Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-01-09

AOVAs AAl' AbOOSNhClV vac 4Odl Ale
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Editors note; Everyone knows Of the
FBl, but few know how il operates
The story is told in detoil in Dor
Whteheods book, THE FBl Story
This is port three OF a condensation
OF the book.
against political and business
corruption and demanding
stronger Federal controls over
the excuses of the rich and the
powerful. He was humping
heads with his big stick" and
he sometimes included heads in
Congress.
Tempting Acres
There was ample reason for
the Rooseveltian roars. There
was, in truth, a mess in Amer
ica." There was a mess in which
the industrial combines. the
trusts. were f1outing the Sher-
man Antitrust Act and in effect
thumbing their noses at the
Federal Government and the
people.
There was a mess. too, in which
men of high repute were conniv-
ing with Federal officials to rob
the Government Of valuable land
In the West, where almost 10
million acres had been set aside
by previous administrations as
forest reserves. This green and
tempting treasure was supposedly
being watched over by a Gov
eminent agency. the General
Land Office, which was more in
terested in selling land for pri-
vate use than it was in Mr.
Roosevelt's policy of conserva-
ton. The thieves were busily
dipping into this treasury even
as Mr.. Roosevelt took Office after
the assassination of President
Mckinley.
Mr.. Roosevelt was determined
to halt the thievery and the anti
trust violations. But in the midst
of his fight, Congress suddenly
baked at the Department of
Justices use of detectives in
its investigations and passed an
amendment to the Sundry Civil
Appropriation Act. which left the
department without an investiga-
tive arm with which to collect
evidence for prosecutions.
Lax Enforcement
Roosevelt was furious. But
his fury could be understood
only against the background of
what had happened in the past
After the Civil War, Congress
had passed several laws en-
couraging homesteading and
making it possible for families
and individuals to buy land and
settle in the West. One of these
laws was the Timber and Stone
Act of 1878, which provided Tor
the sale of lands in California
Oregon, Nevada, and the Wash
ington Territory. The lands were
considered unfit for cultivation
but they were covered with
virgin forests worth millions.
Enforcement of the land law
was lax. People fenced public
lands - sometimes innocently -
for their own use. Others
bought huge acreages through
fraudulent schemes to turn a
quick and easy profit in resales
to lumber companies.
Suspicious Aroused
Mr.. Roosevelt had been in
Office only a few months when
the Secretary of the interior
Ethan A. Hitchcock of Missouri
had reason to suspect that his
own department was involved in
the land frauds. He detected a
bad odor in the General Land
Office. and he began an inquiry
The Attorney General arranged
for an agent to resign from the
Treasury'S Secret Service and
take a quiet look behind the
scenes in the West.
His suspicious were confirmed
when the agent reported that
some of the General Land Office s
own detectives we're so deeply
involved in land manipulations
that they were actually tools OF
the land thieves. Afraid to trust
his own people, Mr.. Hitchcock
decided the frauds should be
investigated by the Department
of Justice. He arranged to "bor-
row" agents from the Treasury's
Secret Service to make the inves-
tigation.
COngreSsmen Named
The roundup in the land
fraud drive was a sensation
Scores of people were indicted
and convicted on charges OF
conspiracy to defraud the
United States out of public
lands" Tens of thousands OF
acres of public lands were re-
covered which had been fenced
illegally or bought by fraudulent
representations.
The shocker came when Sena-
tor John H. Mitchell and Repre-
sentative John N. Williamson
both of Oregon. were charged
with conspiracy to defraud
They we're indicted In 1905 ano
convicted. Mr.. Williamson on his
third trial. 1t was learned year;
later that some of the prosecu-
tons were so corrupt and politi-
cally tainted that the agents Of
justice appeared without doubt
to be guilty of actions far worse
than the crimes charged to the
prosecuted.
Prosecutor Replaced
The chief prosecutor in the
case was TO have been United
States Attorney John H. Hall
until it was discovered that Hal
himself was involved in the il.
legal fencing of public lands
Mr.. Hall was thrown out Of of.
flee, indicted convicted anc
later pardoned because of jury
l.a... Observation-Disclosures