Omaha daily bee., 1909-01-05
Secret Service and Interests of Public

toward Foucheism and a secret watch on
other officials than themselves.
At the time of this publication the work
Of the secret service, which was thus as
sailed, included especially the investiga-
ton Of great land frauds in the west. and
the securing of evidence to help the De
partment of Justice in the Beef trust in
vestigations at Chicago, which resulted in
successful prosecutions.
Eject of the Article.
In view of Mr.. Busbey's position, l have
accepted the above quoted statements as
fairly expressing the real meaning and
animus of the attacks made in general
terms on the use of the secret service for
the punishment Of criminals. Further
more, in the performance Of my duty, to
endeavor to find the feelings of congress-
men on public questions of note, l have
frequently discussed this particular matter
with members of congress-; and on such
occasions the reasons alleged to me for
the hostility of congress to the secret SER
vice, both by those Who did and by those
who did not share this hostility, were al
most invariably the same as those set
forth in Mr.. Busbey's article. l may add,
by the way, that these allegations as to
the secret service are wholly without
foundation in fact.
But all Of this is Of insignificant i'm
portanoe compared with the main, the real
issue. This issue is simply, does congress
desire that the government shall have at
its disposal the most efficient instrument
for the detection of criminals and the pre-
vention and punishment of crime, or does
It not7 The action of the house last May
NJ q nV,anhaNtaaII -. a IA ~ l.
terest of Justice and against the interest
OF law-abiding people, and in its effect Of
benefit only to lawbreakers. l am not
now dealing with motives; whatever may
have been the motive that induced the
action of which 1 speak, this was beyond
all question the effect of that action. Is
the house now willing to remedy the
wrong2
Work with mbe
For a long time 1 contented myself with
endeavoring to persuade the house not to
permit the wrong, speaking informally on
the subject with those members who, 1
believe, knew anything of the matter, and
communicating officially only in the ordi-
nary channels, as through the secretary Of
the treasury. In a letter to the speaker
on April 30, protesting against the cutting
80 . NNASA NAAbAl9 AtStS
|sary If the Interstate Commerce commits
sion was to carry into effect the twentieth
section of the Hepburn law, 1 added: 9TH
provision about the employment Of the sec
ret service men will work very great dam
age to the government in its endeavor to
prevent and punish crime. There is no
more foolish cutlery than this against
spies; only criminals need fear our
detectives" u enclose copy of the whole
letter, market Appendix c." The post
script is blurred in my copybook, and two
or three Of the words can not be deciph-
ered.) These methods proved unavailing
10 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
DILL it was impossible for me to con-
slider or discuss it on its merits, as l
Should have done had it been in a separate
Dill. Therefore l have now taken the only
method available, that of discussing it in
my message to congress; and as all efforts
10 secure what l regard as proper treat
ment of the subject without recourse to
plain speaking had faled, I have spoken
plainly and directly, and have set forth the
facts in explicit terms.
Secret Service Activities.
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
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 20 the public
domain, as to which there was uncovered
a far-reaching and widespread system of
fraudulent transactions involving both the
illegal acquisition and the Illegal fencing
or 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 or the secret service men was as.
sassinated. In Nebraska it was necessary
10 remove a United States attorney and a
United States marshal before satisfactory
progress could be made in the prosecu-
ton Of the offenders.
Nebraska Land Cases.
The evidence in all these cases wa,
chiefly secured by men trained in Tn,
secret service and detailed to the Depart.
ment OF Justice at the request of hat de.
partment and of the Department of IN,
Interior, In the state Of Nebraska alon,
sixty defendants were indicted; and of the
thlrty-two cases thus far brought to tria
twenty-eight have resulted in conviction
TWO OF the principals, Messrs. Comstocl
and Richards, men Of wealth and wide I'm.
tluence' being sentenced to twelve months
In Jail and fined 1850 each. The fouowine
secret service memorandum made I'm IN,
course Of a pending case illustrates the
manifestations OF interest with which IN,
government has to deal:
Charles T. Stewart Of Council RlpFfs
was indicted at Omaha for conEpiracv
TO oe1raud the governme emit of Sha titja
70 public lands In Mcpherson comfy
Nepraskai also indicted for maintaini
ing an unlawful Enclosure OF the pub-
nc lands, and also under indictmsnt
Tor perjury in connection with final
PROOF submitted by him ON lands filed
on py him as a homestead. In his final
PROOF ne swore that he and his family
nad resided on the lands in ~hdcPharson
county (Which are within his uniagfui
tnclosure), when as a matter OF fact
mis- family has at all times resided in
council Bluffs, iowa. He Is engaged
IN the Wholesale grocery business. ms
store being located in Omaha, in ths
wholesale district there. He is reputed