The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-04

the work of the secret service. . This excellent work was accomplished by MT. Wilkie and his subordinates. I thought 1t might be timely to recall this prosecution.
 Lottery Cases and Others.
 Three hundred thousand dollars in fines were collected by the govern ment in the lottery cases. Again, the ink contract fraud in the bureau of engraving and printing ia bureau of the treasury department) was investi- gated by, the secret service and the guilty parties brought to justice. MT Tawney stated in the debate that this was not investigated by the secret serv- ice, but by a clerk down there," con veying the impression that the clerk was not in the secret service. AS a matter of fact, he was in the secret service. His name was Moran, and he was promoted to assistant chief for the excellence of his work in this case. The total expense for the office and field force of the secret service last year was $135, 1000, and by this one investigation they saved to the government over $1O0,OOO year. Thanks to the restriction imposed by congress, 1t is now very difficult for the secretary of the treasury to use the secret service freely even in his own department-for instance, to use them to repeat what they did so ad- mirably in the case of this ink con- tract. The government is further crip- pied by the law forbidding it to em- ploy detective agencies. Of course the government can detect the most dan- gerous crimes and punish the worst criminals only by the use either of the secret service or of private detectives. To, hamper it in using the one and for bid it to resort to the other can inure to the benefit of none save the crimi- nals.
 Secretary Cortelyou Sustained.
 The facts above given show beyond possibility of doubt that what the sec retary of the treasury and I had both written prior to the enactment of the obnoxious provision and what have since written in my message to the congress state the facts exactly as they are. The obnoxious provision is of benefit only to the criminal class and can be of benefit only to the crim- inal class. If it had been embodied in the law at the time when l became president, all the prosecutions above mentioned and many others of the same general type would either not have been undertaken or would have been undertaken with the government at a great disadvantage, and many and probably most of the chief offend CTS would have gone scot free instead of being punished for their crimes.
 Such a body as the secret service, such a body of trained Investigating agents, occupying permanent posi- tion ill the government service and from local Investigating forces in different departments, is an absolute necessity if the best work is to be done against criminals. It is by far the most efficient instrument possible to use against crime. Of course the more efficient an instrument is the more dangerous it is if misuSed. To the argument that q force like this can be misused it is only necessary to answer that the condition of its use fitness if handled properly Is that 1t shall be so efficient as te be dangerous if handled improperly. Any instance of abuse by the secret service or other Investigating force in the departments should be unsparingly punished, and congress should hold itself ready at any and all times to investigate the