The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1933-02-16
Our Government
How It Operates
By William Bruckart
.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~N~~~
THE DEPARTMENT OF
JUSTICE
By william, Bruckart


: the American people that cOnsti.
tutes something of a puzzle to me
whenever they have dealings with
their government that result in dis
agreement, they simply rebel against
a compromise. They want to go to
court and fight It,.
That reference, of course, is to
civil matters. Criminal charges of
which the government necessarily is
the prosecutor occupy different
status. In theory, there may be no.
compromise In this respect.
Since the government must pro,
tect its own rights as well as prose
cute individuals who violate the
rights of others, 1t Is readily seen
that IL requires a great law Office
to look after the business of the
distinguished client. Uncle Sam. He
really has an immense amount of lit
igation. and In view of that fact he
has his lawyers scattered In every
important city In every state in the
Union. They are so distributed as
to make them available to the great
est number OF people and thus avoid
as much expense to the individuals
and to the government as may be,
since il would be impossible to place
them In every community.
The governments law Office, the
Department of Justice with a cab
met member. the attorney general
of the United States, at its head,
naturally has to have its headquar
tiers in Washington. The attorney
general Is just like the attorney gen.
eral for railroad or a bank or any
other organization. He is the legal
adviser to the President Of the
United States, among his other du-
ties, and represents the United
|, States in every matter In which the
United States has an interest.
/ There is no better way to show
the varied interests with which this
immense law office is concerned
than to set out its administrative or
ganization for handling the vast
amount of work.
The attorney general, of course, is
the boss. His right-hand man is the
solicitor general of the United
States. who appears in behalf of the
attorney general at all times In the
Supreme Court of the United
States. There is an assistant to
the attorney general, an Office ere
ated especially to deal with one type
of prosecution, namely, the anti
trust law yiolator.
Seven assistant attorney generals
serve In their respective fields with
more or less limited subjects that
they may become specialists in theii
work. One OF them deals excln
siyely with questions involving tax
laws and enforcement Of prohibit
ton: a second devotes his time to
defending the governments inter
ests in the United States court OF
claims where Uncle Sam is always
defendant and never a complain
ant In suits for money; third has
an assignment of work in connec.
ton with admiralty litigation ane
foreign relations as well as much
of the financial controversies in
which the government is concerned /;
fourth does nothing but consider
the governments right in land mat
tiers, and with the memory of oil
scandals still In mind the job EN-
braces great detail; a fifth assistant
attorney general is the official Grim,
inal prosecutor of the great law
Office; a sixth is a highly trained
lawyer In matters of customs, the
laying of duties at the customs
houses, appraisements Of merchan
disc and such like, and the other
official of this class seems to be the
general superintendent, for IL is he
who watches over the scores of
United States attorneys who rep
resent Uncle Sam In their respec-
tive Jurisdictions throughout the
country.
IL must be remembered, however
that before the automobile thief or
the bootlegger is convicted, there
must be evidence to satisfy a court
and a jury that the defendant Is
guilty. So this law Office has a
group of highly trained investiga.
tors who do nothing but run down
criminals and gather evidence.
The Department of Justice now
has charge Of enforcement OF the
prohibition laws, too.
But the policy of the government
Is to look after its citizens who have
been found guilty of law violation.
and the attorney general Is charged
with that duty as well. He man.
ages, through his subordinates, of
course. every penal and correctional
institution operated by the federal
government. and In connection with
them carries out the national pol
! icy of trying TO make better citizens
out OF violators before they are re-
leased again into society. There
Is parole system and an arrange
ment for parfons. the latter mat.
ter left 20 the President. and con-
slant attention b given to means
Of improving those prisoners who
win accept instruction as a means
az eQaipplng them TO earn liveli.
hood without resorting to crime.
ne courts. Of course. provide the
/ machinery through which much OF
/, the Department az Justice work IL