Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1909-01-08

these assertions, couched as questions,
he made one positive declaration that
"this secret service at one time was
used for the purpose of looking into
the personal conduct of a member OF
congress-" This argument Of Mr.. Sher-
ley, the only real argument as to the
merits of the question made on behalf
of the committee on appropriations,
will be found in columns l and of
page 5556 and column / of page 5551
of the Congressional Record. In col
umn / of page 5556 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 senators and con-
/ gressmen. In column , he refers to
officers of the navy and members of
/ congress. In column 1, page 5557, he
refers only TO members of congress.
His speech puts most weight on the
/ investigation of members Of congress.
Newspaper Article Reproduced.
What appears in the record is filed
out and explained by an article which
appeared in the Chicago Inter Ocean
of Jan. 3, 1904, under a Washington
headline and which marked the begin
ming Of this agitation against the Sc
cret service. 1t was special article
Of about 5000 words, written, as l was
then Informed and now understand, by
Mr.. L. w. Busbey, at that time private
secretary to the speaker of the house.
l inclose a copy of certain extracts
from the article, marked Appendix B.
[Appendix B consists of an article
from the Chicago Inter Ocean of Jan.
8. 1904. In this John e. Wilkie, chief
Of the secret service of the treasury
department, is described as ambitious
of becoming the Fouche of the United
States" in imitation of Fouche, chief
of the secret police of Napoleon 1. The
article declares that the secret service
bureau exists without warrant of con-
gressional action and that congress has
always been antagonistic to the bu
reau.l 1t contained an utterly unwar
ranted attack on the secret service
division of the treasury department
and its chief The opening paragraph
includes, for instance, statements like
the following:
He Che chief of the division) and his
men are DESTROYS of doing the secret de- /
tective work for the whole government /
and are not particular about drawing the /
line between the lawmakers and the law
breakers. They are ready to shadow the
former as well as the latter
Then. after saying that congress will /
insist that the men shall only be used /
to stop counterfeiting, the article goes I
on:
Congress does not intend to have a
Fouche or any other kind of minister OF /
police to be used by the executive de-
partments against the legislative branch 4
CT the government. 1t has been so used. /
and it is suspected that it has been SO
used recently. The legislative
branch of the government will not toler-
ate the meddling of detectives. whether
they represent the president. cabinet Off
GERS or only themselves. Con-
gressmen resented the secret interference
of the secret service men who for weeks
Swallowed some of the most respected
members of the house and senate.
When it was discovered that the secret
service men were shadowing congress-
men there was a storm of Indignation at
the capitol and the bureau came near
being abolished and the appropriation
for the suppression of counterfeiting cut
off. At another time the chief of
the secret service hrl his men shadow
with a view to involving
them in scandals that would enable the
bureau to dictate to them as the price OF
silence. The secret service men
have shown an inclination again to
shadow members of congress, knowing
20 Ia low l. nd fe
joke. Several of the departments have
asked congress for secret funds for in
vestigation. and the treasury department
wants the limitation removed from the
for suppressing counter
feiting. This shows a tendency 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 assailed included especially the in
7estigation of great land frauds in the
west and the securing of evidence to
help the department of justice in the ,
beef trust investigations at Chicago,
which resulted in successful prosecu-
ions.
In view of Mr.. BusDey's position l
nave accepted the above quoted state
nents as fairly expressing the real
meaning and animus of the attacks [
made in general terms on the use Of L
he secret service for the punishment I
# criminals. Furthermore, in the per- |
'ormance of my duty to endeavor to e
ind the feelings of congressman on u
public questions of note l have fire. .
Iuently discussed this particular mat
er with members of congress. and on [
UGH occasions the reasons alleged to 0
ne for the hostility of congress to the q
ecret service, both by those who did L
nd by those who did not share this q
hostility, were almost invariably the L
anne as those set forth in Mr.. Busbeys e
rticle. l may add, by the way, that 1
hese allegations as to the secret serv- p
,e are wholly without foundation in G.
act n
Real Issue Named.
But ali of this is of insignificant i'm :
ortance compared with the main. the