Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-01-29

certificate shall be deemed a S snfiie slge
voucher. ieI' LII
The Law providing for the secrer sorry.
ice today is far different in character 7.
authorizes the secretary of the treasury
TO spend S111,OOO for the current -a., >,
suppress counterfeiting of the CONS mi
notes OF this country and of foreign conn.
tries. The wording of the law which
has been particularly obnoxious 10 Pres
dent Roosevelt, expressly states that IN.
secret service shall be used for no other
purpose except for the protection Of t6a
President of the United States. Ii states
too, that no part of the money ammo.
prlated for the secret service shall ba
paid to any member Of the secret sery
Ice force detailed or transferred from the
service to any of the various executive
departments The last provision carsad
President Roosevelt to say in his mem.
orable message to Congress that Con
gress had done much to aid the criminals
of the country by curtailing the useful
ness of the secret service.
Adams Supports Polk.
John Quincy Adams, who was SERVING
at that time in the House, took IN the
debate and told the members what had
occurred in regard to the secret service
during his ternf in the white house. H.
said that he was utterly opposed to the
resolution. as it then stood. 1t was his
| opinion that the use of the secret service
| fund should be wrapped in profound Sc
crecy. When President he gave a certi-
| ficate for one years appropriation Of this
| fund and it turned out to be Inadequate
| Nobody except his successor had ever
| been informed for what this money bod
been expended. Mr.. Adams had told
him in order that he might finally ac-
| complish what had been begun. The
| former President declared that for the
expenditure of this money the chief ey
ecutive of the land alone was responsible
| by law.
| Mr.. Ingersoll's resolution of inuuirv
was amended so as to take from it the
element of danger to the value of the
| secret service, adopted, and forwarded
to President Polk.
| President Polk replied to the resolution
April 20, 1876 He claimed that his
certificate was sufficient voucher under
| the law for all sums expended for the
secret service. and said:
| There are two classes of service author
| lied by this law, the one private and the
| other public In character. The President is
| the sole Judge by the law as to whether tho
service shall be public or private, Ali er.
penditures accounted for specially are
| settled at the treasury upon vouchers and
not in Presidents certificates, and, like all
public accounts. are subject to the call Of
/ Congress and are open to public eXamina-
| ton. Had the expenditures of this class
| been called for they would have hppn
promptly communicated. But the important
| question arises whether a President with.
out violation of the spirit of the law. can
| expose to public view the acts of his pre-
decessor, which the latter had desired
should not be published, The President for
| the time being might not be in possession
| of the information upon which his pre-
decessor had acted and could not therefore
! judge of the wisdom of his acts
Objects to Publicity.
The law requires no voucher but tine
| Presidents certificate, and the President
| who makes the certificate, if he choose
| keeps all the information upon which be
| acts strictly within his own possession. If
| an answer must be made to this first call
for information regarding this secret sery-
ice, then there must be answers to similar
! calls for these expenditures of a COntden.
| tial character, made under every admins
tration from the beginning of the govern
ment to the present time Never before has
| Congress sought to have made public these
! expenditures, and we should greatly appre-
| bend the establishment of a precedent
| which would render such disclosures here
| after inevitable.
| If the House of Representatives as grand
| inqusitor of the nation, should institute an
| inquiry into the matter of secret service, all
papers of the executive department, public
and private, would be subject to the in
| spection of a House committee, and every
| facility would be afforded them to prosecute
| their investigation. But even id a case OF
| that kind. the committee should adopt pre.
| cautions to prevent the exposure Of any
such private matters, the publication Of
] l.,
cept so far as might be necessary to ac-
complish public justice. In no other nation
is the application of such funds made
public
President Polk wound up his reply by
fatty refusing to send to the House in
| formation about the secret service. He
added that if Congress disapproved the
policy of the law it could repeal the
| law.
Webster's Reply Caustic.
April % Daniel Webster answered the
charges made against him by Mr.. Inger-
| soil i'll a great speech of vindication. He
| concluded by saying, Il leave the an.
thor of these ISLANDERS in the worst com
pany | know of in the world leave
him with himself"
IngerSoll then delivered a speech. max
ing more specific charges against Web
ster and a committee was appointed 10
ascertain how Ingersoll obtained his in
formation about the secret service. An
| amendment was added to it providing for
an investigation of the charges against
| Webster. The committee reported, June
8, that by law the secret service fund
was committed to the exclusive cOntTO!
of the President, who might, if he
thought proper, keep the money himself
| and disbursc it with his own hands: or
he might intrust the keeping and dis
bursting of the money to any agent he
deemed it advisable to appoint. From
the time of Washington this fund had
been wholly under the control Of the
President.
The committee also reported that there
was no proof in relation to the charges
against Webster that would in any way
reflect upon the purity of his motives
in spending the secret service fund. The
committee concurred with the President
in his refusal to make publ matters
relating to the secret service i recon-
mended that the testimony taken by IL
be sealed up and deposited in the
archives of the House, not TO be opened
except by its orders. The report Wa~
accepted by the House and the incident
closed.-Washingto Star.
Want Better Leather.