Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1909 — SECRET SERVICE PLOT THICKENS [ARTICLE]

SECRET SERVICE PLOT THICKENS

Bouse Report Direct Slap at the President WILL HEAR FROM TILLMAN South Carolina Senator Was Shadowed by Order of the Chief Executive Matter of Oregon LanTl Deals ' Was Discussed —He Announces That When Fact That His Movements Were Followed Is Officially Promulgated He Will Have Something to Say. Washington, Jan. 8. —As disrespect ful and unresponsive to the inquiry ol the house, the Perkins committee today recommended that President Roosevelt’s secret message of Jan. 4 be laid on the table.

A similar request was made for the tabling of that portion of the president’s annual message relating to the secret service on the ground that it reflects upon the integrity of the members of the house. The usual and extreme course advised hy the committee —that of declining ro consider any communication from any source which, in the judgment of the house, is not respectful—created a profound sensation. Th© report sets forth the president’s statement that the house had failed to understand his message and declares that the president’s language itself will be judged according to the accepted Interpretations of the English language,. That the house is charged only with its responsibility to the people and to preserve its own dignity was asserted with great force. Tillman Was Shadowed.

By direction of President Roosevelt secret service men shadowed Senator Tillman of South Carolina on the theory that he possibly was interested in an Oregon “land grab” and the result of that investigation is now before the senate. The Information was contained in a communication from President Roosevelt sent in response to a request made by Senator Hale to the heads of the executive departments for a statement of the activities of secret service men.

The investigation of Senator Tillman followed an attack he made in the senate upon an Oregon land company which had used his name. Previous to that attack Senator Tillman had introduced a resolution directing the attorney general to prosecute suits against an Oregon railroad corporation which had received land grants in the late sixties for a line from a California point to Portland, OreInterested persons are reported to have sent to President Roosevelt copies of letters alleged to have been written by Senator Tillman indicating that he had aft* interest either in one of the land companies or would be benefited through the land companies obtaining possession of grants. After receiving this information, the president directed secret service operatives to investigate the part Senator Tillman was alleged to have had in the land cases.

Senator Will Reply. The report sent to the senate is understood to contain an account of the investigation made of Senator Tilman. Senator Tillman refused to comment upon the matter further than to say that he would not make any statement until the fact of the use of his name had betn officially promulgated and that then he would talk on the subject from his seat in the senate. It is known that Mr. Tillman regards the mention of his name as an attack upon himself and he has indicated to friends < that he will not mince matters in his reply. Senator Hale probably will lay the entire matter before the committee on appropriations tomorrow. On Feb. 19, 1908. Senator Tillman in the senate said that his attention had been called to a scheme of swindling in which his name had been used. He held in his hand a circular headed “How To .'.l;;'.;e $5,000 Out of $200." “I have r.ot bought any lands anywhere in the west nor undertaken to buy any," said the senator. “I have made some inquiries as one natuially j would in roaming through the west, i simply want the people of the country | to be put on notice that this swindler at ■ Portland han no warrant whatever for ! endeavoring to inveigle others into his game ” Culberson Raps President. Characterising the action of the president in directing the attorney general not to prosecute the United States Steel Corporation for its absorption of the Tennessee Coal gnd Iron company as “another arbitrary and lawless act of the chief magistrate,” Senator Culberson of Texas introduced a resolution instructing the committee on the judiciary to report at as early a day as practicable whether in the opinion of that committee the president was authorized to permit such absorption. Senator Hopkins declared that the senator was hot properly representing the president, and said that Mr. Roosevelt had not approved the action of the steel corporation, but that he bad merely “not felt it his duty to oppose such action.”