The Green Forest tribune., 1909-01-08

..Nfr. sher,ey stated tha. ther. hna

statement in the forxl of a question and in the same form further stated that the private conduct of members of congress senator's and others ought not to be in Vestisated by the secret service, and that they should not investigate member of congress who had been accused of con duct unbecoming a gentleman and a member or congress- In addition to these assertions couched as questions, he made one positive declaration, that This secret service at one time was used for the pur- pose of looking nito the personal con duct Of member of congress- This ar gument of Mir. Sherley the only real ar gument as to the merits of the question made on behalf of the committee on ap- preparations, will be found in columns 1 ana or page 5556 and column 1 of page eo5' Of the Congressional Record In col umn l of page 5556 MT. Sherley refers to the impropriety of permitting the secret service men to investigate men in the departments officers of the army and navy and members of congress; in col umn l. page 5557, he refers only to mem oers Of congress. His speech puts most weight on the investigation of members of congress.
 What appears in the record is filled out and explained by an article which ap- peafed in the Chicago Inter-Ocean of January 5, 1904, under Washington headline, and which marked the begin ning of this agitation against the secret service. It was a special article of about S'ooo Words. written, as l was then in- formed and now understand, bv MT l., w. Susoey, at that time private secretary 10 the speaker of the house. It con talned an utterly unwarranted attack on the secret service division of the treas ury department and it's chief
 At the time of this publication the tm Wopk or the secret service, which was mus assailed, included especially the in- Vestlgatlon of great land frauds in the west and the securing of evidence to nelp the department of justice in the 'neef- trust investigations at Chicago. "hlch resulted in successful prosecutions. Efforts to Kill Move
 Found to Be Unsvailinc.
 These methods proved unavailing to 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, 1t was impossible for me to con slder or discuss it on it's merits. as I should have done had it been in a sen arate bill. Therefore I have now taken the only method available, that of dis cusslng 1t in my message to congress; and as all eHorts to secure what regard as proper treatment of the subject without recourse to plain speaking had failed, nave spoken plainly and directly, and nave set forth the facts n explicit terms
 Since 1901 the investigations covered py 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 a t1f nf ftnCN @1A&1 domain, as to which there was un- covered far-reaching and widespread system of fraudulent transactions inyoly- ing both the illegal acquisition and the Illegal fencing of 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 iawless character of some of their employees made the investigations not only difficult but dangerous. In Colorado one of the secret service men was aSsassinated
 Instances in Which
 Secret Service Starred.
 "In connection with the Nebraska prose- cut1on the government has by decree se-
 
 over million acres of grazing land: In Colorado of more than 1000 acres of mineral land, and suits are now pending involving 150,C00 acres more.
 "All these investigations in the land cases were undertaken in consequence Of MT. Hitchcock. the then secretary of the interior, becoming convinced that there were extensive frauds committed in his department; and the qualifications of the frauds were so far-reaching that he was afraid to trust his own officials to deal in thoroughgoing fashion with them. One of the secret service men ac- cordingly resigned and was appointed in the interior department to carry on this work. The first thing he discovered was that the special agents. division or corps of detectives of the land office of the interior department was largely un- der the control of the land thieves; and in consequence the investigations above referred to had to be made by secret service men.
 of the present law. for which Messrs. Tawney, Smith, and the other gentle men I have above mentioned are respon- sible, had then been in effect, this &C., ton would have been impossible, and most of the criminals would unquestion- ably have escaped. No more striking in- stance can be imagined of the desirabil- ity of having central corps of skilled Investigating agents who can at any time be assigned, If necessary in large num- bers, to investigate some violation of the federal statutes. in no matter what branch of the public service. In this par ticular case most of the men investigated who were public servants were in the executive branch of the government. But in Oregon, where an enormous acreage of fraudulently alienated public land was recovered for the government United States senator. MT. Mitchell, and mem Der Of the lower house, MT. Williamson, were convicted on evidence obtained by men transferred from the secret service, and another member of congress was in dicted."
 Chief Asks for Reversal
 of Action of Solons. The president then gave number of other instances, all of which tend to point out the efficiency of the secret service, and he concludes:
 'In conclusion, most earnestly ask, in the name of good government and de- cent administration, in the name of hon esty and for the purpose of bringing to justice violators of the federal laws wherever they may be found, whether in public private life, that the action taken by the house lpst year be reversed. When this action was taken the senate committee. under the lead of the late senator Allison, naVln5 pe1ore IL "a strongly-w protest from Secretary sSortelyou like that he had sent to MT. Tawney. accepted the secretary's views; and the senate passed the bill in ,xfe shape presented by Senator Allison. nts the conference, however, the house cpN- {, ferees insisted on the retention of the provision they had inserted, and thel. senate yielded. 'The chief of the secret services izss paid salary utterly inadeuuate. to -the importance of his functions ndaSo fthe s admirable way in which he has ssper,y formed them. I earnestly urge that &txs p,av ha ;roraa to Sc 0nO nor appur,, Y