, the crimes of perjury and suboTnation of perjury. Some of t1c persous involved in these viola Ons 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 invest gaticns not only diff icult but dangerous. Tn Colorado one Of the secret service men was assassi- hated In Nebraska it was necessary to remove a United States attOrnsy land a United States marshal before satisfactory progress could be made in the prosecution of the offenders. The evidence in all these cases was chiefly secured by men trained in the Secret Service and detailed to the De partIent of Justice at the request of that Department and of. the Depart ment of the Interior In the State of Nebraska alone sixty defendants were indicted; and of the thirty-two cases bus far brought to rial twenty-eight have resulted in conviction; two sl the principals, Messrs. ComstOck and Richards, men of wealth and wide in fluence. being sentenced to twelve months in jail and fined ST ,500 each. The following secret service memo rdndum made in the course of a pend Ing case Illustrates the notifications of interest vita which the Govern ment has to deal:
 Charles T. Stewart. of Council Bluffs. was indicted at Omaha for