The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1909-01-07
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE
ON SECRET SERVICE
Calmly Reveals Tenor Of
Debate-Didn't Mean to
Hurt Feelings.

Washington, jan. G.--Acceptins the
challenge OF the House of Reprcscnta-
tlNes regarding the secret service. yet
maintaining q calm. %dtguIfied attitude.
president Roosevelt today transmitted
TO the house a reply to the resolution
calling for an explanation.
Mr.. Roosevelt stands firmly upon his
original position that the government
equlre a detective organization tor
the investigation of suspicious of fraud
in my branch OF the public s~ervicei
He declares he did not mean 10 make
n insinuatuions regarding any MEM
Der OF congress.
To support his View. he quotes from
the Congressional Record from the de-
pate regarding the secret service APP
preparation. in which the members of
the appropriations committee took the
leading part.
The message closes with an appeal
for a higher salary for the chief Of the
secret service. The message in part
follows:
against lgre nor against any member
OF the present House. If I~hai proof Of
such corruption affecting any member Of
the. House in. any. matter as to which the
FEDERAL government has jurisdiction. action
would at once be brought. as was lone in
the cases of Senators Mitchell and Bur-
AOh' oAo representatives ilil0ItlSOi,
Hermann and briggs. at different times
since j ave been president. This would
simply be doing my duty in the execution
spect to persons. But I do not regard it
as within the province or the duties OF the
to report to the House alleged
posed corrupt action. OF a member In
his official capacity" The membership of
the House is by the constitution placed
within the power OF the House alone. In
the nrnSnNntinN nr friYroirntS o,NJ tko an
forcement OF the laws the president must
resort to the courts of the United States.
A careful reading of this message will
show that / said nothing to warrant the
statement that ".the majority of the con-
gressnen were in fear of sbeing invcsti-
gated by the secret service men," or that
motive" I did not make any such state
ment in this message. Moreover have
never made any such statement about
evitable exceptions. about the members of
in amy message or article OF.
speech: On the contrary I have always
ed the practice OF indiscrininate attack
p congress-. II indiscri,ninate CON
domination of all congressman, wise and
unwise, fit and unfit. good and bad alike.
No one realizes more than / the Import.
ance of cooperation betwecn the cxccu-
tive and congress, and no ona holds the
the United States in higher respect thar /
do. I have not the slightest sympathy
with the practice of judging men. for good
or for Ill, not on their several merits. hut
in a mass, as members of one particular
body or one caste.
Some Evidence.
The resolution continues: That the
president be requested to transmit to the
House any evidence upon which he based
his statements that the chief argument in
favor OF the provision was that the cou-
gressmen did not themselves wish to be
INVESTIGATED by secret service men," This
& Z a oTNnN1 NSn yynG IN, n ,,--,>
no one. still less upon the congress-, is
sustained by the facts.
II you will turn TO the Congressional
inclusive, you viii find the debate on his
subject. Mr.. Tawney of Minnesota. Mr..
smith Of Iowa, Mr.. shsrley of Kentucky
IN his debate as the special champions of
the provision referred to. Messrs. Par
sons. Bennett and D,iscoll were the leaders
amendment and upheld the right of the
government to Use the most efficient
means possible in order to detect crimin-
ais and to prevent and punish crime. The
amendment was carried in the commmit-
tee of the whole. where no votes of the
members are recorded, so I am
unable to discriminate by mentioning the
who voted for and the mem
bers who voted against the provision, but
Its passage. the. Journal records. was
greeted with applause. / arm well aware,
that in any. case of this kind
meulbers who have no particular
knowledge of the point at issue, arc con-
tent simply to foiiow the lead OF the
ter, II I have no doubt that many menu
bers OF the House simply followed til. lead
of Messrs. Tawney and Smith. without
having had the opportunity to know very
much as to the rights and wrongs OF the
1 would not ordinarii. attempt in this
va IT. to disfIi;ninate twe y : m 1nsn ta,,e OF
to my language. in which I simply, spoke
of the action OF the House as a whole. and
as apparently there is a desire that {
should thus discriminate. j will state that
i think the responsibility rested on the
committee on appropriations. under the
lead OF the members whom 1 have men
toned.
Now as to the reuuest of the congress
that I give the evidence FOR my statement
that the chief argument in favor of tho
not themselves wish to be Investigated by
secret service men.
Right in Record.
The part of the Congressional Record to
which I have referred above entirely sup.
argument were followed in the debate.
One concerned the question whether the
law warranted the employment of the Sc
cret service In departments other thar the
of the service in the least. The other line
of argument went to the mctrits of the
service, whether lawfully Or
StlAPAOySos oAAA ihIAo NAkS SAh1S ~ s.'>
only argument used vas that the service
should be cut down and restricted because
its member had Swallowed" or investi-
gated members of congress and other Off
GERS of the government.
A careful reading OF the Consressional
Record will also show that practically the
only arguments advanced in favor of the
limitation proposed by Mr.. Tawney's COM
mittee. beyond what may be supposed to
be contained by implication in certain
sentences as to abuses" which were not
specified, were those contained in the re-
peated statements Of Mr.. s]lsrley. Mr..
Sherley stated that there has been pro
n abuses growing out of the use
of the secret service for other purposes
han those intended" putting his state
ment in the form Of q question. and in the
same form stated thai the private CON
duct of members of congress. senator's"
IL others ought to he investigated by
the secret service. ana that they should
not investigate a member of congress"
who had been accused of conduct I'M
becoming a gentleman u Il member OF
congress-
Attack, on Sieuths.
What appears in the record is filled out
and explained by an article which APP.
peared III the Chicago Inter-Occau Of
aEuur 3. 1904. under q Washington head